GMAS Athlete Protection Policy

Green Mountain Adaptive Sports strives to safeguard our sport environments from misconduct, including athlete physical and sexual abuse. To that end, GMAS has constructed a protection policy designed to increase our community’s knowledge base, create stronger detection and protection systems for our programs, and to establish entry barriers for abusers. This policy is specific to events, programs and services provided directly through GMAS.

Engaging in sport should be an opportunity for all athletes to have fun and spend time with friends. Sport also encourages a healthy lifestyle and builds self‐confidence. Athletes often do better off the field than those who do not participate in sport. They learn goal setting, teamwork, and time management skills. Athletes are less likely to use cigarettes, drugs, and alcohol; they have higher graduation rates and are more likely to attend college.

Unfortunately, sport can also be a high‐risk environment for misconduct, including athlete physical and sexual abuse. All forms of misconduct are intolerable and in direct conflict with the ideals of GMAS. Misconduct may damage an athlete’s psychological well‐being; athletes who have been mistreated experience social embarrassment, emotional turmoil, psychological scars, loss of self‐esteem and negative impacts on family, friends, and the sport. Misconduct often hurts an athlete’s performance and may cause him or her to drop out of sport entirely.

GMAS is committed to improving the development and safety of athletes and participants involved in the community we serve. GMAS publishes this Handbook as a resource to guide GMAS’s development, implementation and internal review of effective athlete safety and misconduct prevention strategies.

For a copy of the full GMAS Athlete Protection Handbook, click here.
 

To report an offender, fill in the form below.

For a printable copy of the GMAS Sport Protection Reporting form, click here.