Coach's and Volunteer's Guide to SafeSport for Under 18 Athletes 2026

Under the 2025 MAAPP Education and Training Policy:

Who must take the SafeSport Trained Core course: any adult participant who

• has regular contact with minor athletes, meaning ongoing, direct and active engagement with them during a 12-month period, or
• has authority over minor athletes, or
• is an employee or board member of the organization.

Each national governing body (NGB) lists which roles, including which volunteer roles, count as regular contact or authority. Coaches are typically on that list.

Medical providers can take the Health Professionals Course instead.

Deadline: before regular contact with a minor athlete begins, or within 45 days of joining or starting the new role, whichever comes first.

Keeping current:

• Complete a refresher course every 12 months, starting the calendar year after your Core course.
• Retake the full Core course every four years.

Other adults:

• Volunteers with no regular contact or authority should take the Center's short Volunteer course (or Core) before interacting with minor athletes.
• Adults who travel overnight with minor athletes are treated as having authority, so they must take Core.

Courses are at safesporttrained.org. Organizations must also offer abuse-prevention training to minor athletes (with parental consent) and to parents every 12 months. The parent course is free. Survivors of abuse can request an exemption from the online training. Other exemptions are limited to cognitive or physical disability or a language barrier.

Not unless it's observable and interruptible. Under the 2025 MAAPP, all one-on-one in-program contact between an adult participant and a minor athlete must happen where others can see it and interrupt it. That includes meetings and conversations as well as training. The only exceptions are an emergency or one of these documented exceptions:

• Close-in-age: you have no authority over the athlete and are not more than 4 years older, by birth date. For example, a 19-year-old teammate and a 16-year-old.
• Dual relationship: you have a relationship with the athlete outside sport, such as a sibling, grandparent, other relative or family friend, and the parent/guardian has given written consent at least once a year saying which policies it covers.
• Personal care assistant: you help the athlete with activities of daily living and getting ready to take part, the parent/guardian has given the organization written consent, and you've met the organization's training and screening requirements.
• Emergency: use this only when a genuine emergency forces it, and document what happened.

Licensed health care or mental health providers (other than athletic trainers) may meet one-on-one at a facility or event if the door stays unlocked, another adult at the facility knows a meeting is happening, the organization has been told, and the provider obtains proper consent.

Only if the message is open and transparent, as the 2025 MAAPP requires. This covers email, phone calls, video calls, video coaching, texting, social media and any other electronic medium.

• Copy in another adult. Every one-on-one message to a minor athlete must include their parent/guardian, another adult family member, or another adult participant (such as an assistant coach). This applies to your reply even if the athlete messaged you first.
• Use the right platform. Only use platforms that let you include those adults.
• Team messages count too. When you message the whole team or a group of athletes, include their parents/guardians (or another adult family member), or another adult participant. Example from the MAAPP: a coach texting 10 athletes either adds a parent for each (20 recipients) or adds one other adult participant (11 recipients).
• Keep it professional. All messages from adults to minor athletes must be professional in nature.
• Stop if asked. If a parent/guardian asks in writing that you not contact their child electronically, you must stop, except in an emergency.

Recommended: send messages only between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. in the athlete's local time (except in emergencies or for international event travel). Adults shouldn't have private social media connections with minor athletes unless they have a dual relationship or meet the close-in-age exception.

Team parents and other volunteers: if your club has authorized or appointed you to have regular contact with the athletes, you are an adult participant and these rules apply to your messages too.

Under the 2025 MAAPP transportation policy, in-program travel with a minor athlete must be observable and interruptible. You may drive a minor athlete if at least one of these is true:

• You have advance, written consent from the athlete's parent/guardian to transport them one-on-one, obtained at least once a year (it can be withdrawn at any time), or
• Another adult participant is in the vehicle with you, or
• At least two minors aged 8 or older are in the vehicle, or
• An exception applies, such as the close-in-age or dual-relationship exception, or an emergency.

Team or league transportation: if the organization authorizes or funds the travel, written parent/guardian consent is required for every minor athlete at least once a year.

Recommended for carpools: parents pick up their own child first and drop them off last.

Yes, if you meet all three 2025 MAAPP requirements for individual training sessions:

1. Observable and interruptible. The session must happen where it can be seen and interrupted, unless an exception applies.
2. Written consent. You need advance, written consent from the athlete's parent/guardian at least once a year. They can withdraw it at any time.
3. Parents can watch. Parents/guardians must be allowed to observe the session.

Recommended: at a facility under the organization's jurisdiction, another adult participant monitors each session. That means reviewing the consent form, knowing the session is happening and roughly how long it will run, and dropping in on it. Parents are also encouraged to take the Center's free parent course before giving consent.

Under the 2025 MAAPP:

• Any in-program contact with minor athletes in a locker room, changing area or similar space must be observable and interruptible.
• No photos or recordings. No adult participant or minor athlete may use a device's camera or recording function in a locker room or changing area.
• No undressing in front of minors. Adults must not remove their clothes or behave in a way that intentionally or recklessly exposes their breasts, buttocks, groin or genitals to a minor athlete.
• No showering with minors. The exceptions are an adult who meets the close-in-age exception, or a pre- or post-activity rinse while everyone wears swimwear.
• Parent requests. A parent/guardian can ask in writing that their child not change or shower with adults, and the organization and adults must follow that request.

