Too many coaches without background checks cited for delay
By SUSAN LEATHERS
Brentwood Home Page
Over 1700 young Brentwood-area soccer players won’t kick off their seasons Saturday because about 30 adults haven’t had their background checks completed.

The Brentwood YMCA made a decision this week to push back the start of its 2011 youth soccer league season because too many volunteer coaches had not completed the returned paperwork to allow the required background checks to be made.

Suzy Constantine, the local Y’s senior program director, explained Thursday that while it seems like the simple alternative is to simply not play the games coached by those who have not complied with the requirement, it’s not that easy. Several of the league’s 130 coaches help with more than one team. The league serves players from age 3 to 18 and has both recreational and advanced teams. There are 160 teams in the league.

“It affects almost every single team in one way or another,” she said.

“Our first priority is always going to be the safety of our children,” she continued. “We have some frustration out there but that’s the only decision we could make.”
Constantine said the YMCA of Middle Tennessee like almost all organizations that work with children, now require annual background checks for all volunteers. She said she’s baffled at the high number of non-compliance this year, especially among returning coaches.

All volunteers are given information on the checks when they first sign up to coach, she said.

To date, the Brentwood Y has never had to turn a volunteer away because of a background check, Constantine said.

The Y contacted all of its league coaches on Wednesday. “We’re leaving it up to the coaches to contact their families,” she said.

Most of the league’s matches are played at Crockett Park, though the younger age groups play in fields behind the Concord Road Y facility.

Vicki Sanford helped form the Y league years ago and still coaches an under-12 girls advanced team. She said she is disappointed about the season’s delay, especially because the weather is supposed to be perfect and so many families have scheduled their weekend around their children’s games.

“But we’re all concerned with the safety of our players,” she said, “and background checks unfortunately are a part of our society now.” Sanford, who has also been very active with the Brentwood Soccer Club, said that organization “started doing background checks before anyone else in the state started requiring them.”

“Brentwood Y’s program has to be the premiere soccer program for Ys in the Southeast,” Sanford said. “It has great facilities, and great administration. Just coordinating 150 or so volunteer coaches is a task in itself.”

Constantine said all of this weekend’s games will be rescheduled for the third week of November. Coaches will have the option of having the games on Nov. 19 or during the week at their regular practice time.