All-Star Usasf Communications Policy

[alpaca]

USASF_Policy_ElectronicCommunication.pdf

Has this been addressed at anyone's gym?

The parts that interest me the most are : Owners, coaches and other adult members of the All Star community are prohibited from having participants joined to or connected through their personal Facebook page or any other similar social media application. Minors are allowed to be connected to the official gym social media account.

I think this is great. I am social media friends with CP's coach and I really like her. She posts things that average 20-somethings post. Some of which are not necessarily appropriate for my young teen to see, when she is also expected to view this person as an authority figure.

and : Emails and text messages from a coach to any minor participant must include a copy to the participant’s parents.

I really like this too. Several times last year CP received text message from her coaches about changes to times, schedules etc. I needed to know that stuff too.

 

[quietmom]

I have one small, nit picky point to raise that I wish they included. I wish they had a clause that stated that they included special needs athletes of all ages in addition to the rules for minors. Many of the special needs adult athletes are vulnerable, under guardianship, and have the mental age of young children. Otherwise, I love this and think it is about time.

 

[EMMbaleena]

A similar policy was implemented in our gym last year. The kids had a hard time with the transition, they weren't thrilled we couldn't be 'friends' anymore. But, it helped remind them we aren't 'friends', we're their coaches. Everyone adjusted and survived.

In general, this policy is great.

One part that we found a little sticky, and that we're big on is, as members of the USASF, the athletes are required to follow certain standards under the abuse and misconduct portion of the policy. Without access to the pages of the athletes, we have to be creative in order to monitor that, whether it's making parents sign a contract of some sort that they're responsible for their minor's social media pages or something else...because if we're completely honest not all parents are watching social media close enough, unfortunately. Except of course all of you wonderful parents on here

 

[ScottyB]

Interesting point of the Policy:

Member Organizations may either use their existing policy or create their own policy. If they do neither, the
model policy created by the U.S. All Star Federation will become the default Electronic Communication Policy for
the Member Organization. Athletes, parents, coaches and adults associated with the Member Organization must
read and accept the Policy, whether it be the organization’s policy or the default policy.

Every member organization has the responsibility for the implementation of an Electronic Communication
Policy.

 

[alpaca]

Interesting point of the Policy:

Member Organizations may either use their existing policy or create their own policy. If they do neither, the
model policy created by the U.S. All Star Federation will become the default Electronic Communication Policy for
the Member Organization. Athletes, parents, coaches and adults associated with the Member Organization must
read and accept the Policy, whether it be the organization’s policy or the default policy.

Every member organization has the responsibility for the implementation of an Electronic Communication
Policy.

This confuses me. The current situation at CP's gym is that coaches and adult members of the gym are connected on social media and they text without a parent being cc'd. Does this clause mean that they can continue to do the same with no further effort? Or maybe it means that they can continue to do the same but must make it a written policy that parents sign and agree to?

 

[ScottyB]

This confuses me. The current situation at CP's gym is that coaches and adult members of the gym are connected on social media and they text without a parent being cc'd. Does this clause mean that they can continue to do the same with no further effort? Or maybe it means that they can continue to do the same but must make it a written policy that parents sign and agree to?

I think it means that CP's gym is fine to do their own current policy.

This clause definitely leaves the door wide open for interpretation right or wrong. Which in my experience when coming from a governing body, is not a good thing.

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

Here’s an interesting opinion that will probably get me slammed on here:

I am not a fan.

I think it’s too much “big brother” to say “if you don’t write this policy, we just wrote it for you.”

With that said, I believe that any coach/gym owner who doesn’t have some sort of accountability built into these types of communications/social media is a complete dumbass.

 

[SthrnCheerMom]

Here’s an interesting opinion that will probably get me slammed on here:

I am not a fan.

I think it’s too much “big brother” to say “if you don’t write this policy, we just wrote it for you.”

With that said, I believe that any coach/gym owner who doesn’t have some sort of accountability built into these types of communications/social media is a complete dumbass.

I do agree. I do understand (or at least I think I do) what they are trying to prevent. That is inappropriate relationships. I get that. But my daughter is at a point where she feels comfortable reaching out to her coaches to ask questions about her skills, upcoming practices, etc. I like that she can take initiative. I feel it really should be a parent/gym responsibility and not anyone else.

 

[coachrah]

I do agree. I do understand (or at least I think I do) what they are trying to prevent. That is inappropriate relationships. I get that. But my daughter is at a point where she feels comfortable reaching out to her coaches to ask questions about her skills, upcoming practices, etc. I like that she can take initiative. I feel it really should be a parent/gym responsibility and not anyone else.

