Category Archives: volunteer screening for coaches

Background Checks Recommended by Positive Coaching Alliance

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Protect Youth Sports is the Trusted Resource Provider for background checks and child safety training by Positive Coaching Alliance. Download the Positive Coaching Alliance Background Check Flyer.

The recommended offering includes:

  • integrated paperless solutions designed for youth sports
  • online forms, applications, coach payments
  • free online child safety training for abuse prevention
  • thorough national background checks
  • in-depth and complete re-verification of all criminal hits
  • guaranteed accuracy and FCRA compliance on over 400 million national criminal records

Learn more about Protect Youth Sports and why this service is used by more than 8,000 youth serving organizations by signing up for your Free Videos.

What Motivates Volunteers?

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People volunteer for sports leagues for as many reasons as there are individual personalities. Hopefully most of the people will genuinely want to serve. Others may feel a sense of obligation because they have a child or youth involved in the sport. And with youth leagues in desperate need of volunteers, some may even feel pressured into serving.

Some volunteers want to feel like a part of the community. Newcomers to a city or town often want to meet people and make friends. And what better way to do that than to get involved and volunteer at their local sports complex. Those who live alone might be fighting a sense of loneliness or miss the days when they had children at home involved in youth sports leagues. Volunteering is a good way to accomplish both goals.

Volunteer coordinators and league officials can help volunteers feel valued and like they are a part of the team by introducing them to staff or fellow volunteers who are like-minded. A volunteer looking for connection that is subsequently ignored and asked to volunteer alone will not stick around for long! Retired professionals often volunteer to pass wisdom on to the next generation and teach the valuable life skills they learned while playing youth sports. Valuing and treating them with respect will ensure that they flourish in whatever capacity they serve.

Discovering your volunteers’ motivations will help you know them better, manage them better, and get more out of them! And motivating your volunteers can help you better meet their expectations, making their experience better—and their willingness to continue more likely.

For more information on screening your volunteers visit Protect Youth Sports

Why do background checks for youth sports?

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Many youth sports organizations believe that having safety procedures on playing fields/courts is an adequate substitute for a background screening process to protect their children and youth from predators. And while having cameras on the premises, state of the art check-in systems, and having at least 2 adults on every team for games and practices is a valuable and recommended procedure, having a criminal background check is a vital part of any child protection policy.

Take the example of Stephen Greeley, a 40-year-old volunteer in St. Petersburg, FL that was recently arrested for molesting and raping a boy under the age of 12. Greeley befriended the boy and his parents over the course of a year and babysat the victim on at least two occasions in his apartment. He is charged with Sexual Battery and Lewd and Lascivious Molestation of a Child under the age of 12.

While none of these charges occurred on property or during organization-sponsored events, this is an example of the limitations of having guidelines in place solely on your property. Volunteers working with minors often have extended amounts of time with the children they supervise out from under the watchful eyes of the team and parents of other children. It is critical that your organization take every precaution to screen those responsible for the safety and well-being of your participants.

For more information on how to protect your youth sports league and the children in your organization please click here.

Sex offender, Bloomington youth coach gets 12 years for molesting girls

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A convicted sex offender and former Bloomington youth sports coach has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for molesting two girls at a hotel room where he was supposed to be baby-sitting last spring.

Randy Lee Ronning, 37, pleaded guilty in March to two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. Hennepin County District Judge Cara Lee Neville sentenced him Wednesday.

Ronning, of Bloomington, was charged in April 2009, after a witness saw him molest a girl at the Bloomington Days Inn. One girl told police he touched her inappropriately, and the other said that Ronning, her longtime baby sitter, had molested her since she was 8.

Ronning, who was convicted in 1992 of fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct, helped coach floor hockey in 2008 and softball in 2006 for the Bloomington Athletic Association. The teams were for girls ages 8 to 10.

ABBY SIMONS

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Stillwater basketball coach arrested

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Coach arrested

 

STILLWATER – Police say Michael Hanehan, the head coach of the Stillwater Varsity Girls’ basketball team, attacked a woman with his fists and a lamp late Saturday night. He was tracked down early Sunday morning and charged with felony assault. An order of protection has been issued.

Hanehan, 46, is charged with Felony Assault (2nd Degree) after police say they responded to a 911 call and found the woman with injuries to her hand, forearm, neck and head. She had been hit and choked and struck in the head with a lamp, police said. It happened at 11:40PM Saturday, police said.

Police said Hanehan fled prior to police arrival and was tracked down at 8:15AM Sunday in a residence in Saratoga Hills Mobile Home Park.

Hanehan was arraigned in Stillwater Town Court and transported to Saratoga County Jail with $10,000.00 bond bail, police said. He was also issued an order of protection barring him from any contact with the victim.

The investigation was handled by Ptl. Keith Clinton. The arrest was handled by Ptl. David Devito.

Background Checks for Coaches

Child porn suspect fired from youth sports post

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Child Porn SuspectBy Michael R. Sisak (Staff Writer)
Published: April 27, 2010

A Back Mountain sports official arrested last week for possessing dozens of child pornography videos and photographs has been dismissed as the president of a youth basketball organization and suspended from refereeing and umpiring at the high school level.

George F. Gracely will not have “any further involvement” with the Dallas Youth Basketball Association and has been barred from working as a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association game official pending the outcome of his case, the organizations said Monday.

Gracely, 51, of Harveys Lake, was charged last Wednesday with 70 counts of sexual abuse of children for possession of pornographic videos and images that showed boys as young as 7 committing graphic sex acts.

Gracely had at least seven pornographic video tapes, one DVD and 60 printed images, according to an arrest affidavit. Gracely ordered the tapes through the mail, paying $164.85 with a personal check, the affidavit said. Investigators found some of the videos under his bed, the affidavit said.

Gracely, free on $75,000 bond, is scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing Thursday before Magistrate James E. Tupper in Trucksville. A person who answered at the telephone number listed for Gracely’s Harveys Lake home quickly hung up before a reporter could ask for comment.

The Dallas Youth Basketball Association’s board of directors met Friday and voted unanimously to relieve Gracely of his duties and appoint Vice President Scott Jenkins in his place. Gracely did not attend the meeting, the statement said.

Jenkins said last week he was unaware of Gracely’s alleged penchant for child pornography until he heard of the charges last Wednesday. He said he knew of no allegations Gracely abused the children he coached or officiated.

msisak@citizensvoice.com            

570-821-2061      

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