SportsEngine, Inc. Partners with USA Football for Background Checks and Abuse Prevention Training

Benefitting children nationwide, it was announced today that SportsEngine, Inc., an NBC Sports Group company and the leading provider of Sport Relationship Management software, is the official provider of abuse prevention training for USA Football. In addition, SportsEngine’s subsidiary, National Center for Safety Initiatives (NCSI), is a new and preferred USA Football provider of youth football volunteer background checks.
 
USA Football is the sport’s national governing body and a member of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee. Since 2012, more than 700,000 coach certifications have been completed through USA Football, spanning all 50 states and 10 foreign countries across four continents.
 
Abuse prevention training by SportsEngine will form part of USA Football’s comprehensive coach certification curriculum, which is the only football-specific educational program to earn national accreditation by the U.S. Center for Coaching Excellence.
 
Certified coaches are a key part of USA Football’s Football Development Model and League Excellence Program, delivering fun and positive youth experiences across America’s favorite sport. Nearly four million kids ages 6-17 enjoy the fun and physical fitness of football nationwide.
 
Background screening will be managed through National Center for Safety Initiatives (NCSI), a SportsEngine, Inc. wholly-owned subsidiary and leader in youth-centered background screening solutions. NCSI provides the “Gold Standard” in background screening, serving youth sports organizations and national governing bodies across the country. Additionally, SportsEngine’s safety program is integrated with the third-party provider, Abuse Prevention Systems, to offer sexual abuse prevention training that fulfills the federal Safe Sport Act requirements. 
 
“When imagining what great youth sports look like, non-negotiables are gold-standard player safety, accredited coach education and coaches who serve as mentors and care about their kids,” said USA Football CEO and Executive Director Scott Hallenbeck. “Adding SportsEngine and NCSI to the USA Football family places all of this in youth football. The biggest winners are our children and their parents who love the fun, friends and fitness found in football.” 
 
“We are thrilled to partner with USA Football in support of their efforts to improve youth sports safety,” said Brian Bell, CEO, SportsEngine, Inc. “Helping to provide safe, positive youth sports experiences is at the core of why we do what we do at SportsEngine, and we are excited to see organizations like USA Football set higher standards for other organizations around policies and best practices for athlete safety.” 
 
More than 1 million teams, leagues and clubs use SportsEngine to run their tournaments, leagues, online registration, websites and mobile apps. Through these applications, sports teams, clubs, leagues and national governing bodies are able to drastically reduce the time they spend on administration and communication, allowing them to focus more time on developing their athletes and furthering the love of sport.