Clubs/Organization Membership

Clubs/organization membership provides many benefits and have many requirements. Detailed information on club/organization membership can be found here.

Fees
Currenty, the Illinois Association club/organization basic fee is $75.00 (there is a $100 late fee for renewal applications received after May 1 for competitive clubs).

USA Track & Field has implemented a criminal background screening program on coaches and volunteers of youth clubs.

Background Checks have been implemented by USATF to:

1. Promote a safe, nurturing, and supportive athletic environment in which
   youth athletes can pursue their athletic goals;
2. Provide an environment where parents can feel good about allowing their
   child to participate in the sport of track and field.
3. Maintain the sport of track and field as a hostile environment for those who
   would seek to harm youth athletes.

Please note that this screening is not intended to serve as a pre-employment
background-screening program, nor can screening guarantee that incidents of
abuse by coaches/volunteers will not occur. Background screening is designed as
a preventative risk management tool, but does not ensure inappropriate behavior
will not occur.

Additional Information on background checks.

 For the safety of our athletes, particularly our youth athletes, USA Track & Field has committed to providing a safe environment in which our athletes compete and train. We believe this is paramount to the success of all our programs.

The United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has recommended USATF implement the program in 2014 and it will be required of all Olympic national governing bodies (NGB’s) by 2015. Coupled with our Coaches Registry, our goal is to gain awareness and protect the participants in our sport at all levels, but particularly those athletes who are 18-and-under.

The SafeSport course is an online training module put together by the USOC. The course covers fourteen lesson areas that include, but are not limited to, sexual, physical and emotional misconduct; local and overnight travel; bullying and harassment. The training videos in total are approximately 90 minutes long and include four quizzes and a final exam.

All USATF National Staff, Board Members, Youth Committee members, registered agents, coaches on the Coaches Registry, youth club coaches and youth club administrators are required to complete the USOC SafeSport course no later than December 31, 2015 to maintain active status in those roles.

Visit the SafeSport website.