Responsible Coaching Movement

The Responsible Coaching Movement (RCM) is a multi-phase system-wide movement, coordinated by the Coaching Association of Canada and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Sport, which has the potential to affect all sport organizations and coaches.

Resulting from extensive ongoing consultation with the Canadian Sport Community, the RCM encourages the commitment and implementation of supportive policies to ensure the safety and protection of athletes and coaches, both on and off the field of play.

The RCM calls on sport organizations to adopt policies and processes in three key areas of their coaching practices:

• The Rule of Two;
• Background screening; and
• Respect and ethics training.

The Responsible Coaching campaign invites parents to consider 3 steps to Responsible Coaching and encourages them to play a more active role in their child’s sport activities by empowering them with tools to ask a coach if their organization has taken the RCM pledge and adopted the policies.

Rule of Two

The Rule of Two serves to protect minor athletes in potentially vulnerable situations by ensuring that more than one adult is present. Vulnerable situations can include closed doors meetings, travel, and training environments.

Background Screening

The background screening process involves using a number of different tools to ensure coaches meet the necessary security requirements to coach athletes. These tools include comprehensive job postings, criminal record checks, interviews, and reference checks.

Respect and Ethics Training

Increasing coaches’ ethical conduct and behaviour toward athletes requires that coaches be trained to understand what it means to act ethically. This training would include the Make Ethical Decisions module within the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP), as well as training in abuse and harassment prevention, such as Respect in Sport, before and during their coaching career.