The SafeSport banned list is a free public database. Many youth sports programs that search the database check a coach’s name once, at signup. One check is the gap.
In February 2026, the U.S. Center for SafeSport ruled a Texas club volleyball coach permanently ineligible. ProPublica and The Washington Post reported that he was training his club’s players again the next day. The national body and the region each received reports that he was still coaching, and the club kept its membership.
A week earlier, the same reporters identified eight coaches who worked with AAU-affiliated teams within five years despite bans or suspensions issued by other governing bodies.
Neither story is about a program that refused to look. Both are about what happens when nobody is assigned to look again.
[TL;DR] Highlights and Key Takeaways
- The list’s real name is the Centralized Disciplinary Database. It’s free, public, and searchable at cdd.uscenterforsafesport.org.
- Search by name, city, state, or sport. No account is needed.
- The database held 2,741 records on September 17, 2026. New entries carried three separate dates in the week before.
- The list covers people connected to the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movement. A coach who has only worked in independent leagues is unlikely to appear.
- A clean search isn’t a background check. A program needs both.
- Check every coach at signup, then re-check the whole roster on a fixed schedule, and keep a dated record of each search.
Quick answers to the questions boards ask
How do we check whether a coach is on the SafeSport banned list, and how often do we have to re-check?
Search the coach’s name in the Centralized Disciplinary Database at cdd.uscenterforsafesport.org. The search is free and needs no account. This article found no single rule that sets one re-check schedule for every program, so ask your governing body what it requires. A sound schedule is every coach at signup, the full roster at the start of each season and once a month in season, and the Center’s weekly sanctions email every week.
Our club checks SafeSport’s banned list at signup. Is that enough?
No. A signup check reads the list as the list stood on one day. A ban issued the following week stays invisible to a club that never looks again. In a 2026 case, reporters found a coach training players the day after a permanent ban, so re-check the full roster on a fixed schedule and keep a dated record of each search.
Our club is AAU sanctioned. Does that mean our coaches are actually screened and trained?
Not necessarily. A 2026 ProPublica investigation reported that the AAU didn’t verify that coaches completed the training course its own parent-facing page called mandatory. Ask any sanctioning body, in writing, what it checks and how often. Then keep your own screening and training records, so the club’s file doesn’t depend on another organization’s.
Our club uses contract coaches who also coach elsewhere. Whose background check and whose insurance covers them?
The background check is yours. Each club needs its own screening file for every coach who works with its players, contract coaches included, because each club may wrongly assume another club holds the file. This article can’t answer the insurance half. Ask a licensed agent how each club’s policy treats contract coaches.
What the SafeSport banned list is
The U.S. Center for SafeSport is the independent body Congress authorized to handle abuse and misconduct reports in Olympic and Paralympic sport. The Center publishes its public sanctions in the Centralized Disciplinary Database, commonly called the banned list.
The database’s own description says it lists people “connected with the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Movements” who are under certain temporary restrictions while the Center investigates, or under certain sanctions after an investigation found a violation. The database also holds certain eligibility decisions made by national governing bodies, their local affiliates, and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, including decisions made before the Center existed.
Each record shows the person’s name, city, state, sport, the date of the decision, the type of misconduct, and the action taken.
Did you know? The Center started announcing new sanctions in a weekly email on July 21, 2026. In the month that followed, 6,300 new visitors opened the database, a 125% increase over what the Center called “the previous period in 2025.” The Center’s chief executive called the database “underutilized.”
How to search the database
- Open cdd.uscenterforsafesport.org. The search form is on the first screen.
- In the search box, enter the last name only. A last-name search catches first-name nicknames.
- Optional: to shorten a long list for a common surname, select the filter icon beside the search box and choose a state. Skip the city filter, because people move.
- Repeat the search with the full name.
- Read each matching row. Check the city, state, and sport against what you know about the coach.
- Search again under any earlier last name or common alternate spelling.
- Save a dated record of the search. A screenshot or a printed page with the date, the name searched, and the result is enough. If the search returns no match, save that result too.
When a search returns a match, don’t act on the name alone. Two people can share a name.
Confirm the city, state, and sport. If the record is the coach, follow the steps in What to do when a name appears.
What the actions in the database mean
The Action Taken column uses a small set of terms. These plain descriptions come from how the terms appear in the database; the Center’s own definitions control.
- Temporary suspension: appears on records where the misconduct column reads “Allegations of Misconduct.” A temporary measure isn’t a finding.
- Suspension, Ineligible, Permanent ineligibility: sanctions that appear in the Action Taken column. Permanent ineligibility is what people commonly call a lifetime ban. For exact terms, check the SafeSport Code.
- “Subject to appeal / not yet final”: a note in the misconduct column. The decision can still change. Ask the Center whether the restriction applies during the appeal.
Some records also carry a no contact directive, probation, or required education.
What the banned list doesn’t cover
The database’s limits matter as much as its contents.
The list covers one system. It reaches people connected to Olympic and Paralympic sport: national governing bodies such as USA Volleyball, USA Hockey, or U.S. Soccer, and their local affiliates. A coach whose whole career ran through an independent recreation league, a school, or an unaffiliated travel club was never in that system. A record for that coach is unlikely.
The list isn’t a criminal record search. A person with a conviction and no tie to an Olympic-movement sport usually won’t appear. A person with no criminal record can appear, because the Center acts on its own findings.
A ban doesn’t enforce itself. The Texas case is the proof. The ruling existed, and the investigation documented him training players the next day. Someone at the club level has to read the list and act on the listing.
Sanctioning isn’t screening. A program’s membership in a larger body doesn’t mean that body checked the program’s coaches. The AAU investigation found a parent-facing page that called a training course mandatory. The AAU didn’t verify completion.
