What SafeSport Actually Requires for Team Communications

Most high school wrestling programs are out of compliance with SafeSport's electronic communication rules and do not know it. Not because coaches are careless. Because the rules are buried in policy documents written for Olympic governing bodies, and the practical answer to "what do I do on a Monday night when I need to text a wrestler about practice" does not appear anywhere in plain English.

This post is the plain-English version. It is what the U.S. Center for SafeSport actually requires for adult-to-minor electronic communication, applied to a wrestling room, in 2026.

A note up front: SafeSport policy is updated periodically. The version covered here is the 2025 Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policies (MAAPP), effective January 1, 2025, which USA Wrestling adopts. Re-check the official MAAPP resource before treating any of this as legal advice.

## The core rule, stated simply

Adult participants in a youth sports program — coaches, assistant coaches, certified volunteers, any adult with regular contact with minor athletes — are not permitted to engage in one-on-one electronic communication with a minor athlete.

That is the rule. It applies to texts, emails, direct messages, social media DMs, video calls, and any other electronic channel. Every one-on-one electronic communication between an adult covered individual and a minor athlete is a SafeSport violation unless an exception applies.

The most common exception is the one your program needs to operationalize: two-deep leadership. When you electronically communicate with a minor athlete, you include another adult on the communication. Another coach, the athlete's parent or guardian, another adult covered individual, or an adult team leader. The communication is no longer one-on-one because a second adult is on the thread.

If you cannot meet two-deep, the communication does not happen on a private electronic channel.

## What this means for a wrestling program in practice

Five common situations and what compliance looks like for each.

Situation 1: You need to tell a wrestler practice is cancelled tonight.

Not OK: a direct text from your phone to his phone.

OK: a message in your team channel where parents and other coaches are present. OK: a text that copies an assistant coach or the wrestler's parent. OK: an email to the wrestler with the parent in CC.

Situation 2: A wrestler texts you privately to ask about Saturday's lineup.

Not OK: replying privately.

OK: pulling the conversation into a thread that includes a parent or another adult coach before responding. The athlete does not get to opt you out of the policy by initiating the message. The burden is on the adult to bring two-deep into the conversation.

Situation 3: You want to congratulate a wrestler after a big win.

Not OK: a private Instagram DM.

OK: a public comment on the team's social media post. OK: a text to the wrestler that copies the parent. OK: a comment in the team channel that everyone sees.

Situation 4: A parent texts you privately about their kid's weight situation.

This is fine. Adult-to-adult electronic communication is not what SafeSport regulates. The rule is about adult-to-minor.

Situation 5: You are running the team group chat on BAND or in a generic group text.

This is the situation that catches most programs. Group chats sometimes meet two-deep (if a second adult is in the group) and sometimes do not (if the group is "varsity wrestlers only"). The fix is straightforward: every team electronic communication channel that includes minor athletes must include at least one other adult who can see every message.

## Why the group text is a quiet liability

Most wrestling programs run their team comms through a personal group text on the head coach's phone. It is convenient. Everybody is in one place. The coach can blast practice updates, the athletes can ask quick questions, parents are looped in.

The problem is that the group text usually evolves. Wrestlers create side conversations. Coaches respond to individual questions in the main thread, then drift into a private DM with the kid who needed clarification, then the DM becomes a regular thing because the wrestler is the team captain and there is always something to coordinate.

By February, most coaches have at least one or two wrestlers they are texting privately. By the postseason, the head coach is the program's de facto communication system, holding a phone with private threads from a dozen minor athletes.

Every one of those private threads is a SafeSport violation. Even if the content is completely appropriate. The rule is about the structure of the channel, not the content of the messages.

If something ever goes wrong — a SafeSport report, an investigation, a parent who files a complaint about something unrelated — those private threads become the first evidence pulled. Your reputation, your certification, and your job rely on the structure of your communication channels, not your good intentions.

## What a compliant communication system looks like

Three properties:

1. Every channel that contains a minor athlete also contains an identified second adult. A parent, an assistant coach, an AD, a team manager. The second adult does not have to be active. They have to have access.

2. Private adult-to-minor electronic communication is impossible by default. If a wrestler initiates a private message, the system reminds the adult to add a second adult or redirect to the team channel before responding.

3. Messages are accessible and reviewable. Not deleted, not ephemeral, not in a channel only the adult can see. Communication should be considered a matter of record.

Some programs run this on BAND with disciplined channel structure and a clear adult roster on every group. Some programs run it on a SafeSport-compliant tool that enforces the structure by default. Some programs run it on text and live with the risk because they have not been audited yet.

The middle option is the one we recommend. Default-compliant tooling that prevents the violations rather than relying on the head coach to remember the rule every time a wrestler sends a question on a Sunday night.

## Who is responsible

The adult is responsible. Always. The rule does not flex because the athlete is 17, or because the kid is a team captain, or because the family said it was fine, or because everyone in the group thinks the rule is over-broad.

For head coaches, the responsibility extends to the program. If an assistant coach is texting a wrestler privately, that is the head coach's problem too, because the head coach owns the program's communication practices.

For athletic directors, the responsibility is at the policy level. Your wrestling program's communication practices reflect on the school. SafeSport awareness training is required, but training is not the same as default-compliant tooling.

## What to do this week

Three actions that take less than an hour combined:

Audit your team's communication channels. List every group text, BAND group, GroupMe, email list, and DM thread that contains minor athletes. For each one, confirm a second adult has access. Anywhere you cannot confirm, close the channel or add an adult.

Send a one-message reset to your wrestlers. "Going forward, all team communication happens in the official channel. If you have a private question, copy a parent or another coach." Make it explicit.

Brief your assistants. Most assistants have not read the MAAPP. Two minutes at the start of next practice. Same rule for them.

That is the baseline. Get those three done before your next dual.

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