Policies - Travel
All Athens Hockey families travel locally to and from Bird Arena, many Athens Hockey families choose to travel as a group to clinics or camps or events, and most Athens Hockey teams travel to play individual games or in tournaments. Athens Hockey’s Travel Policy is based on USA Hockey requirements and model policy and intended minimize one-on-one interactions and reduce the risk of abuse or misconduct.
Travel with Athens Hockey is family-based, and Athens Hockey and its teams will always permit a player to be accompanied by a parent / guardian for transportation, meals, and lodging. Should Athens Hockey or one of its teams plan an event for which most players travel under the supervision of a coach / volunteer / employee without a parent / guardian, then specific policies would be enacted for that trip.
General Requirements
Parents / guardians of players registered for team play with Athens Hockey are members of Athens Hockey and as such are responsible for assisting their team’s compliance with Athens Hockey and USA Hockey policy.
- Players and their parents / guardians are fully responsible for making their own travel arrangements and assuring themselves of the safety and suitability of such arrangements.
- Parents / guardians are responsible for ensuring that a person transporting a minor player maintains proper safety and legal requirements, including, but not limited to, a valid driver’s license, automobile liability insurance, a vehicle in safe working order, and compliance with applicable laws.
- Athens Hockey members, coaches, employees, and volunteers are responsible for supervising players during the team’s games, practices, or meetings scheduled on the Athens Hockey official website or scheduled by the head coach, and in locker rooms as described in Athens Hockey’s Locker Room Policy. At all other times, parents / guardians are responsible for ensuring proper supervision of their own minor players.
- Except when also acting as a parent, Athens Hockey employees or coaches should not drive alone with an unrelated minor player and should only drive with at least two players or another adult at all times, unless they have written permission from the minor player’s parent.
- Athens Hockey employees or coaches who are also a player’s parent or guardian may provide shared transportation for any player(s) if they pick up their player first and drop off their player last in any shared or carpool travel arrangement.
- It is recognized that in some instances it will be unavoidable for an employee or coach to drive alone with an unrelated minor player. However, efforts should be made to minimize these occurrences and to mitigate any circumstances that could lead to allegations of abuse or misconduct.
- Individual meetings between a coach and an unrelated player may not occur in hotel sleeping rooms and must be held in public settings or with additional adults present.
- A coach shall not share a hotel room or other sleeping arrangement with an unrelated minor player unless the player is also accompanied by a parent / guardian.
- Players must not be required (for example, as a condition of maintaining or earning playing time in regular season games) to participate in events that require them to pay a fee in addition to their regular season Athens Hockey team fee or to incur substantial travel costs in addition to those usual for regular season play.
Prohibited Conduct & Reporting
Notwithstanding its “family-travel” nature, travel for team event is “a context that is reasonably associated with hockey” and, as such, is governed by USA Hockey’s SafeSport policy, the Athens Hockey Handbook (Code of Conduct) and in the USA Hockey Annual Guide (Code of Conduct, Zero Tolerance, SafeSport, Alcohol and Drug Abuse). Poor conduct by Athens Hockey members, coaches, or players while traveling for a team event is actionable by the Athens Hockey Code of Conduct Committee and should be reported to a member of the Athens Hockey executive board. Coaches may impose penalties such as benching for poor player conduct during travel.
Coaches should report such actions to a member of the Athens Hockey executive board as soon as possible, and the situation will normally be further reviewed by the Code of Conduct Committee after the trip, although in cases of actual or suspected SafeSport violations the Code of Conduct Committee may impose summary suspension pending further review. Athens Hockey prohibits all types of physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, bullying, threats, harassment and hazing, all as described in the USA Hockey SafeSport Handbook.
Members, participants, employees or volunteers in Athens Hockey may be subject to disciplinary or administrative action for violation of Athens Hockey policies or for engaging in any misconduct or abuse or that violates the USA Hockey SafeSport Policies. Reports of any actual or suspected SafeSport violations, you may email USA Hockey at SafeSport@usahockey.org or may call 1-800-888-4656.
Updated Oct 13, 2019.