As the National Governing Body of Softball in the United States, USA Softball has taken steps in an effort to protect the youth who participate in our sport. Protect Youth Sports is USA Softball’s background check provider. Background checks are processed through RegisterUSASoftball.com. Background checks conducted by USA Softball are for the sole purpose of determining eligibility for USA Softball sanctioned events and are not used for employment screening. Local organizing bodies may conduct their own background screening and interviews to determine member eligibility in their programs.
USA Softball annually conducts more than 70,000 criminal background checks of its participants. Members who are background checked include adult non-players in youth play, umpires, scorekeepers, staff and other volunteers.
All coaches who wish to participate in the ACE Coaching Education program must consent and pass USA Softball’s background check in order to take the exam. Cost for the background check is included in the ACE exam fee.
Participants who process an independent background check, normally paid by credit card on RegisterUSASoftball.com, receive an ID card from USA Softball stating that they’ve passed the background check. Other participants may receive notice of background check clearance through the form of an ACE ID card or on their individual team registration card.
The cost for a background check ranges between $7.00 and $11.00 and depends on other services that can be bundled together such as ACE Exam or registration.
For more information on background checks please check your State or Metro USA Softball website.