SPOKANE, Wash. — Mental health and safeguarding athletes from sexual abuse and misconduct has been championed by athletes at the highest-level.
Spokane Zephyr midfielder Emina Ekic, who scored the team’s first goal in history last week, is grateful a conversation about mental health is happening.
“Don’t get me wrong, I was physically tired after the game, but I don’t think people realize how emotional,” said Ekic. “I think it’s a great thing that we’re talking about and getting into.”
In the last two years, the spotlight has turned to women’s professional soccer when abuse allegations finally bubbled to the surface.
“Obviously, the women’s side, especially speaking on soccer and like other sports, has gone through things that it should not have gone through,” said Ekic.
Former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates released an independent investigation with interviews from more than 100 current and former athletes from the National Womens Soccer League and National Team. It revealed abuse dating all the way back to youth soccer.
The United Soccer League now requires all teams to have a Designated Safeguarding Officer in response to Yates’ report and the nearly two decades of sexual abuse by ex-USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar.
For the Spokane Zephyr, that’s Molly Schemmel.
Schemmel says the goal is to empower people to say, ‘This is not okay.’
“When people started saying, ‘There seems to be a pattern here,’ but who’s the one that was willing to stick their neck out, right?” said Schemmel.
“Because somebody had to at some point, to say, ‘This person who has this very high-level position for the United States Womens Olympic Gymnastics Team, is a bad guy.’ Who is willing to put their reputation on the line to try to take someone like that down?”
As the “DSO”, Schemmel is independent from the club’s owner, general manager, and Commissioner of the league. Her role is to take reports from players straight to the league to conduct an investigation immediately.
“The people that one could report to was a coach, a GM, an owner, who all had a stake in it,” said Schemmel.
And the stakes are high, especially for athletes who make it to the professional level.
“The NWSL, the National Womens Soccer League, was all there was for a professional female soccer player in this country, what are you willing to put up with to keep that?”
Schemmel calls her role one piece of a generational change in sports culture.
“The administration for those entities has to be committed to the change, and to a new way, and that maybe winning isn’t everything, that maybe lives are more important,” said Schemmel.
That’s why the Zephyr and the Spokane Velocity participate in ‘SafeSport’ training.
SafeSport is an online database and confidential reporting resource that allows athletes, parents, administrators, and coaches to report abuse or misconduct. Parents can also check if a coach is suspended or has their eligibility restricted.
For Schemmel, it’s a plan to make all sports better and safer.
“You can be a part of change, you can be a part of it by demanding something different, by keeping your eyes and your ears open, and if you see something that you just think this just can’t be right, report it.”
For Ekic, it’s about inspiring and protecting the youngest athletes growing up with women’s professional sports right in their backyard.
“We want to leave it better than we found it, and I think that’s what we’re doing all together, not just the players but the staff you know behind the scenes, Molly [Schemmel], Designated Safety Officer. so that’s the goal.”
SafeSport has been around since 2017 and has received thousands of reports and increased their investigators to meet the demand. Coaches who participate in the Spokane Youth Sports Association are SafeSport trained.
Kirstin O’Connor reached out to multiple school districts to ask about their knowledge of the program. Only Spokane Public Schools responded saying, “SPS coaches complete the WIAA Coaches Training requirements, as well as clearance through our usual HR process. Safe Sport is typically used by other athletics entities that don’t have a clearance process.”
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