Nike Cross NATIONALS Club Team Coaches/Chaperones are REQUIRED to be SafeSport Compliant

WHO DOES THIS APPLY TO:
This is not required in order to participate in Nike Cross Regionals.  This is only a requirement for coaches/team chaperones that have teams competing in the championship race at Nike Cross Regionals AND you feel you have a shot at qualifying for Nike Cross Nationals in Portland, Oregon.

-Is your team competing in the championship race at your regional?

-Does your team have a strong chance of qualifying for Nike Cross Nationals, in Portland, OR?

If you answer yes to both of these questions please read on for further instructions. 

The club team coach (chaperone) for each competing club team at Nike Cross Nationals must be certified as being "SafeSport Compliant" well in advance of NXN weekend in order to participate in any and all official activities at Nike Cross Nationals. (This requirement is only for the coach of TEAM qualifiers to NATIONALS. Individual qualifiers to NATIONALS  will be chaperoned at Nike Cross Nationals by an assigned meet volunteer that is already SafeSport certified.)

SafeSport Compliance is a required three-step process done under the auspices of USA Track & Field that aims to prevent sexual misconduct and abuse, bullying, hazing, harassment, physical abuse, and emotional abuse in our sports. The goal is to create a clear culture of awareness to protect the participants in our sports at all levels. 

The required three steps involved in becoming SafeSport Compliant include the following. 

• Purchasing a USATF Individual Adult membership online that is in effect for the 2024 calendar year. (Fee is $55 plus transaction fee)

• Purchasing a USATF Individual Adult membership between November 1st of 2023 and October 31st of 2024 will expire on December 31 of 2024.

• Purchasing a USATF Individual Adult membership on or after November 1 of 2024 will expire on December 31 of 2025.

• The USATF Membership purchasing link is here: https://www.usatf.org/home/top-utility-nav-content/membership

• Pass a background screening only done through NCSI, which is USATF's sole background screening partner. (Fee is $22 plus transaction fee)

• It takes about 10-15 minutes to initiate the screening process online. Once you have done so, it will take up to a few weeks for the background screening process to complete. 

• For this reason, it is imperative that the club team coach (chaperone) for any club team qualifying for nationals initiate the screening process as soon as possible. If you feel your club team has a strong chance to qualify for nationals, it is recommended that you initiate the screening process even well before your regional meet to ensure you are cleared in time for nationals.

• Although teachers and coaches might have already passed a background screening through their school with another screening service, this does not satisfy the required USATF SafeSport screening requirement through NCSI. It must be done through the NCSI process. 

• There are various types of background screening options to become SafeSport Compliant. The screening type that you need to select for the purpose of Nike Cross Nationals is the "Youth" background screening option.

• The link for initiating your background screening through NCSI is here: https://www.usatf.org/safe-sport/background-screening

• You will receive an email notification of the outcome of your background screening once it is complete. Again, this could take a couple of weeks so please begin this process as soon as possible.

• Successfully complete the SafeSport Training online core training course. (This is a free course).

• IMPORTANT: It is highly recommended that you use Google Chrome as your browser for this online training course. Other browsers are not readily compatible with the particular online training website below and you could risk losing your online course training progress if the page freezes up.

• Upon purchasing a USATF membership, please click the "Center For Safesport Training" link on your Membership profile tab.

• The online training course can be accessed by clicking the "Access Training" option.

• The course takes about 90 minutes if you are completing it for the first time. If necessary, you can pause your online training course part way through and resume your training from that point forward at a later time.

• If you've taken the online SafeSport Trained course in a prior year, you will only be required to take an annual Refresher course, which takes about 55-65 minutes. This can be accessed by clicking the "Access Additional Training" option.

• At the conclusion of your training, your progress will be logged with USATF. You will also be given the option to download your SafeSport Trained completion certificate. Please download this document and save it for your own proof of completion.

Once you have COMPLETED all three steps above (purchased your USATF membership, completed your SafeSport Trained online course, and received an email notification of your background screening final outcome), please immediately send an email to [email protected] so that we can verify that you are indeed now fully cleared and ready to serve as the club team coach at Nike Cross Nationals!

If you have any questions regarding SafeSport Coaching Certification only, please reach out to [email protected].