The Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017 requires amateur sports organizations to offer consistent training to adult members who are in regular contact with amateur athletes who are minors, and subject to parental consent, to members who are minors, regarding prevention of child abuse. The "Core SafeSport Training" offered by the U.S. Center for SafeSport meets the requirements of NJYS's Athlete & Participant Safety Policy. It consists of three modules: (1) Sexual Misconduct Awareness Education; (2) Mandatory Reporting; and (3) Emotional & Physical Misconduct. Training provides individuals the necessary tools, vocabulary and information to more effectively monitor our sport, minimize the opportunities for child physical or sexual abuse and other types of misconduct, and respond to concerns. Upon initial completion of these three online modules, the individual will have met the "SafeSport Trained" requirement.

All Covered Adults must complete the "Core SafeSport Training" (three modules) in order to meet the "SafeSport Trained" requirement. All continuing Covered Adults are required to complete the "Core SafeSport Training" no later than December 1, 2019. Any new Covered Adults, effective December 1, 2019, are required to complete the "Core SafeSport Training" by the earlier of 1) prior to regular contact with a Minor Participant; or 2) within the first 45 days of the Covered Adult taking on the role giving them access to Minor Participants. The "SafeSport Trained" requirement is considered valid for one year.

In addition, the U.S. Center for SafeSport offers a "SafeSport Refresher Course." All Covered Adults are required to complete the "SafeSport Refresher Course" on an annual basis effective the calendar year following the completion of the initial "Core SafeSport Training." Any individual who has NOT completed the "Core SafeSport Training" requirement should complete those three modules and NOT the "SafeSport Refresher Course."

The "Core SafeSport Training" and "SafeSport Refresher Course" offered by the U.S. Center for SafeSport are available to NJYS Covered Adults at no additional cost. For more information on accessing these trainings, visit NJYS's website at www.njyouthsoccer.com or contact the NJYS State Office.

In order to maintain compliance with USSF Policy 212-3, Minor Participants will also be offered access to training regarding the prevention of child abuse provided by the U.S. Center for SafeSport on an annual basis, with parental consent. Regarding training for Minor Participants, NJYS will track a description of the training(s), the date each training was offered and given, and a description of how each training was offered and given.

In addition to training regarding the prevention of child abuse for Covered Adults and Minor Participants, the U.S. Center for SafeSport has made Parent Toolkits available on its website: https://resources.safesport.org/toolkits/library.html

Refresher Course(s) for Adults

In addition to the initial training, a refresher course is required on an annual basis effective the calendar year following the completion of the initial training. The U.S. Center for SafeSport's official refresher course is available as of October 1, 2018.

Annual Refresher NJ Youth Soccer Abuse Prevention Training for Adults

NJ Youth Soccer currently requires all Adults who are required to take the initial U.S. Center for SafeSport course to take the U.S. Center for SafeSport's official refresher course.

The refresher course is required on an annual basis to be completed by December 31 of the year following the year the initial course and subsequent refresher course was taken. Set aside up to 30 minutes to take the refresher course.

Example: If an Adult takes their initial course during 2019 they must complete their annual refresher no later than December 31, 2020. He/she may take the refresher anytime between January 1 and December 31 of 2020, and there is no need to wait until a year expires.