USA Swimming MAAPP: Guardian Must Be Included On Electronic Communication

The U.S. Center for SafeSport requires the national governing bodies of all sports to implement a Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policy (MAAPP) by June 23, and USA Swimming has released the full details of its MAAPP, including restrictions on social media communication, travel and one-on-one interactions between coaches and swimmers.

USA Swimming approved interim changes to its rules at an April 26 meeting, and those changes will be permanently implemented at the House of Delegates meeting in September. However, all USA Swimming member organizations will have to update its rules and policies to match the MAAPP by June 23.

You can read USA Swimming’s full release on the policy changes here. We’ll break down some of the bigger policy pieces below. The MAAPP focuses in on five areas:

  1. One-on-one interactions
  2. Travel
  3. Social media & electronic communication
  4. Locker rooms & changing areas
  5. Massages & rubdowns

The full MAAPP can be found here, and links to further information and FAQs can be found here.

When the new rules were presented at the USA Swimming National Team coaches meetings this week, those present tell us that the coaches were generally displeased with the new restrictions. One coach, who asked to remain anonymous, said that the three biggest areas of concern by coaches were how this would impact college recruiting, basic implementation/logistics and how the new rules would be policed, and the strain that the new rules could cause on coach/athlete relationships.

Specifically, there was a lot of concern about how this might impact recruiting – with college coaches concerned over being told that they would have to include a parent on all text message, email, and phone calls with recruits; with college coaches not being able to drive recruits to or from the airport during their official visits, and with recruits not being able to stay in dorm rooms during their official visits.

Social Media & Electronic Communication

We’re still digging in on specific effects of many of these policy pieces, but the social media policies are some of the more notable ones so far. (The policy uses the term “applicable adult” to define coaches, adult athlete USA Swimming members, meet officials & timers, LSC & club staff and any other adult who has regular contact with or authority over minors. We’re using more specific terms like “coach” or “adult” below for clarity, but the rules stipulate “applicable adults” for all of these policies).

  • When communicating with a minor through electronic means (including social media), a coach must include the minor athlete’s legal guardian in the communication. That means CCing a parent on e-mails, including a parent in text threads or other electronic correspondence. We’re told that this includes college recruiting, where an adult coach (an “applicable adult”) is contacting a minor athlete and will need a guardian on the thread with the athlete.
  • When communicating to a group or an entire team, a coach must include another adult in the communication. (Copying another coach, parent or other adult).
  • Coaches can only use electronic communications between 8 AM and 8 PM.
  • A coach cannot have “private social media connections with unrelated minor athletes” – that means coaches cannot be connected with minor athletes on personal social media platforms. (There is a stipulation for when an “applicable adult” is considered a celebrity, or has a fan page).

Update: USA Swimming has told us that phone calls are considered one-on-one interactions, and are governed under those rules, not the above rules governing electronic communication. That has a big impact on college recruiting calls. Phone calls between an applicable adult and a minor must be “observable and interruptible,” but don’t necessarily need a minor’s guardian on the line. We’ve followed up with USA Swimming as to what other things could make a phone call “observable and interruptible,” and will update when we know more.

Most of these rules do have exceptions for “emergency circumstances.”

Here’s a handful more, broken down by the other five categories:

1. One-on-one interactions

  • Must be observable & interruptible. That is, they must take place someplace where another adult can see what is happening and intervene if the communication looks inappropriate. This includes individual training sessions like private lessons.
  • Meetings in a room must have the door open and unlocked, and blinds open on the windows.
  • Meetings cannot take place in an applicable adult’s hotel room or “other overnight lodging location” when a team is traveling.

2. Travel

  • Applicable adults cannot ride in a vehicle alone with an unrelated minor athlete. For a coach to drive an athlete anywhere, they need either multiple athletes or multiple adults present.
  • Two applicable adults should work together to do room checks when a team is traveling.
  • Unrelated, non-athlete applicable adults cannot share a hotel room with a minor athlete. Adult athletes can only share rooms with minor athletes if the minor’s guardian provides written permission.

3. Social Media & electronic communication

  • As noted above

4. Locker rooms & changing areas

  • Applicable adults are not allowed to expose themselves to minor athletes for any reason, nor to ask a minor athlete to expose themselves to the adult.
  • As with the one-on-one interaction policy, an adult should never be alone with a minor athlete in a changing area.
  • Clubs are required to monitor locker rooms for safety. The policy lists several ways to monitor locker rooms, but doesn’t require any/all of them specifically: sweeping the locker rooms before athletes arrive, posting staff directly outside the locker rooms, leaving doors open when privacy is still possible, and making occasional sweeps of locker rooms with female coaches checking female locker rooms and male coaches checking male locker rooms.

