From the JVA Office: Considerations for a Cohesive Background Screening Process

Our youth athletes deserve to be safe, and JVA is committed to doing everything possible to protect our athletes from any form of abuse or danger.  JVA’s first point of defense is our Gold Standard Background screen.  Since 2015 JVA has been working with NCSI to manage background checks and safeguard our volleyball community. We require all adult club members to pass a Gold Standard Background Screen and Safety Training through either JVA or USAV.

USA Volleyball uses the same Gold Standard Background screen with NCSI.  They also require Abuse Prevention training via Safe Sport.  In order to save Club Directors and Coaches time, as well as and money, JVA recognizes and accepts the USAV process.

View the USAV Background Screen Policy

View the JVA Background Screen Policy

Currently, USAV will not give their members the option to share their personal background screen results with JVA directly through NCSI and AES. Therefore, coaches must go through the additional process of submitting this information directly to JVA through the JVA Background Screen Form.  This process has been the root cause of much frustration for the thousands of Club Directors and Coaches trying to get approved for JVA Events.

We believe that it is the prerogative of the Coach completing the background screen to decide who has access to the background screen report. If this information could be shared, any USAV Verified Coach in AES would automatically be cleared to coach at a JVA event without having to go through the additional JVA Verification process.

Our recommendation is that USAV allows their Coaches to make this decision for themselves, whether to share or not share their background screen report.

This could be as simple as adding a checkbox to their background screen application form that gives Coaches the option to share their results with third parties.

We have reached out to USAV in an attempt to work together to find a solution that will save us all time and money.

In the meantime, we encourage USAV members to express your frustration and desire to find a solution directly with USAV. Reach out via email postmaster@usav.org and/or phone at (719) 228-6800.  We believe this message will carry much more weight if it is coming directly from the members that they need to serve.

This could be a turning point in JVA/USAV relations in that we can find a common ground to improve the junior club experience. The JVA is a voice for junior volleyball clubs and their members, and we’ve…