Skip to main content

Search

Welcome to Support

How to set up background checks for volunteers (Protect Youth Sports)

TeamSideline runs Protect Youth Sports (PYS) background checks when volunteers register. Once TeamSideline has connected your organization's PYS account, choose Protect Youth Sports as the Background Check on each volunteer role in your programs, choose who gets the results by email, and review them on the Background Checks dashboard.

Applies to: Org admins · PYS Background Check module (all plans) · Programs with volunteer registration, and Team Registration plus Roster programs for team managers

Where: Programs > Manage Programs > (program) > 2 Configuration > Volunteers; Programs > Configurations > Background Checks; Reports > Report Dashboards > Background Checks

Before you start: get PYS connected

A volunteer role can't use Protect Youth Sports until TeamSideline turns it on for your site.

  1. Contact TeamSideline Support and ask to set up background checks with Protect Youth Sports.
  2. Complete the PYS application and sign the background check services agreement. PYS verifies your organization, which usually takes 2 to 3 business days.
  3. Tell Support your choices: the package (Basic, Plus or PA Package; Plus also needs your county), how many years a check stays valid (1, 2 or 3), and whether a check must be valid on the day someone registers or through the end of the program.
  4. Support adds the PYS Background Check module to your site and connects your PYS account. Protect Youth Sports then appears in the Background Check list on your programs' volunteer roles.

PYS bills your organization directly for the checks your site orders, and your PYS billing and payment details are managed with PYS, not in TeamSideline.

Add a background check to each volunteer role

A check is ordered only for roles whose Background Check is Protect Youth Sports. Set it on every role that needs one, in every program.

  1. Go to Programs > Manage Programs and open the program.
  2. Open 2 Configuration and scroll to Volunteers.
  3. Click Add Volunteer.
  4. Choose the Volunteer Type, such as Coach or Board Member.
  5. In Background Check, choose Protect Youth Sports.
  6. Click Add. The role appears in the list with Protect Youth Sports in its Background Check column.
  7. Repeat for each role that needs a check.

A role's Background Check can't be edited. To add or remove the check on a role you already have, delete the role with its red X, confirm, and add it again.

Require a check for team managers (optional)

In a Team Registration plus Youth or Adult Roster Registration program, the manager who registers a team can be asked for a check too.

  1. Open the program's 1 Setup.
  2. In Manager Background Check ("Require background check for manager enrolling a team."), choose Protect Youth Sports.
  3. Click Save.

Choose who gets the results by email

  1. Go to Programs > Configurations > Background Checks.
  2. In Results To, enter the email addresses that should get completed results, separated by commas, and check Pass, Needs Review or both.
  3. In To Volunteer, choose Yes to email volunteers their own result, and check Pass, Needs Review or both.
  4. Click Save. You'll see "Background Check configurations have been saved."

What volunteers see when they register

When someone registers for a role with a check, their registration page adds Background Check Information (Legal First Name, Legal Middle Name, Legal Last Name, SSN, Gender and Date of Birth) and the Background Check Consent Form to agree to. The check is ordered when they place their order.

Someone whose earlier check is still in progress, or completed and still valid under your settings, isn't asked again. Once their check has expired, they complete a new one the next time they register.

Review the results

  • Reports > Report Dashboards > Background Checks lists each volunteer registration with its Service Status, Result Status and Final Status. Click Dashboard Configuration, choose the Program and Volunteer Type, and click Apply.
  • The dashboard isn't part of the standard admin roles. Only admins with a role that includes it, such as Background Check Reports, see it. Ask an admin who can assign roles (Administration > Manage Users), or TeamSideline Support, to add it.
  • Each volunteer's checks are also listed on their account, in the Background Checks section of Enrollments.

For turnaround times and what each status means, see the Protect Youth Sports FAQ below.

If it doesn't work

  • Protect Youth Sports isn't in the Background Check list. Your site doesn't have the PYS Background Check module yet. Contact TeamSideline Support.
  • No check was ordered for a volunteer. Their role had no Background Check when they registered (adding one later doesn't check people who already registered), they registered for a different role, or they already had a valid check.
  • "To add a Volunteer, you need to make a 'Volunteer Type' selection." Choose a Volunteer Type before you click Add.
  • "Invalid "Results To" entry. Use commas to separate email addresses if more than one." Fix the address list and save again.
  • A message that starts "Please select "Pass" and/or "Needs Review" Check at least one status for Results To, or for To Volunteer when it's set to Yes.
  • A volunteer sees "SSN is required." PYS needs a Social Security number; a driver's license can't be used instead.
  • A volunteer sees "Background Check Consent Form agreement is required." They need to check the agreement box on the consent form.
  • You can't see the Background Checks dashboard. Your admin role doesn't include it. See Review the results above.

Good to know

  • Checks start at registration. Board members, and anyone who registered before you added the check, aren't checked until they register for a volunteer role that has one.
  • Officials self-registration has no background check step. Officials who need a check also register as volunteers in a program whose role uses Protect Youth Sports.
  • To pass the cost on, add a background check fee as an add-on for the Volunteer enrollment type. With Required? set to 1 per Season Year, someone who already bought it in a program with the same season year isn't charged again.
  • To check only approved coaches, use a private background check program (see the related article below).
  • To keep coaches who haven't passed off rosters, ask TeamSideline Support to turn on the background check coach filter on Assign To Roster. Admins with a background check role still see every volunteer.
  • To record checks your volunteers already passed, the Background Check Import on Administration > Import Data adds them as passed checks with their expiration dates.
  • To keep every adult's birth date on file, set Birthday to Yes, Required on Customers > Configurations > General ("Show or hide the parent birthday field."). The background check section asks for the date of birth either way.
  • Only TeamSideline Support can change your package or how long checks stay valid.

Related articles