Texting, Emailing, Social Media, and Sport Apps:
How to Safely Communicate with Minor Athletes via Electronic Communications
Coaches, volunteers, sport administrators, and other Adult Participants1 often need to communicate with athletes to share important information regarding practices, games, and team updates. To make sure these electronic interactions remain safe, the Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policies (MAAPP) set requirements and guidelines that Adult Participants must follow when electronically communicating with Minor Athletes2 within the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Movement.
Electronic Communication Policy: What to Know
Like most of us, coaches and leaders in sport rely on electronic communication to stay connected with important stakeholders. Today, there are countless ways Adult Participants can connect digitally with Minor Athletes—from texting and direct messaging via sports apps or social media, to email and video call.
However, when an Adult Participant needs to reach out to a Minor Athlete, there are a few key guidelines they need to follow to be in compliance with the MAAPP.
First, it’s important to understand the most important component of the MAAPP’s Electronic Communications Required Prevention Policy:
- All electronic communications between an Adult Participant and a Minor Athlete must be open and transparent, unless an exception exists.
In our third MAAPP series article, Observable & Interruptible: Making One-on-One Interactions Safer Between Adult Participants and Minor Athletes, we learned how to foster safer one-on-one in-person interactions. Similar to observable and interruptible, all electronic communication interactions need to be open and transparent.
How To Make Communications Open and Transparent
Open and transparent communication means that another adult individual is included on the communication. Below, we go over a few requirements to help you make sure your communications are safe and comply with the MAAPP.
When communicating with Minor Athletes via electronic communication, Adult Participants must:
Always copy one of the following individuals:
- The Minor Athlete’s parent or guardian
- Another adult family member (like an adult sibling or aunt)
- Another Adult Participant (like an assistant coach or adult volunteer)
What if the Minor Athlete contacts you first and they don’t include one of the individuals mentioned above? When you respond, you must add one of the adult individuals mentioned above to the conversation so that your communication is in compliance with the MAAPP.
What if you’re contacting the entire team? When you contact the entire team, you must include one of the adult individuals mentioned above. If you choose to copy a parent or adult family member, you must copy a parent/adult family member for every Minor Athlete on the team.
Important! There are a lot of different forms of electronic communication today. This policy applies to all electronic communication, including direct messaging on social media.
Putting the Policy into Practice
Let’s take a look at how this MAAPP policy applies to sport.
Example: A U.S. Ski & Snowboard coach needs to contact a Minor Athlete about an upcoming one-on-one training session. They’re planning to reach out to the athlete via text. Before sending the text, they include the athlete’s mother on the message.
This interaction would be considered open and transparent because the coach (an Adult Participant) has included the Minor Athlete’s parent or guardian (the athlete’s mother) on the text message with the Minor Athlete.
Example: A USA Cycling junior club team is getting ready to end the season with a banquet. The assistant coach sends a text message to the athletes on the team with the event details. The athletes are between the ages of 15-17.
This communication would not be in compliance with the MAAPP because the assistant coach failed to include another adult on the communication. To make this electronic communication open and transparent, the assistant coach must include one of the following on the message: the athletes’ parents/guardians, another adult family member, or another Adult Participant (like the head coach).
Electronic Communications
Explore more information and examples around open and transparent electronic communication. Check out our Electronic Communication video below.
Disclaimers
1 Adult Participant: Any adult (18 years of age or older) who is: a. A member or license holder of an NGB, LAO, or USOPC; b. An employee or board member of an NGB, LAO, or USOPC; c. Within the governance or disciplinary jurisdiction of an NGB, LAO, or USOPC; d. Authorized, approved, or appointed by an NGB, LAO, or USOPC to have regular contact with or authority over minor athletes.*
*This may include volunteers, medical staff, trainers, chaperones, monitors, contract personnel, bus/van drivers, officials, adult athletes, staff, board members, and any other individual who meets the Adult Participant definition.
2A Minor Athlete is an amateur athlete under 18 years of age who participates in, or participated within the previous 12 months in, an event, program, activity, or competition that is part of, or partially or fully under the jurisdiction of, an NGB, USOPC, or LAO.†
†This term shall also include any minor who participates in, or participated within the previous 12 months in, a non-athlete role partially or fully under the jurisdiction of an NGB, USOPC, or LAO. Examples include, but are not limited to: officials, coaches, or volunteers.
Explore Our MAAPP Series