Application
This policy shall apply to:
1) Adult members who have regular contact with amateur athletes who are minors
2) An adult authorized by a Covered Organization to have regular contact with or authority over an amateur athlete who is a minor
3) Staff and board members at a Covered Organization

(collectively, Participating Adults).

Content
All electronic communication originating from Participating Adults to amateur athletes who are minors must be professional in nature.

Open and Transparent
• If a Participating Adult needs to communicate directly with an amateur athlete who is a minor via electronic communications, another Participating Adult or the minor’s legal guardian will be copied.

• If a minor athlete communicates to the Participating Adult privately first, the Participating Adult should respond to the minor athlete with a copy to another Participating Adult or the minor’s legal guardian.

• A Participating Adult communicating electronically to the entire team will copy another Participating Adult.

• Amateur athletes who are minors may “friend” the organization’s official page.

Prohibited Electronic Communications
• Participating Adults are not permitted to communicate privately via electronic communications with amateur athletes who are minors, except under emergency circumstances.

• Participating Adults are not permitted to “private message,” “instant message,” “direct message”, or send photos via Snapchat or Instagram to a minor athlete privately.

• Participating Adults are not permitted to maintain social media connections with minors; such adults are not permitted to accept new personal page requests on social media platforms from amateur athletes who are minors and existing social media connections with amateur athletes who are minors shall be discontinued.

Requests to Discontinue
Legal guardians may request in writing that their child not be contacted through any form of electronic communication by the organization or by the organization’s Participating Adults. The organization will abide by any such request that their child not be contacted via electronic communication, absent emergency circumstances.

Hours
Electronic communications will only be sent between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. 

Monitoring
• The organization monitors its social media pages and removes any posts that violate the organization’s policies and practices for appropriate behavior.

• The organization will inform the legal guardian of a minor athlete of any prohibited posts, as well as the organization’s administrator.