WSA National Program
Parent Communication Policy
A shared system for parents, athletes, coaches, and club leaders to raise, receive, discuss, and resolve questions, feedback, and concerns while protecting athletes and strengthening trust.
Quick reference
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Immediate protection overrides the ordinary process
Could an athlete be unsafe or at risk of harm?
Report actual or reasonably suspected risk immediately. Do not wait for a preferred meeting day, a pattern threshold, or completion of the coach-first sequence. Contact emergency services or the appropriate public authority first when necessary, then notify WSA.
Purpose and scope
Why this policy exists
This policy establishes how concerns and feedback should be raised, received, discussed, and resolved within the WSA National Program. Its purpose is to protect athletes, strengthen trust, and create the best opportunity for a solution while honoring WSA values and the responsibilities of team membership.
This policy applies specifically to the National Program. Competitive, Youth Academy, and Youth Development environments may use age-appropriate processes that reflect their different settings.
The system
Five commitments guide every concern
Identify
Determine whether the matter requires immediate protection or represents a concern pattern.
Prepare
Separate facts from conclusions and identify the impact, question, or desired understanding.
Connect
For non-safety concerns, begin with the coach and request a scheduled conversation.
Collaborate
Listen, clarify expectations, and seek a constructive solution centered on the athlete.
Follow Through
Document next steps, allow the plan to work, and escalate appropriately when needed.
Core standards
How WSA expects participants to communicate
Solution-Focused
A conversation should improve understanding, identify a constructive next step, or protect the athlete.
Respectful and Composed
Parents, athletes, coaches, and leaders communicate thoughtfully, even when the subject is difficult.
Direct
Except for safety or another stated exception, a parent begins with the coach rather than other parents or club leadership.
Growth-Minded
Discuss solutions—not criticism. Fail forwards, towards improving. Accept challenges & process.
Confidential
Share concerns only with the people needed to understand and resolve them.
Concern thresholds
When a parent should raise a concern
A threshold helps distinguish an immediate issue from an isolated event, a normal developmental challenge, or a sustained pattern. A parent does not need to prove a concern, but should provide concrete observations.
| Concern | When to Raise It | Purpose of the Conversation |
|---|---|---|
| Safety | Immediately when an athlete may be at risk or intervention may be required. | Protect the athlete and activate the appropriate safety response. |
| Training Environment or Methods | After a method or condition remains ineffective across a training mesocycle—generally about six weeks—unless athlete welfare requires earlier discussion. | Understand the developmental purpose, share observed impact, and identify an adjustment or monitoring plan. |
| Game-Day Environment or Methods | After the issue occurs across at least four games and appears to be a trend rather than an anomaly, unless athlete welfare requires earlier discussion. | Clarify expectations and the effect on the athlete or team, then agree on next steps. |
| Self-Esteem, Morale, Belief, or Attitude | When the parent observes a sustained change meaningfully outside the athlete’s normal behavior. | Share specific changes, understand contributing factors, and coordinate support. |
| Injury Rehabilitation and Return to Play | Whenever an athlete enters a return-to-play process supervised by qualified medical personnel. | Align communication and ensure medical restrictions and clearance are followed. |
| Playing Time | After at least four games establish a meaningful trend. | Understand the coach’s assessment, standards, development priorities, and a realistic improvement plan and forecasted role. |
| Playing Position | Only when dissatisfaction is significant and sustained, recognizing that tactics, roles, and positional decisions are entrusted to the coach. | Seek understanding of the role and developmental rationale; the conversation does not guarantee a positional change. |
| Team Placement and Roster Rotation | Ideally before signing. After signing, when at least four games show a material difference between the communicated plan and actual assignments. | Compare the communicated plan with actual assignments and clarify the plan going forward. |
No threshold requires a parent to delay a genuine safety, welfare, medical, harassment, discrimination, retaliation, or serious-misconduct report.
The parent concern process
Six steps for a productive resolution
- Determine whether the matter is a safety concern.If an athlete may be in harm’s way, communicate immediately through the Immediate Protection Pathway. Do not complete the ordinary sequence first.
- Prepare for a productive conversation.Record what occurred, dates or examples, whether a pattern exists, observed impact on the athlete, what the athlete has communicated, and the question or solution to explore. Avoid diagnosing motives, teammate comparisons, or presenting secondhand accounts as fact.
- Contact the coach first.For every ordinary non-safety concern, use the coach’s established email, text, or phone method and request an appointment. Briefly identify the topic rather than trying to resolve a complex issue through a long message thread.
- Choose the best time for a solution.Tuesday or Wednesday is generally preferred. Avoid any communication regarding concerns on game days, immediately after matches, and moments when emotion or team responsibilities may reduce clarity and composure.
- Conduct the conversation.Describe the observation, explain its effect, ask for the coach’s perspective, clarify expectations, identify an action or monitoring period, and agree on a follow-up date. Keep the discussion focused on the athlete and the issue.
- Confirm next steps.Confirm agreed actions, the responsible person, and follow-up timing. Either participant may send a brief written recap for a significant concern.