The organization must provide a private or semi-private place to change at its facilities and sanctioned events, and monitor locker room use.

Celebration or media photos in a locker room are allowed only with parent/guardian consent, the organization's approval of that specific occasion, two or more adult participants present, and everyone fully clothed.

Under the 2025 MAAPP lodging policy, which covers hotels, rentals such as Airbnb or VRBO, and residential settings including billeting:

• No sharing a room. An adult participant cannot share a hotel room or otherwise sleep in the same room as a minor athlete, unless an exception applies (such as close-in-age or a dual relationship) and the parent/guardian has given advance written consent for that specific lodging arrangement.
• Annual written consent. A parent/guardian must give written consent for all in-program lodging at least once a year, and can withdraw it at any time.
• Room checks need two adults. If the team does room checks, at least two adults must be present.
• Overnight chaperones need training. An adult who travels overnight with minor athletes on lodging the organization arranges or funds is treated as having authority over them, so they must complete SafeSport training. The only exception is the close-in-age exception.

All in-program contact during the trip must still be observable and interruptible.

The 2025 MAAPP covers manual therapy and therapeutic and recovery modalities, which include first aid, massage, taping, cupping, stretching and cryotherapy. Whenever one is done for a minor athlete:

• Another adult participant must be physically present, and the session must be observable and interruptible.
• A parent/guardian must give consent at least once a year before any treatment. The athlete or parent can withdraw consent at any time.
• The athlete stays fully or partly clothed, with breasts, buttocks, groin and genitals always covered.
• Parents/guardians may be in the room to watch, except at venues that limit credentials.
• The provider must explain each step before doing it and check the athlete is OK with it throughout.

Only the emergency exception applies here. Close-in-age and dual-relationship exceptions don't.

Recommended: only licensed providers should give these treatments, techniques that reduce touching should be used where possible, and coaches should not massage minor athletes, even if they are licensed massage therapists.

Under the 2026 SafeSport Code, every adult participant has a personal duty to report. Tell the right people if you learn of, or reasonably suspect, any of the following:

Key points:

• Reporting child abuse only to the Center isn't enough. You must report to law enforcement too.
• Telling a supervisor doesn't satisfy your duty, and you must report even if you think someone already has.
• Not knowing your obligations is no defense.
• Abuse that happened when the victim was a minor counts as child abuse even if they are now an adult.
• The duty is ongoing: report new information, such as names of witnesses, as you learn it.

Your state's child abuse reporting law also applies, whether or not your league is in the Olympic and Paralympic Movement.

Two ways to report to the Center:

• Online: uscenterforsafesport.org/report-a-concern
• Phone: 1-833-5US-SAFE (1-833-587-7233), Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Mountain Time.

For child abuse or immediate danger, contact law enforcement first, then the Center.

Include:

• The victim's contact information, and their parents'/guardians' if a minor is involved
• What happened, where, and who was involved
• Information about the alleged abuser
• Your own name and contact details, which show you met your reporting obligation

After you report: keep a copy of the report, the report number, and the name and contact details of the person who took it. If you learn anything new later, such as names of witnesses, you must report that too.

Anonymous reports are allowed, but they can limit the Center's ability to investigate and it can't confirm you met your mandatory duty, so the Center strongly encourages you to give your name. The Center doesn't disclose a third-party reporter's identity unless that's necessary for the case, and it will tell you first if possible.

Your job is to report, not to investigate.

• Don't question the athlete to work out what happened, and don't judge whether it's true. The 2026 SafeSport Code says participants should not investigate or try to evaluate the credibility of allegations of sexual misconduct or child abuse. A good-faith report doesn't need proof.
• If anyone is in immediate danger, or it involves child abuse, report to law enforcement first (call 911 in an emergency), then to the U.S. Center for SafeSport.
• Write down what you know so your report is complete: the athlete's contact details (and their parents'), what happened, where and who was involved, and details of the alleged abuser.
• Report it yourself. Telling your head coach, club director or league president does not meet your obligation, and you must report even if you think someone else already has.

The athlete is never required to report their own abuse. The Code also prohibits retaliation, meaning any adverse action or threat against someone for reporting or taking part in an investigation, and adults must report retaliation to the Center.

The 2025 MAAPP lists these as recommended policies. Your national governing body (NGB) can make them mandatory.

• Out-of-program contact: don't have contact with a minor athlete outside sport without the parent/guardian's consent, even if it isn't one-on-one.
• Gifts: don't give personal gifts to individual minor athletes. Gifts given equally to all athletes for a motivational or educational purpose are fine.
• Photos and video: take them only in public view and within generally accepted standards of decency. Don't publicly share or post photos or videos of a minor athlete unless both the parent/guardian and the athlete have consented.

The out-of-program contact and gift recommendations don't apply if you meet the close-in-age exception (you have no authority over the athlete and are no more than 4 years older) or have a dual relationship with the athlete outside sport, such as being a relative.