Other sport GB’s have had this policy in place for some time now. In some cases it is asked on insurance applications. It could also very well be a requirement to be accepted and recognized by National Organizations promoting safety in sport.

 

[OldskoolKYcheercoach]

Other sport GB’s have had this policy in place for some time now. In some cases it is asked on insurance applications. It could also very well be a requirement to be accepted and recognized by National Organizations promoting safety in sport.

Yea, I’m not saying there aren’t valid reasons for it. I just think it feels like a little too much overreach, no matter what the activity.

In general, though, I’m pretty much a “stay out of my business” type person.

 

[quitthedrama]

I get the reasoning and have no issue with the policy. I do wish that members (paid ones I might add) would get updates and better access to all USASF regulations. I have membership with several organizations and they send policy and rule changes via email. I guess I should be happy this one is actually accessible.
As I said on a fellow fierceboarder's facebook post on this topic, I find more concern with gyms retweeting, reposting, sharing the very public "Mommy run" public pages of kids. Any post that has more than one hashtag is pimping your kid for exposure - and one look at some of the followers of some of these pages shows you the perverts are watching. Gyms who share any such page are exposing not only that child, but other children in their program to danger.

 

[MissCongeniality]

I get the reasoning and have no issue with the policy. I do wish that members (paid ones I might add) would get updates and better access to all USASF regulations. I have membership with several organizations and they send policy and rule changes via email. I guess I should be happy this one is actually accessible.
As I said on a fellow fierceboarder's facebook post on this topic, I find more concern with gyms retweeting, reposting, sharing the very public "Mommy run" public pages of kids. Any post that has more than one hashtag is pimping your kid for exposure - and one look at some of the followers of some of these pages shows you the perverts are watching. Gyms who share any such page are exposing not only that child, but other children in their program to danger.

#HeWhoDiesWithTheMostFollowersWins

 

[Eyes On The Prize]

Here’s an interesting opinion that will probably get me slammed on here:

I am not a fan.

I think it’s too much “big brother” to say “if you don’t write this policy, we just wrote it for you.”

With that said, I believe that any coach/gym owner who doesn’t have some sort of accountability built into these types of communications/social media is a complete dumbass.

I agree. I think a social media policy should be left up to the gym to create and enforce, not a governing body. I'm fine with the governing body requiring every gym to establish such a policy, file it with them, and provide proof that it was discussed with every employee but leave it at that.

Furthermore, every gym is different and every gym's community has different needs. I have a real issue with the last part, requiring a parent attached to every communication. I fully understand what USASF is trying to do but I don't think this solves it and I think it causes more problems. It's important that all children have adults they trust that are outside of their family and that they feel they can go to when there is a problem without feeling judged or fearing it will get back to their parents. While it is up to the adult employee in the situation to create and enforce boundaries between them and their athletes, sometimes coaches are the only trusted adult kids have outside of their family. Taking that away can be harmful.

I don't think this protects kids as much as it covers USASF booty when things hit the fan. I'm all for a social media policy and establishing, reviewing, and enforcing boundaries between adults and minors but not one like this. This could potentially make the very situation they are trying to prevent much, much, much, much worse.

 

[BlueCat]

I don't know the reasoning behind the rule. There may be a legitimate justification for the policy. However, while I firmly believe that it is a very good idea for every gym to have a well-thought-out social media policy, I do not particularly favor a governing body requiring it. Without more information, this feels like an overreach to me. It is a challenge now to even know all the different rules and guidelines you are supposed to be following.

IMO, any governing body should only do a few things and do those with great efficiency and precision. It should be limited in scope, and only make rules it is capable of and willing to enforce.

 

[Natalia5]

I get the reasoning and have no issue with the policy. I do wish that members (paid ones I might add) would get updates and better access to all USASF regulations. I have membership with several organizations and they send policy and rule changes via email. I guess I should be happy this one is actually accessible.
As I said on a fellow fierceboarder's facebook post on this topic, I find more concern with gyms retweeting, reposting, sharing the very public "Mommy run" public pages of kids. Any post that has more than one hashtag is pimping your kid for exposure - and one look at some of the followers of some of these pages shows you the perverts are watching. Gyms who share any such page are exposing not only that child, but other children in their program to danger.

Yes! ^^^THIS^^^ especially the "Mommy Run" part so annoying. I want to shake some of these parents and say "Hey, the cheerlebrity era is over dear" #SORRY