At one time, Rory Dames was mostly known as the longtime women’s soccer coach who led the Chicago Red Stars of the NWSL for nearly a decade. Overseeing Chicago-area youth powerhouse EclipseBut recently, he has become known as a coach Who players repeatedly reported for emotional abuse and manipulationThose reports from players did not immediately diminish Dames’ power; He resigned only when those accounts started becoming publicupcoming 234 page Yates report Her name has been implicated hundreds of times in systemic abuse in women’s football.
US Soccer, which oversees the US Women’s National Team as well as sanctioning the NWSL, suspended Dames’ coaching license and, Per USA TodayThe federation reported her to the US Center for SafeSport, an organization created by Congress to investigate sexual abuse in the Olympic Games. SafeSport has no jurisdiction over the NWSL, but Dames’ presence in the database still matters, especially given her status Continued prominence in Chicago-area youth soccer(also NWSL Dames banned for life.) SafeSport began investigating Dames, and anyone who searched its database found his name.
Now his name has disappeared, there is no reason to tell why.
Nancy Armor broke this story last week USA TodayIn response, SafeSport told them, “The Center does not comment on cases to protect the integrity of its investigations.” This is similar to the comments I and other journalists have received over the years, i.e. almost no comments. SafeSport, functionally, acts like a black box. It has little to tell journalists or the public beyond its annual reportAnd, yes, it handles a lot of sensitive information and difficult investigations with very real privacy and retaliation concerns. But this almost complete silence also means that the details that become public about the internal workings of SafeSport come from those who, after being victimized, should be willing to speak out again about the SafeSport process. . what to say to them don’t flatter oftenThose who spoke described SafeSport as unprofessional, drawn out, or even harmful,
Frankly, I’ve lost count of the number of Congressional hearings I’ve attended. Material i have Reading (or even written Self) It all revolves around this idea: What do we do about all this abuse in sports? And why are so many coaches accused of abuse still coaching? Yet, years later here we are, a coach with a long history of abuse has disappeared from the SafeSport database with no public explanation about it (at least not yet).
To be fair, SafeSport was set up to failIts budget is very low; Its case load is very high. It is still funded mostly by the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee, the same USOPC from which it is considered independent. Even under the best of circumstances – and when does that happen for any government agency? – It was given an almost insurmountable task: to eliminate sexual abuse in all Olympic sports. Now it’s not working and Congress, the branch of government that made this mess because it created SafeSport and it oversees the Olympic movement in this country and it got an award A 277-page report earlier this year said many athletes don’t even trust SafeSportIs shocked, shocked to find this He safesport not working very well.
Amidst all this the question arises as to what the United States owes its athletes, whether they are the ones who bring us Olympic glory or the person who does very well in college or even the kid who just does it for fun. Used to be? What level of security? How is the quality of coaching? And, yes, at the highest level, what compensation? But those are very tricky questions and right now, it’s understandable if people are upset that they can’t even figure out why Dames isn’t in the SafeSport database.