TOPS LOCKER ROOM MONITORING POLICY

PURPOSE

The following guidelines are designed to maintain personal privacy as well as to reduce the risk of misconduct in locker rooms and changing areas.

FACILITIES

The following is a description of our practice and competition facilities to allow athletes and their families to plan their use:

Locations:

Upper Perkiomen High School: Entrance and exit to locker rooms from the pool deck.

Hillside Aquatic Club- Only one swimmer at a time in the designated bathroom/locker room. The locker room is only to be used for toilet usage.  No changing of clothes.  Swimmers are to arrive and leave in their suits and have appropriate clothing.

MONITORING

General Policy Considerations

*Coaches and staff make every effort to recognize when an athlete goes to the locker room or changing area during practice and competition and, if they do not return in a timely fashion, we will check on the athlete’s whereabouts.

*Parents are not to enter locker rooms and changing areas as per USA Swimming and Safe Sport.  If the swimmer cannot change, independently, then the swimmer is to arrive and leave in the swim suit with ample clothing for warmth. No deck changing is permitted as per USA Swimming.

*If an athlete needs assistance with his or her suit (for example, a child under the age of eight), or an athlete’s disability warrants assistance, then we ask that parents let the coach or an administrator know beforehand that he or she will be helping the athlete.

TOPS has predictable and limited use of locker rooms and changing areas (e.g., immediately before and following practices and meets). This allows for direct and regular monitoring of locker room areas. While constant monitoring inside of locker rooms and changing areas might be the most effective way to prevent problems, we understand that this would likely make swimmers uncomfortable and may even place our staff at risk for unwarranted suspicion.

*We can conduct a sweep of the locker rooms and changing areas before athletes arrive.  Coaches may conduct regular sweeps inside locker rooms as well, with women checking on female locker rooms, and men checking on male locker rooms, when swimmers are not present.

USE OF CELL PHONES AND OTHER MOBILE RECORDING DEVICES

*Cell phones and other mobile devices, with recording capabilities, including voice recording, still cameras and video cameras increase the risk for different forms of misconduct in locker rooms and changing areas. The USA Swimming Athlete Protection Policies prohibit the use of such devices in the locker room or other changing area:

305.3 Use of audio or visual recording devices, including a cell phone camera, is not allowed in changing areas, rest rooms or locker rooms.