Lawmakers in Ohio are seeking to regulate volunteer coaches. Roughly 55% of youth coaches in Ohio are non-teachers, meaning, after their initial background check, it is up to the individual school districts whether to require additional searches in the future.

Michael Rolfes, a referee for USA Volleyball with over 20 years of experience, and owner of Official Investigations & Security Services in Cincinnati, Ohio, noted that USA Volleyball does a county level criminal background check by name and social security number. Rolfes said that USA Volleyball also performs “a national sex offender search on every referee who is hired to interact with children.”

Lawmakers in Ohio have suggested that the individual school districts would benefit from a coaching fundamentals course that would be presented online. State officials hope to require and implement background checks for all people in direct contact with children by this fall.

Rolfes explained that youth coaches in Ohio are required to be fingerprinted through the Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation if they have resided in Ohio for five years. Anyone residing outside of Ohio during the five-year period must also submit to an FBI check. The individuals in Ohio are responsible for paying for their own background checks.

Rolfes stated, “It is highly important to fingerprint coaches as they can just pick up and move from town to town and state to state to avoid getting caught while still continuing their abuse of children.”

There is reason for concern in Ohio, as in the past, a coach was caught in a semi-nude photo with a student while another was accused of sexually assaulting a student on a team trip.

The Ohio High School Athletic Association expressed its concern that out of all of the coaches in schools, 55% of those are volunteers who are not subjected to the same mandatory background checks as school employees. The athletic association hopes to vote on mandating the web based training, which would provide needed ethical training.