Actually the new rules go a little further than that. The rule was the result of a new mandate from the Center for SafeSport a few months ago. USAW membership now requires SafeSport certification for any athlete who will turn 18 in the current membership year. This ended up affecting several of our athletes at the Junior Nationals in June. They already had their membership but were required to complete SafeSport training before they were allowed to compete.
For the current season, anyone born before 9/1/2002 will need to complete SafeSport training before their membership will be processed.