Background Screening in Youth Sports

Importance of screening coaches

When children's safety and well-being are at stake, procedures must be in place that help program administrators ensure the protection of their young participants. Volunteer screening and conducting background checks are complex topics that youth sports organizations must address before volunteers can work with children. The National Youth Sports Association (NYSA) strongly encourages all youth sports organizations to perform background checks on their coaches as part of the screening process.

Order and manage coach background checks through NYSA

To make the coach background screening process easier for our Member Organizations, NYSA has partnered with Sterling Volunteers to build a customized integration system. NYSA Member Organizations can request and manage background checks through their NYSA account, significantly reducing administrative time.

Highlights

This partnership is truly a game changer. Here are some additional benefits each NYSA Member Organization will receive by signing up for background checks with NYSA and Sterling Volunteers:

  • Save time. Register coaches for their NYSA training and background check at the same time using just their name and email address.

  • Payment options. Your organization can decide to cover the entire cost of the training and screening and pay online by credit card, check/invoice or purchase order. Or you can ask coaches to pay.

  • Less paperwork. Coaches complete their registration and authorize their own background checks online in just a few minutes.

  • Quick turnaround. The majority of searches will be returned in 24 to 72 hours.

  • Set your own background check disqualifiers. Once you receive the results,

  • you decide if a coach is eligible or ineligible. Refer to NYSA Background Screening Guidelines for help establishing your organization’s disqualifiers.

  • Set restrictions. Choose which representatives from your organization have access to background check statuses and results.

  • Give coaches control. Coaches are notified when their results are available and can view and own a copy of their background check to share with other volunteer organizations.

  • Secure and Compliant. Sterling Volunteers background checks are housed in a completely secure environment and are fully FCRA compliant.

  • The Highest Quality and Accuracy. Using a combination of proprietary technology and a set of unique criminal locators, Sterling Volunteers finds more criminal records at America's county and state courthouses and delivers the most accurate information available about your volunteers. The Sterling Volunteers screening process goes far beyond the stale, instant database background checks and incomplete searches used by other providers.


Sterling Volunteers Advanced Level background check includes:

  • Social Security Trace (name/address history)

  • Government Watch List Search (OFAC)

  • DOJ National Sex Offender Registry (NSOPW)

  • Nationwide Criminal Database Search

  • Current county/state of residence criminal record search

  • Monthly updates. Volunteer information is updated for you free of charge each month for the first year so you have the added security of monitoring your volunteers for new criminal records.

Pricing

Background Check - $19

*Quantity discounts available for 50+ coaches

New York: Additional $95 New York State Office of Court Administration fee may apply for background checks in select counties of the State of New York. Contact us for details.

Florida: Additional $25 Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) fee may apply for coaches in Florida. Contact us for details.

Coaches

Did your organization ask you to complete a background check through NYSA? You must be affiliated with an organization enrolled in the background check program.

For any questions or assistance, please feel free to contact us.