5. Massages & rubdowns

  • The policy defines “massages” to refer to massages, rubdowns, stretching, injury rehab and things like cupping or dry needling.
  • Massages must happen in an “open and interruptible location,” even if the massage is given by a licensed massage therapist.
  • Coaches are not allowed to give athletes massages or rubdowns, even if the coach is a licensed massage therapist.
  • A legal guardian must give permission for a minor athlete to get a massage from a licensed massage therapist. And guardians must be allowed to observe the massage.
  • Another adult must always be present during the massage – no one-on-one situations with an athlete and a massage therapist.

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I see you Tennessee
3 years ago

seems like coaches are still following recruits on social media, did the rules change?

Admin
Reply to  I see you Tennessee
3 years ago

The rules didn’t change per se, but they were clarified as to how they relate to recruiting activities after the NCAA coaches all revolted.

https://swimswam.com/update-maapp-wont-apply-to-non-usa-swimming-activities-like-recruiting/

Entgegen
5 years ago

I feel like this will begin an era of mistrust between coaches and parents which will only hurt the sport.

jojonv
5 years ago

Listening to the Pacific Swimming Safe Sport Chair present the MAAPP at our House of Delegates meeting

“So, if my daughter was having a slumber party in our home, my husband and I would have to leave the house because we are adult members of USA Swimming.”

Absolutely absurd. Our children have to change their friendships because they and their parents are members of USAS.

Swimmmmama
Reply to  jojonv
5 years ago

Beyond that, the document also names non-USAS members.. ie timers. Well, I volunteer to time at every single meet as a parent timer. So I too can’t host a sleepover for my daughter and her best friends? Or do the rules only apply to me at a meet where I volunteer? There is a lot that needs to be clarified.

Coach
5 years ago

“The Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policy must be reviewed and agreed to in writing by all athletes, ….on an annual basis….” Anyone been able to get clarification on how to accomplish this with 8 and under swimmers (our youngest registered swimmer is 5)?

Bill Price
5 years ago

The other part of this policy is how will it actually be enforced? Who is going to track it? Is it a matter of self-reporting? What method is used exactly? Additionally I think we are going to see a lot of ‘rule-breaking’ when the current crop of rules come into effect. Why? Because we’re going to find out that some of them are simply unworkable. But we have to try them first to find out which ones they are. I’m reminded of the anti-gun control argument that says, ‘if guns are outlawed then only outlaws will have guns.’ You don’t have to be too deep a thinker to see how this applies to these regulations. It sounds like someone has… Read more »

jojonv
5 years ago

https://missoulian.com/news/local/missoula-swimming-coach-berkoff-says-he-fought-against-not-hid/article_02329f42-caf9-11e2-8e54-0019bb2963f4.html

Great article from the Kelly Currin case. I even included an excerpt. Who do you believe? The victim or the adults?

“Currin, now 43, used the sentencing as an opportunity to voice her displeasure with USA Swimming. She called for the resignation of Berkoff and executive director Chuck Wielgus. She also petitioned that Mark Schubert, former United States team director, be barred from the organization.

All three men, according to Currin, knew about Curl’s abuse for years before USA Swimming looked into the matter in 2011. Curl was banned from the organization in 2012.”

New Coach
5 years ago

Have they released how to report complaints?

Scenario: Coach receives an email from a swimmer
saying they were sick today and will try to go the next day because they want to be responsible young adults. Coach quickly respond thank you for letting me know but doesn’t CC a parent.

What are the penalties? What if a swimmer/parents reports this as what is currently against the policies? Do coaches get suspended/warned? In a situation like this, Is there a way to self report? What if a coach makes a mistake and doesn’t CC so they forward the email? What if they forward all communication a week later? Is that acceptable?

Do these policies start today?

Where… Read more »

SwimMom
5 years ago

Safe Sport can make all the rules it wants to, but until it starts actually following up on complaints and enforcing the rules it already has in place, nothing is going to change. I’d like to know how Safe Sport plans to enforce these rules, and what consequences will happen should they be violated. Because from what I can tell, the only complaints they seem to actually care about are those who have an actual criminal ruling, and they won’t touch it until that has become public record. Why have a Code of Conduct or any other rules if no one takes action when it’s not being followed? Therein lies the real problem with Safe Sport and with these new… Read more »

Admin
Reply to  SwimMom
5 years ago

SwimMom – can you be any more specific on the complaint you filed that they didn’t follow up on? I think that would help all of us have a better understanding of where you’re hitting a sticking point and how that might apply to these new rules.

About Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson

Jared Anderson swam for nearly twenty years. Then, Jared Anderson stopped swimming and started writing about swimming. He's not sick of swimming yet. Swimming might be sick of him, though. Jared was a YMCA and high school swimmer in northern Minnesota, and spent his college years swimming breaststroke and occasionally pretending …

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