Athlete Safety and Screening Responsibilities

Effective date: 2026-09-05. Part of the Terms of Service.

Coaches on NextCommitHQ Network typically work with minors. That makes screening and supervision the most important thing that happens around the Network, and it happens outside the Network. This policy says plainly who is responsible for what.

1. What the Network does not do

NextCommitHQ does not:

• Verify anyone's identity. Sign-in confirms control of an email address, not who a person is.
• Run criminal background checks, sex-offender registry checks, reference checks, or employment verification.
• Confirm SafeSport, concussion, first-aid, CPR, or any other training or certification.
• Confirm membership, eligibility, licensing, or good standing with the AAU, USA Basketball, a school district, a league, or any other governing body.
• Confirm that a coach is legally permitted to work with youth or to work in the United States.
• Supervise, monitor, or attend any practice, game, tryout, or meeting.

A verification label on an organization means an administrator recorded a specific check about the organization, with what was checked and when. It does not extend to any coach the organization engages. See What Verified Means.

2. What organizations are responsible for

An organization that engages a coach through the Network is solely responsible for:

• Screening every coach and volunteer before they have any contact with minors, to at least the standard required by applicable law and by every governing body the organization participates in. For example, the AAU requires background screening for non-athlete members, and many facilities, leagues, and school districts have their own requirements. The organization must know and meet its own requirements; the Network does not track them.
• Abuse-prevention training and policies, such as those required under the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act and the U.S. Center for SafeSport's policies where applicable, and any state-law equivalents, including one-on-one contact limits, two-adult rules, electronic communication rules with minors, and locker room policies.
• Mandatory reporting. Coaches and staff are often mandatory reporters under state law. The organization must know its obligations and train its staff.
• Supervision of coaches during all activities, and prompt action when a concern is raised.
• Employment and insurance matters: worker classification, wage and hour compliance, workers' compensation, general liability and abuse and molestation coverage, and any facility requirements.
• Records of the screening it performed, kept according to the organization's own policy and legal requirements. The Network does not store background-check results and asks you not to upload them.

If your organization cannot meet these responsibilities, do not engage coaches through the Network.

3. What coaches are responsible for

A coach using the Network represents that they:

• Are 18 or older.
• Are not prohibited from working with minors by law, court order, or any governing body's sanction, and will tell any organization that engages them if that changes.
• Will complete the screening, training, and membership requirements the organization and its governing bodies require, before contact with minors.
• Will follow the organization's youth-protection policies, including communication rules with minors and families.
• Will not use the Network to contact minors or their families, and will not post content depicting or identifying minors.

4. Meeting in person

Interviews, tryouts, and first practices arranged through the Network happen on your own terms. We suggest that first meetings happen in public or at the organization's facility with another adult present, that no minors attend an initial interview, and that organizations complete screening before a coach is placed with a team. These are suggestions, not a service we provide, and they do not replace the organization's own policies.

5. Reporting a concern

• Immediate danger to a minor: contact local law enforcement or call 911 first.
• Suspected abuse or misconduct involving a coach or organization on the Network: report it from the profile or conversation, or email legal@nextcommithq.com. We will preserve records, may suspend the account while we review, and will cooperate with law enforcement and governing bodies. We are not an investigative body and will refer you to the appropriate authority.
• A suspected minor's account or content identifying a minor: email privacy@nextcommithq.com and we will remove it promptly.
• U.S. Center for SafeSport: misconduct within the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic movement can be reported to the Center at uscenterforsafesport.org. Whether it has jurisdiction over a particular organization depends on that organization's affiliations.

6. Our actions

When we receive a credible report that someone is unsafe around minors we may, without prior notice, suspend the profile or organization, unpublish openings, end conversations, preserve records, and refuse future registration. We will tell the affected account what we did unless doing so would endanger someone or interfere with an investigation. We may also notify an organization that has engaged the person through the Network.

7. No reliance

Nothing about the Network, including a profile, a Chalkboard response, a fit comparison, a verification label, or the absence of a report, is a statement that a person is safe to work with minors. Organizations must not rely on the Network in place of their own screening. This is a condition of using the Network.