Coaches catering to masters fall through USATF Registry cracks
Masters track coaches?
This includes “compensation from USATF or USOC athlete support programs designated for coaches, participation in USATF High Performance programs” and “selection for participation in USATF sponsored coaching seminars, clinics, and coaching education programs.”
In other words, this is a gun to the head.
You also gotta sign a Code of Conduct, which seems pretty benign. But No. 5 could be a problem for masters-only coaches: “Strictly avoid sexual intimacy with athletes of any age.”
Aw, c’mon! What’s the problem with a little hoochie-coochie between consenting geezers?
I’m just being flippant. But the serious issue is this: These new rules basically ignore masters track. I guess we don’t have any masters-only track coaches in USATF. (But Mark Cleary, Ross Dunton and National Masters News would beg to differ. Check out this list of masters coaches.)
Yesterday’s press release from Indy said:
“It was a daunting task to come up with something that would cover coaches from youth track all the way through elite track and field,” said Curtis Frye, President of the United States Track Coaches Association and head coach at the University of South Carolina. “It took a lot of work and we’ve gotten this off the ground, and we’re going to have, what I call, a functioning licensing program.”
In other words, masters coaches weren’t considered at all.
But USATF isn’t totally against alleged molesters. Its liability insurance benefits include up to $2 million for “Abuse and Molestation (Aggregate)”:
Abuse & Molestation Liability: protects the Named Insureds against claims alleging liability for actual or threatened abuse or molestation by anyone or any person while in the care, custody or control of any insured, or the Named Insured’s negligent employment, investigation, supervision, reporting or failure to report to the proper authorities, retention of a person for whom any insured is or ever was legally responsible. This coverage will not pay any claim or defense costs on behalf of any person who personally takes part in inflicting physical or sexual abuse, sexual molestation, sexual exploitation or sexual injury upon another person; or on behalf of any person who remains passive upon gaining knowledge of any alleged physical or sexual abuse, sexual molestation, sexual exploitation, or sexual injury committed by a employee, member or volunteer of the Named Insured organizations.
Thank goodness, USATF has your back if you're wrongfully accused!
Whatever.
My guess is that adult age-group coaches will bite their tongues, pay $35 every other year and go with the one-size-fits-all nonsense. But geeze. We have masters exceptions to all sorts of things in the USATF rulebook.
Is USATF really worried that masters coaches will molest their aged athletes?
11 Responses
It’s more than just masters. Where would this have left Bobby and Jackie Joyner Kersee?? There are, of course, other examples of elite female athletes marrying their coaches as well — they are just the most prominent.
Coach Rick Suhr also married pole vaulter Jen Stuczynski.
But this is really icky:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=3305652&page=1
Coach, 40, Weds 16-Year-Old Student
Am I looking at it wrong, or is the guy in the third picture (mug shot) over 7 feet tall?
Predatory males make me sick, but what’s OK? Clearly 16/40 is not, but what about, say, 17/26? Tough call sometimes. As for USATF squeezing $$ from coaches for the registry, that seems a little “icky” too.
Back when I was on the board, we had to address the issue of such a predator. The hearing took all day and went deep into the night. Without commenting on the case, I will say it is a difficult process which presses the legal skills of USATF personnel who are not necessarily qualified in such an endeavor–myself included.
On my website, I have tried to post a list of coaches available. Like the rest of my website, I do it to improve the information sources available to athletes. I do it because USATF or other organizations don’t get the job done. Now USATF has a new excuse to not get the job they have historically not done, done. I get my information by word of mouth–I know it is horribly out of date. I haven’t done the best job of keeping it up, I have the wrong contact listed for the group I ran with last night. I guess I have some work to do. National Masters News, the list Ken linked to, has done the same–it too is horribly out of date. Several coaches on the list have stopped their training sessions for a variety of reasons, including old age and lack of interest. I know Lad Pataki, still on the list, died in 2007.
I keep getting contacted by people looking to get some training. I’d love to direct them somewhere. Where? Most meetings of masters athletes for any sort of group training session (whether there is a formal coach or not) are ad hoc. I tell newbies to show up at our meets; meet other people doing this; find somebody in your area to train with. The (potential) newbies, the ones who are most in need of instruction, are also the ones shy to ask or show up or . . . Needless to say, there needs to be a better way.
USATF is the obvious organization to do the job, but so far I haven’t seen any progress on any front. Drifting off to the previous Joel DuBrow article I have avoided commenting on: Anything that is done, even on the USATF level is done through the hard work of individual volunteers. It takes one motivated individual to say “lets do this” and that person then rallies the troops (if they have any troops to rally). Each volunteer brings to the table whatever skillsets they have, which might not overlap with what is needed. We are limited by what we have available to us or by what those volunteers are willing or able to learn. Our sport, and particularly our division of the sport, would have nothing–no meets, no coaches, no officials, no organization, absolutely nothing if individuals did not stand up and say they would do something. That pool of people who will actually do something is smaller than the pool of people who want to participate.
Ken
This is probably also an avenue for HS & College programs to get more involved in utilizing USATF to check out the “status” of coaches before they interview or hire them. Ideally, the NFHS, NCAA & NAIA would “require” that all T&F/XC Coaches maintain this designation to keep their job(s). With the USTCCCA behind it, I could see it actually having some backing in this area. I also believe that it will be tied into the Coaches Ed program (eventually) and only those coaches active with education & registration will be deemed fit for the job.
Just college coaches trying to gain more control. That’s why Masters athletes never comes up. look who is in charge,Curtis Frye, a college coach. Someone who deals with age groups kids should be in charge. And elite athletes should not even be in question. College coaches are trying to push club and professional coaches out of coaching elite athletes.
Youth coaches already have to go through background checks in order for their liability insurance to work, so this isn’t a big deal for the youth.
In my experience, most creepers never get anything that would show up on a background check anyway. USATF has to have something in their insurance that covers this. First time offenders gotta start somewhere, and you gotta cover your ass.
An article on twackstar.com brings up a weird new development. Curtis Frye, with his USA Track & Fileld and Cross Country Coaches Association hat on, publicly washes his hands of the program. Check it out. Total weirdness…
Here’s the direct link:
http://twackstar.com/TwackStar/News.html
USATF Registered Coaches must:
5. Strictly avoid sexual intimacy with athletes of any age;
_______
That prohibition states no exception for spouses! It’s more of the careless wording found in some rules and other athletics communication.
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