Any affiliate of Georgia Soccer who allows players under the age of 18 to play in their league, falls under the Safe Sport Authorization Act passed by Congress in February. All adults with regular contact with minors within a sports-related environment are required by law to complete Safe Sport training.

To learn more about the Safe Sport Act and how it affects and relates to youth soccer, please visit www.safesoccer.com.

Click here to access the Safe Sport training.
Click here to access the five training modules focused on Youth Athlete Training.

Georgia Soccer has a one pager regarding SafeSport and Concussion Awareness that you can use as a tool: Click here to download.

Additionally, the Center has created one-page summaries of each topic of the Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policies (MAAPP). They are linked below for your use:

Education and Training Guidelines
Local Travel Guidelines
Locker Rooms/Changing Area Guidelines
Massage and Rubdown Athletic Training Modalities Guidelines
One-on-One Guidelines 
Social Media Guidelines 
Who and Where Prevention Policies

In this section of the website, you will find links to documents that may be prevalent during the season, our policies pertaining to these documents and the YMCA of Metro Atlanta's policies, as well as the procedures to follow when an incident happens based on those policies.

1. YMCA Incident Report

This document is to be filled out after an injury or an incident involving a confrontation or grievance.

2. Concussion Parent Fact Sheet

Signs & Symptoms of Concussion.

Procedures to follow after your child's concussion or potential concussion.

3. Concussion Coach Fact Sheet

Signs & Symptoms of a Concussion.

Procedures to follow as a coach after a player's concussion or potential concussion.

4. CDC's Head's Up Evaluation

This online evaluation contains informational videos about concussions as well as a multiple choice evaluation at the end.

All Academy/Select coaches are required to pass this evaluation.

Parents and other interested parties are strongly encouraged to take this evaluation as well.

All coaches are required to be educated in the signs, symptoms, and hazards of concussions. If the coach (or parent) feels a player has received a concussion, during play with their team or any other potential reason, the following procedures are to be followed:

1. Remove the child from play

Keep them out until steps 2 & 3 are completed.

2. Inform the parent (or coach) of the situation

When the incident occurred, how it occurred, any potential symptoms shown by the player.

3. Request that a medical evaluation be delivered by a health care professional

The player may not return to play until given the "all clear" by the health care professional.

A doctor's note is mandatory for the coach to allow the child to return to play.

4. Re-integrate the player back into action slowly

Returning a player back into action too quickly can make the player more susceptible to "second impact syndrome".