Softball New Brunswick is committed to practicing Safe Sport and ensuring all participants are provided with safe, welcoming, and accessible sport environments, free from all forms of maltreatment. By prioritizing the welfare, safety, and rights of our members, Softball New Brunswick is able to demonstrate our ongoing commitment to address the needs of the softball community in relation to safety in sport.
Softball New Brunswick’s Safe Sport framework will focus on three key elements: Awareness, Prevention and Action - all of which are strongly supported by governance, policies and procedures. The objective of this framework is to ensure all Softball New Brunswick’s members have access to the resources and support services they need to safely facilitate and participate in softball specific programming.
As the Provincial governing body, Softball New Brunswick is committed to providing safe, welcoming, and accessible sport environments, free from all forms of maltreatment.
Softball New Brunswick’s Safe Sport initiative emphasizes the importance of that commitment by educating individuals on the harmful effects associated with such behaviours, and outlining the preventative measures put in place to lower the probability of them occurring.
Softball New Brunswick has zero tolerance for any type of abuse.
Individuals are required to report instances of abuse or suspected abuse to their local association or Softball New Brunswick to be immediately reviewed under the terms of the applicable policy.
Softball New Brunswick aims to create a welcoming environment that reflects the rich diversity of our membership. Softball New Brunswick’s Inclusion Policy outlines expectations for all athletes, coaches, officials, volunteers, and administrators in an effort to better engage under-represented populations in our membership.
Make your softball environment a safe place for everyone. Order your Softball Canada Safe Sport Backstop Sign today through Softball New Brunswick's Office! A friendly reminder that Everyone Deserves RESPECT in Softball.
Softball New Brunswick’s Concussion Education Document is designed as a guide to help the management of athletes who may have a suspected concussion as a result of participation in a Softball New Brunswick activity.
The protocol aims to ensure that athletes with a suspected concussion receive timely and appropriate care and proper management to allow them to return back to their sport safely.
For a copy of the document, click here.
The Responsible Coaching Movement (RCM) is coordinated by the Coaching Association of Canada (CAC), the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport (CCES) and has the potential to influence all sport organizations and coaches. To reduce risk in sport, the Responsible Coaching Movement focuses on three key areas: Rule of Two, Background Screening, and Ethics & Respect Training.
By signing the pledge of the Responsible Coaching Movement (RCM), Softball New Brunswick is helping to ensure the protection of both Athletes and Coaches. Going forward, Softball New Brunswick pledges to implement policies and practices that focus on RCM’s Phase 1.
Softball New Brunswick makes every effort to ensure that the safety of members remains a high priority by continuing to support a variety of programs that are developed both strategically and ethically .
Individuals who coach, volunteer, officiate, deliver development programs, or who accompany a team to an event/ competition, who are paid staff, or otherwise engage with vulnerable individuals and who fall under Softball New Brunswick’s authority shall be screened according to the organizations Screening Policy. Softball New Brunswick expects that our local associations will screen such individuals according to their own applicable policies.
To access the full version of Softball New Brunswick’s Screening Policy, click here.
To access more information about general screening practices/ requirements, choose from the following resources:
Creating a culture where everyone can thrive is a shared responsibility. Safe, inclusive sport environments help make sport rewarding and enriching for all. Safe Sport Training gives you the knowledge and skills to create those environments by recognizing, addressing and preventing maltreatment in sport.
Together, we can make sport safe for everyone. To access the Safe Sport Training, click here.
As part of the Responsible Coaching Movement (RCM), Softball New Brunswick, in partnership with the Respect Group, is proud to support Respect in Sport Training for Activity Leaders, Parents and in the workplace. The Respect in Sport training programs educate youth leaders, coaches, officials, employees and participants to recognize, understand and respond to issues of bullying, abuse, harassment and discrimination (BAHD).
To access these training programs and become certificated through Softball Canada’s database, click here.
The Making Head Way training is designed to help you gain the knowledge and skills required to ensure the safety of your athletes, these concussion focused NCCP modules are an excellent resource and will review:
Foundations of Coaching Softball is Softball Canada’s first online National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP) module developed to introduce new and experienced coaches to the foundational skills of coaching and softball-specific coaching concepts, such as: developing a coaching philosophy, Long-Term Player Development, working with players and their parents, the coaching process, and player safety.
To register for Softball Canada’s Foundations of Coaching Softball E- learning module, click here.
Through the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (CCCP), the Commit to Kids (C2K) online Coaches module empowers Coaches with practical information to help them enhance child and youth safety in sport. It highlights the importance of understanding boundaries, sexual misconduct and reporting inappropriate behaviour.
Click here to access the C2K for Coaches online training.
Softball New Brunswick believes everyone has the right to enjoy the sport despite their level of participation. As such, Softball New Brunswick encourages all individuals to communicate openly, collaboratively, and use problem solving techniques to resolve differences in opinion. Resolving a conflict at an early stage may prevent a situation from escalating and resulting in a formal complaint.
Softball New Brunswick recognizes and respects that filing a report can be both a difficult and emotional process. To make the reporting process as simple, and as straight forward as possible, please refer to Softball New Brunswick’s reporting process to determine who to contact regarding your incident/ complaint.
Depending on the complaint/incident, members of Softball New Brunswick may be referred to the Sport New Brunswick Dispute Resolution Program. This is an independent 3rd party complaints management program. "Abuse does not belong in sport, and Sport NB is committed to offer this independent service to ensure a safety and quality sport experience for all".
All Softball New Brunswick stakeholders are expected to fulfill responsibilities and obligations including, but not limited to, complying with Softball New Brunswick’s policys, bylaws, rules and regulations, code of conducts and ethics. Non-compliance may result in sanctions pursuant to the organizations Discipline and Complaints policy.
To ensure policies remain current our staff and Board of Directors commits itself to reviewing and revising these policies as often as necessary in order to ensure members can participate in a sporting environment that is free from harassment, discrimination and abuse.
Click Here For Our Full Policy Suite
For more information or resources on Safe Sport, refer to the Sport New Brunswick website
