P.A. Minor Hockey has a variety of policies in place to protect athletes. (File Photo/paNOW Staff)

By Michael Joel-Hansen

Safety in Athletics

Local clubs talk athlete safety

May 17, 2019 | 5:00 PM

The Coaching Association of Canada is calling for changes to help make sport safer for athletes.

The association hosted a summit last week in Ottawa where representatives from over 100 different sports federations were represented. After meetings, the organization released a letter which included calls ranging from creating a harmonized code of conduct, to the creation of an independent body to monitor compliance.

On the local sports scene James Mays, technical director of Prince Albert Minor Hockey, said his organization takes its cue from national and provincial bodies when it comes to developing policies.

Mays said besides policies to protect athletes from verbal and physical abuse, the organization has taken steps to protect athletes from cyber harassment.

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“We always have, it seems, a couple of situations a year where somebody thinks it’s a joke to take a picture of somebody else in the dressing room,” he said.

To protect against this, Mays said many coaches ask players to turn their phones in before going into the dressing room. He added there have been cases in the past where the police have gotten involved to deal with a situation that started with someone posting something.

“You think at the time it might be harmless, but once it’s out there … it’s gone, you have no control over it,” he said.

Mays said the biggest challenge for hockey in regards to safety is still keeping athletes safe while they are on the ice. He added there have been changes in how coaches are expected to interact with players, in that coaches yelling at players can be considered a problem, even in junior hockey.

“It becomes an issue, it becomes a bullying issue, it becomes a harassment issue,” he said.

Michael Amouri, head coach with Prince Albert Aerial Gymnastics Club, said to protect their athletes the club makes sure to have as many eyes around as possible.

“We like to have multiple gymnasts and multiple coaches training in our facility at any given time,” he said.

Amouri said recently he was working with an athlete over a holiday weekend where no one else was able to be around, so he asked the athletes mother to stay on the floor with him the entire time.

“I’ve coached the kid since she was eight years old, she’s now 17, but that doesn’t matter, what matters is perception and policy and rules,” he said.

The sport of gymnastics has had to deal with issues around athlete safety, given some recent scandals in the United States and Canada. When Ontario gymnastics coach Dave Brubaker was charged with sexual offences, Amouri was in Calgary taking a course, part of which had the aim of protecting kids.

“One of the first things I did when I came home is I had a staff meeting, to talk about what had occurred, what we were doing in our club, how we could do better, if there were any issues we saw,” he said.

Overall Amouri, who has been in his position since 2010, said the local club had high standards which included criminal record checks for anyone looking to be involved, even if they weren’t working with athletes. The coach added dialogue is crucial when dealing with these kinds of issues.

“We need to have open communication about these sort of things.”

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MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @mjhskcdn