SARAH POWERS-BARNHARD
Founder and Director, Powers Volleyball Club
Sarah Powers-Barnhard is the Founder & Director of Powers Volleyball Club in the U.S.A. A member of the U.S. National Volleyball Team & elite professional athlete, she came forward against her former youth club coach for sexual abuse. She’s a leading advocate and ally speaking widely about her survivor story in the hopes of protecting other athletes.
Sarah helps coaches recognize the signs of grooming, abuse & manipulation of athletes and played a major role in providing a safe space for other abuse victims of her former coach to come forward nearly 30-years after her own ordeal, resulting in a lifetime ban from USA Volleyball and eventually the Amateur Athletic Union that ascended him to a leadership position held for many years. She works with victims’ advocacy and survivor groups speaking frequently in support of legislation to extend statute of limitation laws, fighting for victim’s privacy laws, & educating people to embrace the concept of safeguarding in athletics and in life.
ANNE TIIVA OBE
Chairperson, Safe Sport International
Anne Tiivas OBE is the Chair of Safe Sport International (SSI), the leading global charity focused on safeguarding athletes of all ages. SSI is known worldwide for its three key areas of focus: research, education, training and consultancy, and athlete voice. Anne is the former Director of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU) where she worked for nearly 18 years until September 2019. In 2016, the CPSU received the UNICEF International Safeguarding Children in Sport award at the Beyond Sport Summit.
Anne was centrally involved in shaping and monitoring National Safeguarding Standards for Children in Sport in the UK from 2001. As a founding member of the International Safeguards for Children in Sport initiative in 2012 and current Chair of its Advisory Group, she continues to support the development of the project to promote adoption and implementation of the Safeguards in collaboration with UNICEF UK, Loughborough University, and a coalition of sports bodies across the globe. SSI is currently in the process of developing Inclusive Safeguards for Adults in Sport which will build on and link to this work.
Anne advises international and national sports bodies, international governmental agencies, and other groups, on child and adult protection and safeguarding in sport. She is a Director of the International Olympic Committee Safeguarding Officer Certificate Course. Anne is a member of the ‘I Coach Kids’ (ICK) Global Movement Committee and she has been a member of FIFA’s Expert group on Child Safeguarding. She is passionate about inclusion, child and human rights in sport, as the basis for everyone being able to participate in sport in a safe inclusive and enjoyable environment.
Anne has collaborated on several European projects on safeguarding in youth sport, most recently for the European Union and Council of Europe’s ‘Child Safeguarding in Sport’ project where SSI was the international expert organization. She was appointed to the Council of Europe’s new Pool of International Experts on Safe Sport in 2022.
Anne has written extensively on the topic of safeguarding in and through sport and is co-author of a chapter in the 2017 Oxford Textbook of Children’s Sport and Exercise Medicine – Protecting child athletes from medical mismanagement and other forms of (non-accidental) violence in sport. She is a co-author of the 2016 “IOC Consensus Statement: Harassment and Abuse (non-accidental violence) in Sport.”
YETSA TUAKLI-WOSORNU, MD, MPH
Assistant Clinical Professor, Yale School of Public Health
Yetsa Tuakli-Wosornu, MD, MPH is an Assistant Clinical Professor at Yale School of Public Health, a board-certified Physiatrist (Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation physician) & serves patients with common orthopedic conditions such as osteoarthritis, non-surgically. She uses evidence-based musculoskeletal medicine & translational research to relieve pain, prevent injuries, & optimize performance for patients with or without disabilities.
Yetsa founded the Sports Equity Lab (SELY), an interdisciplinary research group focused on reducing inequities in sport while amplifying sport’s role as a positive change agent in society. She worked as a safeguarding scientist and advocate in various capacities with the International Paralympic Committee, the International Olympic Committee, and other organizations. Her clinical & scientific work stems from her experiences as a professional track and field athlete (women’s long jump, Ghana) combined with being a public health scientist and physician.
PHIL DOORGACHURN
CEO: of YMCA Safeguarding – Australia
Phil Doorgachurn believes that all children and young people have the right to feel safe and be safe. He is the CEO of YMCA Safeguarding in Australia & the former Director of Safeguarding in Sport at LimeCulture. His cutting-edge research ‘Narratives of Abuse in Sport was awarded the British Olympic Foundation Award.
Phil consulted for the Children’s Protection Society in Australia, was a Senior Consultant for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) in the U.K., and was the past strategic lead for safeguarding at Arsenal FC, British Tennis & Premier League Charitable Fund.
Phil’s work extends across the globe, delivering keynote speeches at sports conferences. Phil supported the Australian Sports Commission and U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee, was a member of the UK National Safeguarding Panel in Sport and sits on the Australian Government Advisory Committee for child safeguarding.