A soccer coach in Kentucky was recently arrested in a sting setup by police:
Louisville Metro Police arrested a 25-year-old Louisville man after he allegedly arranged a meeting for oral sex with a detective posing as a 14-year-old girl online, police said.
Which only goes to highlight why background checks are important. However, they can’t flag someone who has never gotten caught before, so parents should always be diligent – especially with their children’s online activities. Why? Read further down as to where this guy was working:
Haile was a coach at Mockingbird Valley Soccer Club in St. Matthews. According to Mockingbird Valley’s Web site, Haile coached a team for boys under 9 and also was on the staff of the Kentucky Youth Soccer Association. It also said he is a former coach at Waggener High School and is a graduate of the University of Louisville and Ballard High School.
Emphasis mine – he was working at the state soccer association! I sure hope he had a background check done!
Not calling out the KYSA or anything – like I said, you can’t identify a sex offender until they actually get caught. Just highlighting that it can happen anywhere and predators can be found in unlikely places!
July 10th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Soccer Dad, do you have any rules about physical contact with your U12 girls, such as no hugging, even after an exciting win or fine play? How do you express and enforce these rules to the girls, who may want to innocently hug their coach after a goal? Honestly, in my U6 coed community team we hugged a lot, and one of the girls insisted that I hold her hand during warm ups and practice (her parents were there and approved, but I still had my doubts.) Thanks, Coach Tim
July 14th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I do have some but it is a very difficult issue for coaches. I’m working on a post about it and will share some more