The 2006 – 2007 season is just around the corner and once again the focus is on registering adults who will serve as coaches, assistant coaches, trainers, managers, league officials and in other positions of support for the local organization. 

Effective with the 2006 – 2007 season there are some major changes in the way adults will register and submit their background check information, the way the background check will be processed, and in the KidSafe pass itself.

For the 2006 – 2007 season all adults who submitted their background applications during or prior to the 2004 – 2005 seasonal year must have a new background check.

It is not necessary for adults who had a background done during the recent 2005 – 2006 seasonal year to submit to a new background check this year.

First, the KidSafe Program has been consolidated with the e7 Registration Program meaning that background checks will be processed through the registration program. Once a participant is assigned to a team or the background check option for a given individual is manually selected by the local Association or Club Registrar, the information will automatically be submitted for any individual not shown to have already been cleared. An adult participant can not be included on the roster or have a pass printed until the background check is complete and the person has been cleared. All adult participants must have background checks conducted PRIOR to the start of participation.

Second, the plastic KidSafe Pass and Coaches ID Card have been combined into one document that will now be known as the Adult Participation Pass.  This pass has been re-designed and will be printed by the adult participant’s local Association or Club once the participant has been cleared. Replacement passes will also be printed by the local Association or Club.

We hope these changes will further improve the overall accuracy and efficiency of the program. Please read the Registering Adults information for more details. Only adults participating with associations not currently using the e7 Registration Program will enter their information through the portal on this website. Adults with all other STYSA Associations and their Clubs will register and secure a background check through that Member Association.

The STYSA KidSafe (Risk Management) Committee, whose responsibility it is to address STYSA Risk Management policies and procedures, including the use of criminal background checks and other investigative tools, is made up of volunteers from across the state appointed by the Executive Committee. You may contact the committee by email by using this link, or by sending a message to KidSafe@stxsoccer.org.

The STYSA KidSafe Program, which was introduced on a voluntary compliance basis in 2002 and fully implemented in 2003, provides the parents of children involved with youth soccer in South Texas a measure of security regarding the adults charged with responsibility for their children. At soccer practice, games, and trips back and forth to practice and games, children are sometimes entrusted to adults who, as coaches, take on an authority role granted them by their desire to volunteer and be active with coaching. Beginning with the 2004 – 2005 seasonal year STYSA expanded the efforts to protect our youth players and began utilizing the new USOne national background check offered by Backgroundchecks.com.

In the three years after full implementation in 2003, less than 1 percent of these applications produced a result requiring permanent suspension of individuals from all activities in STYSA. The fees for the background checks are paid for by the clubs or associations through which the adult volunteer registers and it is money well spent.

We know that the thousands of adult participants in the program appreciate the safeguards that are now in place for our hundred thousand plus soccer players and, individually, we want to thank each of you for your support and compliance with this important program by wearing the pass whenever you are at the fields. We know it was a big change, but the children are well on the way to being much safer now because of this program and your dedication to its implementation.

The authority for the actions of this committee is derived from State and National Law, the policies and procedures of the United States Youth Soccer Association, STYSA Registration Rules and Policies, and common sense.