Athlete Safety

Our SafeSport-inspired protections, Code of Conduct, and youth protection policies.

For PlayersFor ParentsFor Coaches

Deep Sea Dry Land is inspired by the U.S. Center for SafeSport. Every feature we build starts with the safety and well-being of young athletes. Our motto — Compete · Respect · Grow — reflects our commitment to positive sport environments where athletes are safe, supported, and strengthened.

How We Protect Youth Athletes

Deep Sea Dry Land's architecture is designed around SafeSport principles. These protections are built into the platform — not bolted on:

Role-Based Access Control

Coaches, parents, and athletes each see only what they need. Coaches cannot access parent accounts; athletes cannot access coach tools. Every action is scoped to the correct team and organization.

Parent / Guardian Oversight

Parents have a dedicated dashboard with full visibility into their child's training — workouts, streaks, stats, and activity heatmaps. Up to four guardians can be linked per athlete.

Open & Transparent Communications

There is no private messaging between coaches and athletes. All notifications (workout completions, streak reminders, re-engagement) are automatically copied to the athlete's registered guardians.

Consent-Based Contact

Everyone manages their own email from their account page: a switch for each kind of optional email, and one for whether we may contact them at all. Every optional email also carries an unsubscribe link that works without signing in — useful for guardians who have no account. Opt-outs are honored on every send.

Privacy & Data Protection

Data access is strictly scoped: coaches see only their team(s), and parents see their own athlete's full training record. Teammates see each other's leaderboard figures — streaks, workout counts and training time — and nothing more: no Doubloons, no chests, no detailed training breakdowns. Email verification is required for all accounts.

Positive Coaching Environment

Our rewards system celebrates consistent participation and personal growth — not winning or comparison. Rest days are built into programs. The Surge mascot uses encouraging, never shaming, language.

Image Safety & Content Moderation

Every uploaded image (profile photos, player photos, exercise icons) is automatically scanned by Amazon Rekognition AI before it becomes visible. Images flagged for inappropriate content are blocked immediately. Both the athlete and their guardians receive an email notification with the result of every scan.

Camera Privacy (Sonar)

The Sonar rep counter processes the camera entirely on the athlete's own device. No video is ever recorded, stored, or uploaded — only rep counts and times are saved.

Curious how the camera rep counter stays private? The Sonar guide explains it step by step, in plain language.

Code of Conduct

All participants in Deep Sea Dry Land — coaches, parents, guardians, athletes, and administrators — are expected to uphold the following standards of behavior. This Code of Conduct is informed by the SafeSport Code for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movement.

Expected Behavior

Treat all athletes, coaches, parents, officials, and staff with respect and dignity
Prioritize athlete well-being and safety above winning or competitive results
Maintain appropriate professional boundaries in all interactions with young athletes
Communicate openly and transparently, keeping parents/guardians informed
Create inclusive environments where every athlete feels welcome, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, or skill level
Support athletes in developing healthy training habits, including adequate rest and recovery

Prohibited Conduct

The following conduct is prohibited and may result in suspension or removal from the platform:

Sexual misconduct of any kind, including sexual harassment, nonconsensual contact, sexual exploitation, and exposing minors to sexual content
Emotional misconduct, including repeated verbal attacks, name-calling, body-shaming, intimidation, stalking, and deliberate isolation of athletes
Physical misconduct, including hitting, striking, denying adequate hydration/nutrition/rest, and forcing athletes to return to play without medical clearance
Bullying — repeated or severe aggressive behavior directed at any person, including physical, verbal, social, and cyberbullying
Harassment — repeated conduct intended to cause fear, humiliation, or annoyance, or that creates a hostile environment, including discriminatory harassment
Hazing — any conduct that endangers, abuses, humiliates, or degrades a person as a condition of joining or being accepted by a group
Retaliation against anyone who reports misconduct or participates in an investigation
Grooming behaviors — a pattern of conduct designed to build trust and lower a young person's defenses in preparation for abuse

For Coaches and Adult Participants

You must never be alone with a minor athlete in a setting that is not observable and interruptible
All electronic communication with minor athletes must include a parent/guardian or another adult
You must not share a hotel room or sleeping quarters with a minor athlete (except as permitted by applicable close-in-age or dual-relationship exceptions)
You must not provide alcohol, illegal drugs, or non-prescribed medication to any athlete

Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policies

Deep Sea Dry Land adopts the following policies inspired by the U.S. Center for SafeSport's Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policies (MAAPP). These policies set standards for professional boundaries, minimize the appearance of impropriety, and help prevent boundary violations and grooming tactics.