Response and follow-up
If the coach does not respond
WSA asks coaches to acknowledge or reply within 48 hours when reasonably possible. Coaches manage substantial correspondence alongside family, employment, travel, training, and competition responsibilities. A delayed reply should not automatically be interpreted as avoidance or disrespect.
| Stage | Timing | Action |
|---|---|---|
| Attempt 1 | Initial contact | Use the coach’s normal method and request a conversation. |
| Attempt 2 | After at least 24 hours | Follow up using another normal method, such as text after email or email after text. |
| Attempt 3 | After at least another 24 hours | Send a courteous third attempt and retain the message history. |
| Escalate | After three attempts and seven calendar days | Contact the coach again and copy the appropriate Program Director. Summarize the dates and methods of prior attempts. |
When leadership becomes involved
Leadership may become involved immediately for safety; after the non-response process; when a direct conversation cannot establish a workable next step; or when the concern involves alleged retaliation, serious misconduct, or a conflict preventing a fair direct process. The appropriate Director may review communication, speak with participants, and determine the next step.
Questions, feedback, and concerns
Use the correct pathway
Immediate Protection
Safety, suspected abuse, serious misconduct, harassment, retaliation, threats, or immediate risk.
Athlete Experience
Training, games, confidence, playing time, position, relationships, return to play, or roster placement.
Operations & Information
Schedules, travel, registration, fees, uniforms, policies, tryouts, or college programming.
A straightforward club-wide question may go directly to the responsible club official or Director. A concern about a specific team, coach, role, placement, or athlete experience follows the coach-first process unless a stated exception applies.
Communication that undermines resolution
Protect confidentiality and team trust
Parents and athletes should not attempt to resolve concerns by falsifying or embellishing information, recruiting other parents, circulating negative narratives, discussing another athlete, posting publicly or on message boards, or speaking disparagingly about the team, coach, athletes, or club leadership. These actions can harm athletes, erode trust, and make collaborative problem-solving more difficult.
This expectation does not prohibit a good-faith report, appropriate personal or professional support, consultation with legal or medical counsel, cooperation with authorities, or exercise of rights protected by law or governing-body policy.
Protection from retaliation
Good-faith concerns must not produce punishment
WSA will not tolerate retaliation against an athlete because a parent or athlete raised a concern in good faith. Retaliation is an adverse action intended to punish, intimidate, or disadvantage a person for reporting or participating in the concern process.
Alleged retaliation should be reported promptly to the appropriate Director or club leadership. If the concern involves the coach’s alleged retaliation, serious misconduct, or circumstances that make direct contact unsafe or unreasonable, the parent may contact leadership directly.
Athlete voice and responsibility
U15 and older athletes are encouraged to participate
WSA encourages U15 and older athletes to communicate directly with their coaches when ready. These conversations can build self-advocacy, maturity, and understanding. A parent may help the athlete prepare, and the coach should make reasonable time within the weekly plan for meaningful feedback.
The athlete should communicate respectfully, ask questions, listen to the coach’s perspective, and seek clear expectations or a development plan. Depending on the issue and readiness, the conversation may begin between athlete and coach, followed by parent involvement if needed. Safety concerns remain subject to immediate adult reporting.
Regular feedback cycles
Development conversations should not occur only when concerns arise
National Program coaches are encouraged to schedule periodic player-feedback opportunities through brief check-ins, written evaluations, small-group conversations, or individual meetings.
Families should understand the time required: a coach responsible for 50 athletes who schedules a 30-minute meeting with each athlete adds 25 hours of meetings before preparation and follow-up. Programs should use a realistic cadence, communicate the general format and timing, and reserve additional meetings for matters needing greater attention.
Roles in the system
Shared responsibilities
| Participant | Primary Responsibility |
|---|---|
| Parent | Observe carefully, prepare facts, follow the contact sequence, communicate respectfully, and support the athlete’s growth. |
| Athlete | Share their experience honestly, participate at an age-appropriate level, and seek clarity about expectations and development. |
| Coach | Receive concerns without defensiveness, respond within a reasonable period, explain decisions appropriately, and identify constructive next steps. |
| Program Director | Support the process, address escalated or unresolved matters, protect against retaliation, and ensure consistent application. |
| Club Leadership and Board | Respond to safety, serious misconduct, governance, or policy matters within their authority. |
Suggested parent message
Request a scheduled conversation
Process summary
The National Program standard
- Report safety concerns immediately; contact emergency services first when necessary.
- For non-safety matters, determine whether a meaningful pattern or applicable threshold has been reached.
- Prepare facts, impact, questions, and the desired understanding or solution.
- Contact the coach first and request a scheduled conversation.
- Avoid game-day discussions and communication driven by heightened emotion.
- Agree on actions, a monitoring period, and follow-up timing.
- After three unanswered attempts and seven days, contact the coach again and copy the appropriate Director.
- Report suspected retaliation or serious misconduct promptly.
This policy is included in National Program parent, athlete, and coach onboarding; posted with club policies; and reviewed annually.