Was it just me or did it seem terribly long and repetitive?
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I haven’t taken it yet, but I got an email about it which I think said to expect for it to take 90 minutes or something.
Except I think I took the 90 minute version last year, and I thought you only had to take the long version every few years with a shorter refresher course in between. I hope that hasn’t changed to the long version every year.
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You’re supposed to take the long one initially, and then smaller refresher ones for… A couple of years? But then you have to take the long one again.
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I had to take a very long one this year. Was it only 90 minutes? Honestly, this is ridiculous. My trainings for work do not take 90 minutes. We get trained for some serious issues and the training (with quizzes that you have to pass) take about half that long. I am not saying that protecting children is not important, it is. I just think they can get the job done in a much shorter time frame.
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It did seem to take forever and was repetitive. I think studies have shown that adult learners have a much shorter window of learning, after which you are wasting your time. Perhaps SS needs to consult with expert educators.
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I took the long version back when USEF decided to get on the SS train. OK, I get it. The refresher courses since then were no problem.
But this year’s long course was excessive, IMHO. Another refresher would have been fine.
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Agree that this year’s was long…but on the off chance I want to show again, I plodded through it.
Worth noting that USEF did not have a choice re SafeSport. All Olympic sport organizations were required to have SS programs.
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I am putting off my latest SS training when I realized it expires a year from when you take it as opposed to when your membership expires. This way if I do show next year I will be good for the entire season.
And an interesting note… I was talking to two soccer coaches at work (I teach high school) and they have no idea what I was talking about when I asked them about Safe Sport. And they both coach outside of the high school. Last I checked, soccer was an Olympic sport?
And the training is ridiculous. I have to do trainings online yearly for teaching and it is much less repetitive and does not include incorrect information like Safe Sport has.
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Maybe it only applies if you are involved in the sport in connection with the national governing body. In the same way that there are no requirements for safe sport at horse shows that are not recognized by the USEF.
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I had a similar conversation with some coworkers who have side jobs coaching a couple of different sports, one is several age levels of competitive travel league and the other also does high school team coaching and neither one of them had ever heard of safe sport at all.
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Another reason to spend monies on training, clinics, lessons and quit showing.
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How so?
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It is called the PIA factor. Death by a thousand cuts for dressage shows.
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Meh. I don’t particularly enjoy doing the safe sport training every year.
But if it helps keep more people safe by raising awareness of best practices, it doesn’t bother me to spend the same amount of time on it once a year that it takes to do a load of laundry.
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I believe every 4 years you have to take the full course vs the refresher, so maybe some people are not on the 4 year mark yet (but this is the 4th year it’s been in existence, right? If so those of us who have been with the program all along should be due for the full course).
I’m with you on the safe support whiners. It’s well worth my time if just one kid is safer. ONE. I also feel warm and fuzzy about the D&M fee every time someone gets nailed for a prohibited substance.
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I feel like I’ve been taking it for more than four years, but I have not really been keeping track. I definitely felt like the one I took last year was longer than the refresher course the previous couple of years. So I’m hoping I don’t have to take the long one again for the second year in a row.
But as I say, it’s a small price to pay to keep more people safe.
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I just came back from the USDF convention that included a session on SS and the escalating number of lawsuits and how GMOs can protect themselves. You are correct - it applies only if you are involved in the sport in connection with the NGB. BTW, 40 states have now removed the statue of limitations. The average age at which a victim reports the abuse is 52.
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I find it ridiculous that some states only allow people to bring suits for a limited time. Obviously if it’s a serious enough matter to allow a lawsuit, it’s still just as serious after December 1st or whatever the cutoff date might be.
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I feel like I keep having to take the same training year after year with no changes or updates. I can recite some of the hypos by heart at this point!
I’m not complaining about the program in general but the odds of learning something increase if the training includes new material. At this point I can’t help but be on autopilot through it.
This is true for lots of mandated training, not just SS. I have watched the same Title VII and FERPA videos a THOUSAND times at work.
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Exactly.
For comparison, I have something like 10+ hours of similar online training to do each year for my education job. Not the same situation, I know, but I just say that to point out SafeSport isn’t an anomaly.
These things do considerably help kids, even if they are totally annoying to complete. We have come light years in our awareness over the past decades.
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