Rules, Guidelines on Communication with Minor Athletes

There are rules, there are guidelines and there are best and safest practices for communicating with minor athletes. The safest and best practices for coaches (and frankly, for student club and activity advisors) is to follow the U.S. Center for SafeSport’s rules for athlete-coach communication.

In short, the rules prohibit all one-on-one electronic contact with minor athletes, except under certain conditions. The rules are called the Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policies (MAAPP). These rules are designed to keep communication transparent, observable and professional, and to prevent any abuse, grooming and misunderstandings.

These policies and practices apply to all forms of electronic communication, including texts, emails, social media, direct messages and video calls. Phone calls are technically covered under the rules as well but are more difficult to add another adult. In those instances, you would want to be sure that the parent/guardian or another coach is present on one side of the call (or both) to avoid any miscommunication or misunderstanding as to what was discussed or said. This is truly designed to protect both parties.

Beyond That, the Rules are Very Clear:

• NO one-on-one contact: No. None. Period. Coaches and other adult participants are not permitted to engage in private electronic communication with a minor athlete. This includes part-time coaches, volunteer coaches and anyone else associated with the program over which the coach has control. No text messaging, DM/IM-ing over social media, and, as referenced above, makes phone calls very tricky. The bottom line here is that no coach, advisor or activities coordinator wants to be seen as having one-on-one contact with a minor athlete or participant that could even be perceived to be inappropriate.

While there is a good chance that these types of communications do, in fact, occur, it is imperative that coaches and advisors realize the risks that are inherent with these types of communications. In short, we’re talking about an adult ranging from 23 to 60 years old talking to a kid. The kid who may be developmentally and emotionally immature, and who may misinterpret and/or misunderstand what is being said. Imagine if this was your child and a 40-year-old was talking to them one-on-one with no other adult present about things that can be considered personal, emotional, etc.

• The solution – copy an additional adult: Any electronic communication with a minor athlete must include another adult. This other adult can be the athlete’s parent or guardian, another adult family member or another adult, such as an assistant coach, teacher, etc. This is the easiest solution, especially for electronic communication, such as texts, IMs or DMs. This is a simple step for coaches and advisors to protect themselves and their athletes and participants.

• Plan B – Team communication: If a coach sends a message to an entire team or a group of minor athletes, another adult participant must be copied on the communication. This is where the use of apps that include parents, other coaches, and other adults can really save the day. Apps like Band and other similar apps that are monitored, savable, traceable, and very transparent, make life much easier for everyone, including coaches and parents. Additionally, some of these apps can be monitored, saved and tracked by the athletics department as well. Nothing could be safer and easier to use.

• What do we talk about? Professional content: Students seek mentorship, especially from the people they trust and look up to like coaches and advisors. As such, they start to ask for advice in areas outside of the sport. Coaches and teachers and advisors got into this business to help athletes and students. This is where it gets tricky. Coaches would be well-served to be sure that all communication with minor athletes is professional in nature and relevant to their participation in the sport or activity. Additionally, by making sure there’s another adult in the communication, there will be no confusion among mentoring, counseling, helping and assisting, being confused with anything more nefarious.

• Social Media: As previously stated, there should be no private messages with a minor athlete on personal social media accounts. Period. An athlete may follow a coach on social media, but if the athlete direct-messages the coach, the coach should not respond. Instead, the response should be in one of the appropriate ways noted above.

• When to message them: Except in emergency situations, there should be no communication outside of the hours of 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., subject to the rules above.

• Parental requests: If a parent asks a coach or advisor to cease communicating with their athlete or participant, they should do so immediately, and notify their athletic director, supervisor(s), and possibly the district Title IX coordinator.

• What if they contact me? If a minor athlete initiates a one-on-one electronic communication, the coach must respond by immediately including another adult, such as a parent or another coach.

There are some exceptions to these rules, but they need to be documented immediately if utilized.

• Emergency exception: A coach may have direct one-on-one contact with a minor athlete during an emergency. Remember though, proper documentation immediately after this emergency, as well as communication with leadership in the athletics department and the district will be critical.

• Dual/existing relationship: A pre-existing relationship with the minor outside of the sport may be an exception if documented consent by the parents or guardians is obtained. For example, if the coach is an assistant coach or trainer at the school, but is the head coach or trainer of the athlete’s club sport, there may be a relationship that exists or pre-exists the athlete’s time at the school. But even in this circumstance, there will need to be ample documentation that the parents or guardians are aware and have consented to any communications. This documentation should be in writing, and departmental and district leadership should be copied.

• Parental consent: With documented parental consent, certain one-on-one interactions that are otherwise restricted may be permitted. These are very special circumstances and should be clearly and thoroughly documented with athletics department leadership as well as district leadership.

At the end of the day, the rules are designed to protect everyone and to keep all communications transparent and safe. When in doubt, add another adult, report any odd communications immediately, and keep parents and leadership in the loop.

W. Scott Lewis, J.D., is a managing partner with TNG Consulting, chair of the National Association for Behavioral Intervention and Threat Assessment (NABITA) Advisory Board, and co-founder and advisory board member of the Association of Title IX Administrators (ATIXA). He also consults with and trains numerous sports organizations and governing bodies at all levels from high schools to Olympic-level athletes, trainers, coaches and staff, including working with the NCAA, NJCAA and the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association (NIAAA). He is the legal counsel representative on the High School Today Publications Committee.