How To Protect Your Child in Sport: Four Tools To Have on Hand

Explore four tools you can use as a parent or guardian to stay aware and informed so your child can have a safe and fun experience in sport.

Parents and guardians are used to being prepared for anything. From a scraped knee to a hungry belly, you often have band-aids, water, and snacks at the ready. But some things in life are a little more challenging to prepare for—like abuse and misconduct in sport.

When we’re caught off guard, it can feel like we’re left scrambling, trying to figure out what to do and how to respond. Being prepared to address challenging situations like bullying is made easier with the right tools, guidance, and resources from experts in the abuse prevention field.

Tools To Support You and Your Child

From early morning swim practice to afternoons spent on the soccer field, many parents and guardians are on the go with their kids all day long. So, it’s essential to have a resource that moves with you so you can be aware and ready, wherever you are.

SafeSport Ready, the new prevention education mobile app from the U.S. Center for SafeSport, offers tools—like the ones listed below—to help you understand and respond to abuse in sport.

Keep your child safe with these four tools:

Personalized Advice. Take quizzes to test your knowledge and stay informed on topics related to creating safe sport settings for your child.
Age-specific talking tips. Learn how to talk with your child about setting healthy boundaries, being inclusive of all teammates, and understanding appropriate verses inappropriate behavior.
Centralized Disciplinary Database. Look up your child’s coach or sport in SafeSport’s Centralized Disciplinary Database (CDD) to better understand who your child is interacting with.
Steps for Reporting. Explore our interactive Steps for Reporting feature to learn how and where to make a report of abuse or misconduct, if you need to.

Prioritizing Your Child’s Safety

Watching your child from the sidelines as they pass a soccer ball for the first time is full of countless emotions: hope, admiration, and most of all joy at seeing them gain new skills, form new friendships, and have fun playing the game. As a parent or guardian, having the knowledge and resources to keep your child safe in sport results in safer sport settings where your child can play, learn, and grow.

For more tools to help you identify and foster a respectful sport environment for your child, download the SafeSport Ready app and have prevention education resources on hand when you need them most.

Learn more about how you can recognize abuse in sport and respond at uscenterforsafesport.org.