Ask any sanctioning body, in writing, what it checks and how often. Keep the answer.
Did you know? A coach who works for several clubs is a common gap. In August 2026, Maryland police arrested a soccer coach on ten charges. He had coached at a high school and, according to CBS News, at multiple private organizations. The charges are allegations, and he hasn’t been convicted. When a coach works for several clubs, each club may wrongly assume another club holds the screening file.
A re-check schedule that holds up
A signup check reads the list as it stood on one day. Bans issued after that day are invisible to a program that never looks again. A schedule closes the gap.
- Every week, if someone can: read the Center’s weekly sanctions announcement and compare the names with the roster. The weekly read is the cheapest check on this list. The Center sends the email to national governing bodies, media, and club owners; ask the Center or your governing body how to be added.
- At signup or hire: search every coach, assistant, team manager, and regular volunteer before that person’s first contact with players.
- At the start of each season: re-search the full roster, returning coaches included.
- Once a month in season: re-search the full roster. For a program with 30 coaches, a monthly pass takes about an hour or two.
- Before overnight travel: re-search every adult who is going.
- Same day: search any adult a parent, player, or another club raises a concern about.
Assign the job to one named person, with a named backup. Write the schedule into the program’s abuse prevention policy. A schedule nobody owns stops within a season.
Keep every dated search record for as long as the program keeps its other screening files. Claims involving minors can surface many years after the events, so many programs keep these records indefinitely. An attorney can say what your state requires.
What to do when a name appears
- Confirm the match. Compare the city, state, and sport, then ask your governing body or the Center.
- Remove the coach from all contact with players the same day, while you confirm. A temporary suspension in the database calls for the same step; the listing itself is the reason to act.
- Tell your governing body or sanctioning organization in writing, and keep a copy.
- Follow your state’s reporting law. If anyone in the program has reason to suspect abuse of a child, report to law enforcement or child protective services. The duty to report doesn’t wait for a database entry. Adults authorized by a governing body may also have a federal reporting duty. State rules differ, so confirm yours with an attorney.
- Tell the program’s board and insurance agent. Many liability policies carry notice conditions, so ask your agent what your policy requires.
- Write down what you did and when. A record of a fast response is useful later.
Where the banned list fits in a full screening process
The database search is one of four checks, and none of them replaces the others.
- A criminal background check finds convictions and, depending on the vendor and the state, some pending charges. A background check finds a record only when one exists.
- The SafeSport database search finds sport sanctions, including findings that never became criminal cases.
- Reference calls to earlier clubs find what neither a background check nor the database has. Ask each earlier club one direct question: would you let this coach work with your players again?
- Conduct rules prevent what screening can’t predict. Examples include a rule against one-on-one contact, a rule that a second adult is copied on every message to a player, and written travel supervision rules.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the SafeSport banned list free to search?
Yes. The Centralized Disciplinary Database is public, and a search needs no account and no fee.
Does our program have to be part of a national governing body to use the list?
No. Anyone can search the database. A parent can search it, and so can an unaffiliated league.
Our league isn’t part of any Olympic sport. Is the search still worth doing?
Yes. Many coaches work in both systems over a career, and a coach banned by a governing body may look for work in an independent league. The search takes a few minutes per name.
A coach’s name isn’t on the list. Does that mean the coach is safe to hire?
No. A clean result means the Center has published no sanction for that name. The result says nothing about criminal history, about conduct outside Olympic-movement sport, or about reports still under investigation.
What if a record says “subject to appeal”?
Treat the listing as a reason to act, and ask the Center whether the restriction is in force. The note means the decision can still change.
How often does the list change?
The database showed new entries on three separate dates in the week before this article was written. A monthly re-check is a reasonable floor for most programs.
Can we rely on our sanctioning body to tell us when a coach is banned?
Don’t assume so. In the Texas case, the region said it couldn’t act without complaints and video from a club director or parent. Ask your sanctioning body in writing what it sends and to whom.
Should parents check the list too?
Parents can, and the database is built for the public. A program that checks on a schedule and says so gives parents a reason to trust the answer.
Do we need to keep proof that we searched?
Yes. A dated record of each search is the simplest way to show later what the program knew and when.
Related guides on SafeAthlete: child abuse in youth sports, grooming in youth sports, and psychological safety in youth sports.
Glossary of Terms
- U.S. Center for SafeSport: the independent body that Congress authorized to handle abuse and misconduct reports in U.S. Olympic and Paralympic sport.
- Centralized Disciplinary Database: the Center’s public, searchable list of sanctions and temporary restrictions. Commonly called the banned list.
- National governing body: the organization that runs a sport at the national level within the Olympic movement, such as USA Volleyball or U.S. Soccer.
- Local affiliated organization: a regional or local body that operates under a national governing body.
- Temporary measure: a restriction placed on a person while an investigation is open. Not a finding.
- Permanent ineligibility: the strongest sanction, often called a lifetime ban.
- No contact directive: an order barring contact with named people.
- SafeSport Code: the Center’s rules that define prohibited conduct.
- Background check: a search of criminal and other public records, run by a screening vendor.
- Sanctioning body: an organization that sanctions events or member clubs. Sanctioning by itself doesn’t mean the body screened the club’s coaches.
What coach screening means for a league’s insurance
Insurance applications for abuse and molestation coverage commonly ask how a program screens its coaches. A dated record of database searches, background checks, and reference calls is the evidence behind the answer a program gives.
For the written plan that ties screening, training, and reporting together, see Sadler Sports Insurance’s guide to Safe Sport Act abuse prevention.