By Lyonel Doherty
Two local parents are recommending that Rocky Mountain School District No. 6 implement a new “safe sport” policy for the protection of coaches, volunteers and student athletes.
Christine DuBois and Chenoa Paccagnan presented the proposal at the March 12 board meeting for consideration.
“I coached two different high school sports this fall and I noticed a few things missing in the coaching manual, particularly relating to safe sport,” DuBois told the Pioneer. She noted that Paccagnan also mentioned the lack of a safe sport policy.
“After doing some research we realized that not just our district, but the entire province was missing the safe sport piece of the responsible coaching movement,” DuBois said.
She pointed out the goal is to create a policy to ensure that all coaches have the education and tools to establish a safe, secure and smart sport environment for all students.
“School District No. 6 is going to be a leader in responsible coaching once this is implemented,” she noted.
The PowerPoint presented referred to documented cases of abuse and mistreatment of athletes in Canada. A 2019 study of national team athletes highlighted maltreatment such as neglect, physical, psychological, and sexual harm.
“The position of power that coaches hold does create an opportunity for neglect, maltreatment and abuse to occur in sport,” DuBois told the Pioneer. And only when everyone involved starts the conversation, that’s when we can recognize and prevent the opportunity for abuse to occur, she added.
“If you think that this doesn’t happen, isn’t happening or hasn’t happened in all levels of sport all over the world, then you need to take your head out of the sand,” DuBois said.
“We aren’t talking about coaches yelling and making kids do lines, we are talking about blatant violations of the safety of our kids. This isn’t about nitpicking coaches or putting them under a microscope, not at all. Coaches are fantastic people and without them our kids wouldn’t have the opportunities to play school sport.”
DuBois said she wouldn’t have won an Olympic medal without the dedication of her “amazing” coaches, which she is so grateful for.
The mother with school age children said coaches don’t only need this training, they want this training. “Coaches want guidelines and to know the boundaries so they don’t find themselves in a stressful situation that could have been prevented.”
DuBois said BC School Sports, which governs sporting activities in schools, does have an athlete and coach code of conduct, but it doesn’t address how to create a safe sporting environment. She acknowledged that School District No. 6 requires all volunteers to have a criminal record check and complete abuse awareness training, but this is different than the safe sport training that she is recommending.
DuBois said the policy will mandate all coaches to have the “Rule of Two” training which basically sees coaches having another coach or screened adult present when interacting with student athletes one-on-one.
“The (school) district does not need to invent anything new here, they just need to implement the policy to ensure our coaches have this training before coaching our students,” DuBois said.
If adopted, the school district will take a proactive stance at preventing abuse in sport and will be at the forefront of this responsible coaching movement, she pointed out.
Steve Wyer, school district acting superintendent, commended the two ladies, saying it takes courage to present in front of a governance body. “It (the presentation) was very clear, well-researched, and well-spoken to.”
Wyer noted it is too early for him to say what the outcome will be with respect to the recommended policy.
