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Community Guidelines

ConnectedCoaches is a coach-to-coach community

We believe coaches benefit from the free flow of ideas on shared interests.

We let conversations flow and we do not pre-moderate, meaning your posts will be published instantly without our prior approval.

That said, we want to ensure ConnectedCoaches is a friendly and useful place to visit for all coaches, regardless of their background or ideas. So we expect you to abide by these common-sense guidelines whenever you post on the ConnectedCoaches site.

Remember, you can report any content or posts that break our guidelines by clicking on the three dots above each post then selecting ‘Report post to group admins’ button. We rely on members to do this.

Four Guidelines which we expect all participants to follow

Your contributions should be:

  1. Respectful
  2. Constructive
  3. Careful
  4. Focused

1 Be respectful

We want coaches to feel comfortable about posting their views, experiences and answers. Please use the same courtesy when posting on ConnectedCoaches as you would use when speaking to someone face-to-face.

Examples of dos and don’ts.

Dos:

  • Bear in mind how challenging coaching can be. If there is one thing all of us could do with, it’s some moral support.
  • It’s nice to say thanks if someone have helped you with a query. This can be done by clicking the “Like” button and posting a short comment.
  • Respect that people may have different political, religious, philosophical and cultural backgrounds to you.

Don'ts:

  • No inflammatory messages designed to foster arguments (known as 'trolling').
  • No posts or links directing users to any information that would constitute a violation of the Coaching Code of Conduct.
  • No racist, sexist, disablist, ageist, homophobic, abusive, threatening, obscene or pornographic content or language.
  • Definitely no inappropriate adult topics, especially innuendo.
  • No comments that attack or ridicule people, groups of people or an organisation (known as ‘flaming’)
  • No spamming with links to promote your own events, products or services, as it annoys members.
  • No posting links to your own personal blogs.
  • No asking members to participate in your research unless it has been agreed with the Community Manager. Contact the Community Manager for more information on how we can support your research efforts.

If you see any of these, please don't respond; simply report the post to a group admin using the ‘Report post to group admins’ button described above.

2 Be constructive

We want to build a thriving coaching community interested in healthy debate. Our watchword is “civil dialogue”: We will encourage a broad range of viewpoints, as long as people are civil. ConnectedCoaches can help by being positive and constructive with posts even when we all disagree with each other.

Avoid angry rants or excessive arguing. ‘I’m right, you’re wrong’ type posts will be deleted.

 

3 Be careful

Do Respect copyright ownership

Ensure you have created the content you are posting yourself or alternatively have permission from the copyright holder to upload it to ConnectedCoaches.

As you can only share a video, by pasting a link rather than uploading a video, you can share video that you haven’t created yourself, providing you share the video from a website that is accessible by the general public and credit the person who filmed it.

Do play your part in safeguarding children

All material you post that features children or young people should follow the NSPCC, Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU) best-practice guidelines. The CPSU does not advocate the banning of images and videos featuring children in sport but recommends these guidelines.

  • Do not include the name of a child whose image is being used or any other identifying information
  • Ask for the child’s and parental permission to use their image on ConnectedCoaches. You can use the CPSU Photography and filming permission form to obtain consent
  • Only use images of children in suitable dress/kit (including relevant required or recommended safety wear) to reduce the risk of inappropriate use.
  • In sports where the potential misuse of images is much greater (eg gymnastics or swimming), the content of the image should focus on the activity rather than the child and should avoid full face and body shots. So for example shots of children in a pool would be appropriate, or if poolside, waist or shoulder up.

If you spot any inappropriate images on ConnectedCoaches, report them immediately using the ‘Report post to group admins’ button described above.

Do protect peoples’ privacy

Please do not post any personal information including email addresses, other contact details or copies of private emails/messages.

Don’t break the law

Don’t add any other posts that break the law such as posts that falsely damage the reputation of someone or an organisation.

4 Be focussed

Stay on topic and be as specific as you can about your problem or query to help other coaches find your query, understand your situation, and make it easier for them to give advice. So instead of ‘I need help’, write ‘does anyone know any safe warm-up drills that children aged 5-7 enjoy’.

Similarly, if you are providing an answer, the more specific you can be, the easier it is for someone to follow your advice.

Discussions that:

  • veer off topic
  • are unrelated to resolving the issue at hand
  • are repetitive or campaigning
  • are not specific enough

may be moved, edited or removed.

Creating your own content
We want you to add content to ConnectedCoaches to help spark conversations with other like-minded coaches. We particularly welcome videos, relevant photos and other illustrations. Busy coaches find easier to digest and more meaningful than reams of long text.  

It is courteous to obtain the consent of the adult being filmed or photographed, ensuring that the purpose of the filming and publication is understood. Any film or photographs of children or young athletes must follow the Safeguarding Children guidelines above.

Moderation

We will remove or edit members postings or comments that break these participation guidelines.
Even if only part of a comment or posting breaks the community guidelines, the whole thing may be removed
Our moderators may contact you by email in relation to your participation, where an issue comes up in relation to these community guidelines.

Participants who seriously or persistently or break theses participation guidelines or terms of use will be banned from participating at ConnectedCoaches.