Electronic Communications

All communications between adult participants and minor athletes must be open and transparent
Communications must include a parent/guardian, another adult family member, or another adult participant
All communication must be professional in nature and related to sport participation
Organizations must honor a parent/guardian's request to discontinue communication with their minor athlete
Deep Sea Dry Land enforces this by copying guardians on all automated notifications and providing no private coach-to-athlete messaging

One-on-One Interactions

All one-on-one interactions between an adult participant and a minor athlete must be observable and interruptible
Individual training sessions require annual written consent from a parent/guardian
Parents/guardians must be allowed to observe any training session

Transportation & Lodging

Adults must not share hotel rooms or sleeping arrangements with minor athletes unless a dual-relationship or close-in-age exception applies, with written parental consent
One-on-one transportation requires advance written consent from a parent/guardian

Photography & Video

Photos and videos of athletes should only be taken in public view and must observe generally accepted standards of decency
No use of photographic or recording devices in locker rooms or changing areas
Adults should not share or post photos/videos of minor athletes without consent from the athlete and parent/guardian

Image Safety & AI Content Moderation

Deep Sea Dry Land uses Amazon Rekognition, an AI-powered image analysis service, to automatically scan every uploaded image before it becomes visible to anyone on the platform. This ensures that inappropriate content never reaches athletes, coaches, or parents.

How it works:

When a user uploads a profile photo, player photo, or exercise icon, the image is first stored in a private staging area that is not accessible from the public internet
The image is then sent through Amazon Rekognition's content moderation AI, which analyzes it for inappropriate content including nudity, violence, hate symbols, drugs, and other harmful material
If the image passes the safety review, it is promoted to the public media server and becomes visible. An email with the image is sent to both the athlete and their guardians confirming approval
If the image is flagged, it is immediately deleted — it is never made public. An email is sent to the athlete and guardians explaining that the image was blocked and why (e.g., "violent or graphic content"), using parent-friendly language
Every blocked image is logged, creating a durable record of what was blocked and why

What is screened:

Explicit or suggestive content
Violence and graphic imagery
Hate symbols and extremist content
Drug-related imagery
Other visually disturbing content

The system is tuned for a youth sports environment — it uses elevated confidence thresholds for categories like "Suggestive" to avoid false positives on legitimate sports photos (athletes in gear, swimwear, etc.), while maintaining strict thresholds for categories like violence and explicit content.

If you believe an image was incorrectly blocked, please contact your coach or organization administrator.

Locker Rooms & Changing Areas

Adults must not change clothes or behave in a way that exposes private areas to a minor athlete
Adults may not shower with minor athletes (except for close-in-age athletes in appropriate swimwear situations)
A semi-private or private area to change must be available to all minor athletes at sanctioned events

SafeSport Resources

We encourage all coaches, parents, and athletes to educate themselves on SafeSport best practices:

U.S. Center for SafeSport — The official safe sport organization for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Movement
SafeSport Code — Defines prohibited conduct, reporting requirements, and resolution procedures
Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policies (MAAPP) — Prevention policies for organizations working with youth athletes
SafeSport Trained Core Course — Required training for adult participants; covers recognizing, preventing, and responding to misconduct

Our Commitment

Deep Sea Dry Land is committed to continuously improving how we protect youth athletes. In addition to the protections already built into the platform, we are actively working on:

SafeSport training verification — tracking and requiring completion of the SafeSport Trained Core course for all coaches before they gain platform access
Background check tracking — recording and verifying background check status for all adult participants with access to minor athletes
Digital Code of Conduct acceptance — requiring coaches, parents, and athletes to review and agree to the Code of Conduct during onboarding
Parent consent workflows — digital consent forms for participation, communication preferences, photography/video, and transportation
Enhanced communication transparency — coach broadcast messaging with mandatory guardian inclusion

We believe that every young athlete deserves to be safe, supported, and strengthened through sport. If you have suggestions for how we can better protect athletes, please reach out to your organization administrator.