MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — In early October, a scathing report came out that found systemic abuse and sexual misconduct in professional women's soccer.
The independent investigation by former U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates was commissioned by the U.S. Soccer Federation.
The Yates report stated, "Our investigation has revealed a league in which abuse and misconduct—verbal and emotional abuse and sexual misconduct—had become systemic, spanning multiple teams, coaches, and victims. Abuse in the NWSL is rooted in a deeper culture in women's soccer, beginning in youth leagues, that normalizes verbally abusive coaching and blurs boundaries between coaches and players."
In response to the report, U.S. Soccer announced in early November the Federation's new Participant Safety Taskforce.
Mana Shim, a key figure in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) abuse investigation, is serving as chair for the taskforce. Shim reached out to Erin Chastain, head women's soccer coach for the University of Minnesota, inviting her to join the taskforce.
"I think obviously I've seen the turmoil that, in particular, U.S. Soccer and professional soccer has gone through and I've also been around the game for a really long time," Chastain said. "I think if I want to be part of the systematic change that we need, I have to be willing to serve. So a tremendous responsibility but also something I feel like is worth it and really important."
According to a U.S. Soccer press release, "The Taskforce is charged with coordinating and collaborating on conduct-related policies and procedures from the youth level all the way up to professional leagues and senior national teams."
"Obviously, the Yates report focused a lot on the professional ranks and that's obviously something we'll target but power struggles in youth soccer are where it begins. I think the culture of youth sports, and how important scholarships are, and how important being on the top team is for youth, I think put us in a position where some of these athletes are vulnerable and at the mercy of a coach who might be abusing their power," Chastain said. "So I think part of my role will be giving advice about standards that we need in place from youth, forward, so that we can have really healthy environments for these young people to grow up in sport."
Chastain mentioned part of that will include putting the right standards in place for reporting any potential abuse.
"So that people don't get recycled across the youth game or professionally when they're not doing things the right way," Chastain said.
But Chastain said there will be challenges with holding people and organizations accountable.
"I think that will be really, really challenging and I think that's why you see this big group of 33 individuals coming together across youth platforms, and pro platforms, and medical platforms, and law platforms, so that we can figure out the best way to have accountability. I think that's something we've lacked and that's why we are where we are," Chastain said.
According to a press release, the taskforce will immediately work to address the following priorities in the first quarter of 2023:
- Developing an action plan to support the efforts of the Yates Implementation Committee of the Board of Directors to implement the Yates recommendations at all U.S. Soccer member organizations, including youth clubs, other professional leagues and grassroots organizations, among others;
- Gathering best practices and expertise across sports regarding safeguarding policies, officer positions, education and training;
- Identifying the biggest concerns regarding the risks around relationships with significant power imbalances (such as player-coach); and
- Developing educational resources focused on identifying inappropriate behavior and reporting concerns that can be distributed across the soccer ecosystem.
The Participant Safety Taskforce is one of several steps U.S. Soccer said it's taking in response to the report.
"I feel a tremendous amount of responsibility to the sport of soccer, in particular, to be a part of change and to feel like I can play a role in that with the experience that I've had in sport growing up," Chastain said. "I also have two daughters who are involved in sport and so I think when I look at that I want to make sure they're in environments that make sense, that are safe, and that's really important to me."
The taskforce will be meeting for the first time Friday.
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