Social Media & Electronic Communications (Athens Youth Hockey Association | Athens Ohio | Bird Arena)

PrintSocial Media & Electronic Communications
2019-goalie.jpgAs an affiliate of USA Hockey and participant in the SafeSport Program, the AYHA maintains a policy that all communication between youth players, their parents, coaches, officials, and all other Association members should be appropriate, productive, and transparent.  While effective communication concerning travel, practice or game schedules, and administrative issues among coaches, Association members, youth players and their families is crucial, the use of mobile devices, web‐based applications, social media, and other forms of electronic communications increases the possibility for improprieties, misunderstandings, and potentially unsupervised and inappropriate access to youth players.


Link
The AYHA utilizes the USA Hockey SafeSport policy for all social media and other electronic communications among youth players, their parents, coaches, officials, and all other Association members.

 AYHA Social Media & Electronic Communications Policy (2019-10-23)


General Social Media & Electronic Communications Policy 
All electronic communication between coach and player must be for the purpose of communicating information about team activities. Coaches, players, and all team personnel must follow common sense guidelines regarding the volume and time of day of any allowed electronic communication. 

All electronic communication originating from coaches or other Association member to youth players must be professional in nature.  Absent emergency circumstances all electronic communications (including social media), between coaches or other Association members and a youth player must copy that player’s parent or legal guardian.   If a youth player communicates directly with a coach or other Association member privately first, the coach or Association member must respond to the youth player with a copy to the players parent or legal guardian. When a coach or Association member communicates electronically to the entire team, another adult must be copied.  

Coaches and other Association members are prohibited from having youth players joined to or connected through their personal Facebook page, Instagram, or any other similar social media platform.

Coaches, team managers, and players may use email and text messaging to communicate.  All email and text message content among coaches, team managers, and youth players must be non‐personal in nature and be for the purpose of communicating information about team activities. Emails and text messages from a coach to any youth player must include a copy to the player’s parents.

Updated 2023-05-29.