CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

ETHICAL STANDARDS

INTRODUCTION

This Code is intended to provide both the general principles and the decision rules to cover most situations encountered by coaches. It has as its primary goal the welfare and protection of the individuals and groups with whom coaches work. This Code also provides a common set of values. It is the individual responsibility of each coach to aspire to the highest possible standards of conduct. Coaches should respect and protect human civil rights, and should not knowingly participate in or condone unfair discriminatory practices.

GENERAL PRINCIPLES

PRINCIPLE A: Competence

Coaches:

• strive to maintain high standards in their work
• recognize the boundaries of their particular competencies and the limitations of their expertise
• coaches exercise careful judgment and take appropriate precautions to protect the welfare of those with whom they work
• maintain knowledge of relevant coaching educational information related to the services they render
• recognize the need for ongoing education
• make appropriate use of professional, technical and administrative resources

PRINCIPLE B: Integrity

Coaches:

• seek to promote integrity in the practice of coaching
• are honest, fair and respectful of others
• strive to be aware of their own belief systems, values, needs and limitations and the effect of these on their work.
• attempt to clarify, for relevant parties, the roles they are performing and to function appropriately in accordance with those roles.
• avoid improper and potentially harmful dual relationships (participation in evaluations where a family member is being evaluated)

PRINCIPLE C: Responsibility

Coaches:

• uphold professional standards of conduct, accept appropriate responsibility for their behavior, and adapt their methods to the needs of different athletes
• consult with, refer to, or cooperate with other professionals and institutions to the extent needed to serve the best interest of their athletes
• moral standards and conduct are personal matters to the same degree as is true for any other person, except when coaches' conduct may compromise their responsibilities or reduce the public's trust in the Club.
• are concerned about the ethical compliance of their colleagues' conduct. When appropriate, they consult with their colleagues in order to prevent or avoid unethical conduct

PRINCIPLE D: Respect of Participants and Dignity

Coaches:

• respect the fundamental rights, dignity and worth of all participants
• are aware of cultural, individual and role differences, including those due to age, gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, language and socioeconomic status
• try to eliminate the effect on their work of biases based on those factors, and they do not knowingly participate in or condone unfair discriminatory practices.

PRINCIPLE E: Concern For Others' Welfare

Coaches:

• seek to contribute to the welfare of those with whom they interact
• consider the welfare and right of their athletes and other participants
• are sensitive to differences in power between themselves and others, and they do not exploit nor mislead other people during or after their relationships.

PRINCIPLE F: Responsible Coaching

Coaches:

• are aware of their ethical responsibilities to the community and the society in which they work and live
• apply and make public their knowledge of sport in order to contribute to human welfare
• try to avoid misuse of their work
• comply with the law and encourage the development of law and policies that serve the interest of sport.

ETHICAL STANDARDS

While many aspects of personal behavior and private activities seem far removed from official duties of coaching, all coaches should be sensitive to their position as role models for their athletes. Private activities perceived as immoral or illegal can influence the coaching environment, and coaches are encouraged to observe the standards of this Ethics Code consistently.

Specific standards:

SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Coaches do not engage in sexual harassment. Sexual harassment is sexual solicitation, physical advances, or verbal or nonverbal conduct that is sexual in nature, and that either:

• is unwelcome, is offensive, or creates a hostile environment, and the coach knows or is told this
• s sufficiently severe or intense to be abusive to a reasonable person in the context. Sexual harassment can consist of a single intense or severe act or of multiple persistent or pervasive acts

Coaches:

• will treat sexual harassment complainants and respondents with dignity and respect
• do not participate in denying an athlete the right to participate based on their having made, or their being the subject of, sexual harassment charges.

OTHER HARASSMENT

Coaches do not engage in or condone behavior that is harassing or demeaning to persons with whom they interact in their work based on factors such as a person's age, gender, race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, disability, language, or socioeconomic status.

PERSONAL PROBLEMS AND CONFLICTS

Coaches:

• recognize that their personal problems and conflicts may interfere with their effectiveness. Accordingly, they refrain from undertaking an activity when they know or should know that their personal problems are likely to lead to harm to athletes or other participant
• have an obligation to be alert to signs of, and to obtain assistance for, their personal problems at an early stage, in order to prevent significantly impaired performance
• who become aware of personal problems that may interfere with their coaching related duties adequately, they take appropriate measures, such as obtaining professional consultation or assistance, and determine whether they should limit, suspend, or terminate their work-related duties.

AVOIDING HARM

Coaches take reasonable steps to avoid harming their athletes or other participants, and to minimize harm where it is foreseeable and unavoidable.

MISUSE OF COACHES INFLUENCE

Because coaches' judgments and actions may affect the lives of others, they are alert to guard against personal, financial, social, organizational, or political factors that might lead to misuse of their influence.

