Help protect our swimmers in the youth sports programs

As you probably know by now, participating in summer league swimming is a great way for young people to build character and learn valuable life skills that carry on beyond the pool deck. Unfortunately, youth sports programs (including summer league swim programs) can also attract dangerous individuals in search of young victims to groom for future abuse. Because of the age and vulnerability of many summer league swimmers, it’s imperative that all swimmers are assured a safer and more secure environment-an environment with a reduced risk of physical, emotional, mental, or sexual harm.

For those reasons, regular background checks for summer league swim coaches, officials, volunteers, and staff at summer league swimming events are fast-becoming a requirement in many cities and states. If they’re not required today, they will be soon – and for good reason.

To start the process, please have you or your candidate click here to join Summer League Swimming to be eligible for our background check.

It’s true! And many of those 1,200 companies offer low-quality background checks. These low-quality background checks have plagued the youth sports sector – a major factor in creating unsafe environments for children and youth on and off the pool deck.

At SLS, we want to do better so you can do better. So allow us to introduce you to our partner in creating a safer environment…

Sterling Volunteers
(Don’t let the name fool you-it’s not just for volunteers!)

To help improve the sport and change this trend, Summer League Swimming has formed a strategic partnership with Sterling Volunteers, an industry thought leader and trusted advisor in background screening.

Sterling Volunteers is the only background check platform tailored to the specific needs of youth sports organizations, and is designed to make background screening of SLS members faster, easier and less costly.

To save money, many organizations only offer a basic background check that does NOT include a county search. Why is this a big deal? Because only about half of the counties in the US report to the national database. That means about half of offenders can slip through the cracks without a proper county search. 

At SLS, we know you want to go that extra lap to create a safer environment for your swimmers so we offer nothing less than an ADVANCED LEVEL Background Check.

The Sterling Volunteers Advanced Level background check offered by Summer League Swimming includes:

• Social Security Trace
• Government Watch List Search (OFAC)
• 50 State DOJ Sex Offender Registry
• Nationwide Database Search with primary source validation
• Automatic current county/state of residence search going back 7 years
• Monthly updates. Information is updated for you free of charge each month for the first year so you have the added security of monitoring your information for new criminal records.

We offer an essential service for maintaining safer environments for everyone involved -without breaking your budget or significantly delaying coach searches. Sterling Volunteers helps your swim league or team gain confidence in its coaches, volunteers, and officials by delivering thorough and compliant background checks. By enabling SLS members to order, manage and share their background checks via a secure online platform, we create a community of vetted coaches, volunteers, and officials. Sterling’s extensive expertise in screening and compliance best practices help SLS recruit the best coaches, volunteers, and officials in order to maintain a safe environment and positive reputation. Sterling Volunteers is backed by Sterling Talent Solutions, the world’s largest background screening company.

Let us help you get started in the right lane!

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 background checks are housed in a completely secure environment and are fully FCRA compliant.

Members are notified when their results are available and can view and own a copy of their background check to share with other organizations.

The majority of searches will be returned in 24 to 72 hours, ensuring the safety of coaches and volunteers won’t significantly delay your team’s hiring process.

Members complete their registration and authorize their own background checks online in just a few minutes.  It takes just 4 easy steps.

The Sterling Volunteer Fast-Pass

For SLS members: Sterling Volunteers saves time and money by eliminating the need for multiple background checks. Once you complete an online background check with Sterling Volunteers, your screening status is current and you have the option of reusing it with any other Sterling Volunteer member organization.

Sterling Volunteers allows you to own, control, maintain and share your background check through the Sterling Volunteers self-service online platform.

Advanced Level Background Check

The Sterling Volunteers Advanced Level background check offered by Summer League Swimming includes:

• Social Security Trace
• Government Watch List Search (OFAC)
• 50 State DOJ Sex Offender Registry
• Nationwide Database Search with primary source validation
• Automatic current county/state of residence search going back 7 years
• Monthly updates. Information is updated for you free of charge each month for the first year so you have the added security of monitoring your information for new criminal records.