LOUISVILLE, Ky. — This week, former Racing Louisville FC head coach Christy Holly has been at the center of the sexual assault and harassment investigation involving players on his team at the time.

As allegations of misconduct and sexual coercion in the National Women’s Soccer League surfaced, is there a question of whether athletes are safe in this environment?

The Sally Yates report outlines that verbal abusive behavior often starts in youth leagues and is normalized as players advance. So Spectrum News 1 asked one Louisville youth soccer league how youth coaches are vetted and what reassurance there is for parents.

Executive director of Mockingbird Valley Soccer Club Corey Johnson said he backs his club’s intensive hiring process.

“All competitive soccer clubs across the state have to go through Kentucky Youth Soccer Association’s background checks,” Johnson said. “So when we hire a coach, the first thing we do is bring them in for an interview with myself and the director of coaching and we see if they are a right fit.”

Along with a background check, Johnson said the club requires the completion of two different training programs — Safe Sport, focused on preventing and addressing abuse, and Player’s Health, which revolves around athlete safety.

The club even goes above and beyond those standards, paying the extra for the detailed background checks, having regular coaches’ meeting and reinforcing the club’s handbook given to every child/parent who signs up.

“Number one is player safety, number two is there having fun, and the third piece of that is if they’re having fun hopefully they are getting better,” Johnson said. “Player safety is the number one priority here. I’ve got my own kids playing in the club, so I want to make sure the people that we hire are people I feel comfortable with.”

The club’s code of conduct says that any coach is not to be one on one with a player.

Spectrum News 1 asked Johnson what questions parents should ask or look into before joining any youth sports organization.

“Really when it gets down to it what I would recommend to parents, yes you can look at clubs, yes you can look at records, what league they play in and all that but the most important thing is to find out who’s going to be the coach of that team,” Johnson said. “Is it somebody that you have found out that has a good report to them, that has a good history, that is supportive of athletes?”

Johnson recommends parents to vet coaches by getting feedback from past teams he or she has been a part of.

Mockingbird Valley Soccer Club plans to have an open forum discussion next week with the nearly 600 players and their families.