TRAINING ATHLETES

The coach/athlete relationship needs to be structured. Coaches:

• discuss with athletes, as early as it is feasible, appropriate issues such as the nature and anticipated course of training
• work with athletes will be supervised by an assistant coach, co-coach or parent guardian at all times
• make reasonable efforts to answer athletes' questions and to avoid apparent misunderstandings about training. Whenever possible, coaches provide oral and/or written information, using language that is reasonably understandable to the athlete.

 COACH / PARENT RELATIONSHIPS

When a coach agrees to provide services to several persons who have a relationship (such as parents and children), the coach attempts to clarify at the outset the relationship they will have with each person. This clarification includes the role of the coach and the parent in the activity.

As soon as it becomes apparent that the coach may be called on to perform conflicting roles (such as mediator between parents and children or sibling teammates), the coach will contact the Club Technical Director for guidance.

SEXUAL INTIMACIES WITH CURRENT ATHLETES

Coaches do not engage in sexual intimacies with current athletes.

SEXUAL INTIMACIES WITH FORMER ATHLETES

Coaches should not engage in sexual intimacies with a former athlete for at least two years after cessation or termination of the coaching relationship.

Because sexual intimacies with a former athlete are so frequently harmful to the athlete, and because such intimacies undermine public confidence in the coaching profession and thereby deter the public's use of needed services, coaches do not engage in sexual intimacies with former athletes even after a two-year interval except in the most unusual circumstances. The coach who engages in such activity after the two years following cessation or termination of the coach-athlete relationship bears the burden of demonstrating that there has been no exploitation, in light of all relevant factors, including:

• the amount of time that has passed since the coach-athlete relationship terminated
• the circumstances of termination
• the athlete's personal history
• the athlete's current mental status
• the likelihood of adverse impact on the athlete and others
• any statements or actions made by the coach during the course of the athlete-coach relationship suggesting or inviting the possibility of a post-termination sexual or romantic relationship with the athlete or coach

DRUG FREE SPORT

Coaches do not tolerate the use of performance-enhancing drugs and support athletes' efforts to be drug free.

ALCOHOL, TOBACCO AND GAMING

Coaches:

• discourage the use of alcohol and tobacco in conjunction with athletic events or victory celebrations at playing sites and forbid the use of alcohol by minors
• refrain from tobacco, alcohol and gambling use while they are coaching and make every effort to avoid their use while in the presence of their athletes
• discourage gambling in conjunction with athletic events, at playing sites and during road trips.

PORNOGRAPHY

Coaches:

• discourage the use of pornographic material
• refrain from the use of pornography while they are coaching
• make every effort to avoid pornography while in the presence of their athletes
• do not engage in illicit behavior or activities with athletes or other participants over whom the coach has direct or indirect authority.

TEAM SELECTION

Player Selection

All player selection is the Club is performed by the Clubs Technical director in Coaches perform evaluations or team selection only in a manner consistent with the Ethical Code.

Recruiting

Coaches do not engage, directly or through agents, in uninvited in-person solicitation of services from actual or potential athletes or other participants who, because of their particular circumstances, are vulnerable to undue influence.

Tampering

In deciding whether to recruit players already on another team, coaches must carefully consider the potential athlete's welfare. The coach must discuss these issues with the player's present coach first, then the player's parents before approaching the athlete in order to minimize the risk of confusion and conflict.

In-Season Contact

Contact with any player(s) should not occur during the progress of a season when the player's team is still actively engaged in their schedule of play.

RESOLVING ETHICAL CONFLICTS

Coaches have an obligation to be familiar with this Ethics Code (or as it may be amended from time to time), other applicable ethics codes and their application to the coach's work. Lack of awareness or misunderstanding of an ethical standard is not itself a defense to a charge of unethical conduct.

When a coach is uncertain whether a particular situation or course of action would violate the Ethics Code, the coach ordinarily consults with other coaches knowledgeable about ethical issues or with the Club's Player Development Committee.

INFORMAL RESOLUTION OF ETHICAL VIOLATIONS

When Cub participants believe that there may have been an ethical violation by a coach, they attempt to resolve the issue by bringing it to the attention of that individual in an informal manner.

REPORTING ETHICAL VIOLATIONS

If an apparent ethical violation is not appropriate for informal resolution or is not resolved properly in that fashion, participants and the Club may take further action by:

Participant

• Contacting the Director of Girls or Boys Divisional or the Director of Mini's who will inform the Player Development Committee.
• Confirm with the administrator and Player Development Committee if there was an attempt for an informal resolution.
• Complete an Ethical Violation Form available through the Club administrator.

Club

• Will review the Ethical Violation charge relative to the Club's Code of Ethics.
• Will give a copy of the completed Ethical Violation form to the coach in question seven (7) days prior to the Clubs review.
• Will keep a written report on all reviews and actions.

COOPERATING WITH THE ETHICS COMMITTEE

Coaches cooperate in ethics investigations, proceedings, and resulting decisions. Failure to cooperate is itself an ethics violation.

IMPROPER COMPLAINTS

Participants do not file or encourage the filing of ethics complaints that are frivolous and are intended to harm the respondent rather than protect the public.