GCRA Policy - Access to Team Dressing Rooms

Access to Team Dressing Rooms Policy - Approved by a motion of the GCRA Executive March 23, 2005

Gloucester-Cumberland Ringette Association (GCRA)
Access to Team Dressing Rooms Policy

Preamble

This policy establishes the guidelines for coaches and teams regarding access to dressing room facilities of Gloucester-Cumberland Ringette Association (GCRA) teams before, during and after games, practices or team events. The primary purpose of these guidelines is to ensure the safety and privacy of our players.

Background

The team dressing room is a social, learning, and private environment for GCRA teams and players. It is the GCRA's position that the dressing room is a restricted area for the use and privacy of players. It is the responsibility of the Coach to ensure the safety, security, and privacy of the dressing room for players. Frequently, concerned parents wish to enter the dressing room to assist their child with equipment. For reasons of player safety and privacy, GCRA has adopted the following procedures regarding dressing room access.

Procedures

Dressing rooms should be a restricted area for the exclusive use of players to change into their equipment and uniforms, share the team experience, and expect privacy. In general, access to team dressing rooms is limited to designated team officials, players, coaches, managers or trainers. Without exception, at least one member of the team staff present in the dressing room must be an adult female.

The dressing room is also an area for the players to build team spirit, to physically and mentally prepare and focus on game preparation and strategies, and to receive instructions and direction from the Coach and team management staff.

Parents, siblings, friends and other persons should not infringe upon the dressing room privacy of our players as they dress and prepare for a game or after a game.

Many of the arena dressing rooms are not overly large and with skates, bulky equipment and bags in these areas, there is no room for visitors in the dressing room facilities. In addition to the privacy issues, traffic through these areas presents a safety hazard.

Parental entry to a dressing room should be a rare occurrence. If players require assistance with their skates, this should be done in the common areas of the arena. In exceptional cases where a parent/guardian must enter the dressing room it must be in the presence of a team staff member, one of which must be an adult female and such entry must be announced to the players in advance. Two practical variations are as follows:

Persons wishing to enter an unoccupied dressing room during the course of a practice or game may do so with the consent and escort of a team official. It should first be verified that there are no remaining players in the room. All dressing room facilities should be locked and secured when teams are on the ice.

At the Petite age level, coaches may wish to encourage player independence by asking players to dress into their own equipment and lace their skates, or to seek assistance from each other (rather than parents). Provided this can be accomplished in a manner that ensures protective equipment is properly and safely secured, this discretion will be left to the coach.

An obvious exception to room access restrictions would be in the event of an injury to a player who may require the assistance of the parent, rink attendant, trainer or qualified medical personnel to render treatment to an injured player on an urgent basis. There should however always be an adult female present.

To safeguard the interests of both our players and coaching staff, under no circumstances should a player and Coach be alone in a dressing room facility without a third party such as a parent or guardian or another designated team official being present, one of who should be an adult female.

There should be team rules that discourage unsafe practices. It can be helpful to assemble sticks in a corner or outside the dressing room to maximize usable space, and teams should respect and safeguard the dressing room facilities. It is also the responsibility of the coach to ensure all dressing rooms are left in a neat and tidy condition when leaving. In all cases, the Coach should discuss and communicate expectations from both parents and players in advance of the season.