Course 2 of 6
Safe Coaching Practice.
Coach with boundaries that protect athletes and you: the rule of two, touch with consent, phones and photos, changing rooms, travel and fair selection.
Every coach · 10 modules · About 3½ hours · Lessons in your language · 4 weeks to finish · ₹999 · certificate valid 12 months
Open to every coach. Courses can be taken in any order.
The 10 modules.
What you will be able to do after each one.
Your code of conduct
- Explain why a coach's position of trust needs a clear code of conduct
- Keep discipline without hitting, humiliating, or punishing with exercise, food or water
- Keep alcohol, tobacco and unregulated supplements away from your athletes
- Treat every athlete with dignity, whatever their gender, caste, religion, body or family background
Never alone: the rule of two
- Explain the rule of two and why it protects athletes and coaches
- Set up one-to-one coaching that others can see and walk into
- Use practical options when you are the only coach on the ground
- Recognise when a colleague's one-to-one time is a warning sign, and act on it
Touch with a purpose
- Explain the no-touch default and when touch is genuinely needed
- Use the four steps: demonstrate, explain, ask, assist visibly
- Ask for consent every time, and stop the moment an athlete says no
- Keep spotting, physio and first aid safe, with a second adult present for any treatment of a child
Phones, messages and social media
- Use parent-visible channels for every message with a child athlete
- Set up and run a safe team WhatsApp group
- Handle a private or late-night message from an athlete safely
- Keep your personal social media separate from your athletes
Photos, videos and privacy
- Get and keep recorded parental consent before photographing or filming a child
- Use photos and videos only for a clear team purpose, and store them safely
- Name the places where cameras are never allowed
- Post on social media, and handle children's personal data, without putting children at risk
Changing rooms, toilets and showers
- Explain why changing spaces need their own rules, and keep those rules yourself
- Supervise changing rooms from outside, and handle a real emergency safely
- Plan for shared government facilities and for girls' privacy
- Act and report when something goes wrong, without investigating yourself
Getting there and back: lifts, pick-ups and day trips
- Follow the rule of never one adult alone with one child in a vehicle, and know the narrow exceptions
- Handle a late or missed pick-up safely
- Plan transport with families, including those who cannot come
- Run a safe day trip, with consent, supervision, head counts and medicines handled properly
Travel and overnight stays
- Plan an overnight trip using the overnight checklist, and keep parents fully informed
- Staff a trip safely, with two adults and a woman staff member when girls travel
- Allocate train berths and rooms, and run night checks, so no adult is alone with a child
- Act quickly when a concern comes up far from home
Fair play: gifts, favours, selection and money
- Tell the difference between a fair team gift and a targeted gift, and handle gifts from parents
- Run selection that is open, recorded and never used as a weapon
- Refuse age fraud and falsified records, and explain the harm they do
- Declare conflicts of interest and keep money transparent
Putting it together
- Recall the core habits of safe coaching from every module in this course
- Apply several habits together in a single, messy, real-life situation
- Explain your choices to athletes, parents and colleagues in plain words
- Act and report correctly when something goes wrong
How a module works.
Every module has the same two steps. Finish all 10 and the certificate is yours.
Watch
Short narrated lessons in your language, about ten minutes. Pause anytime and pick it up later.
Test
A multiple-choice test. Score 80% to pass. Miss it? Review and try again.
The certificate
Earned, dated and checkable.
Complete every module and My Drona issues your Safe Coaching Practice certificate. It carries a unique number and a QR code that opens a public page anyone can check, with no account.
It is valid for 12 months and appears on your Digital Coach Passport with the date you earned it.
The other courses
Every coach · About 3½ hours
Every coach · About 4 hours
Anyone who coaches girls or women · About 4 hours
Every coach · About 3½ hours
Head coaches, academy owners and Safeguarding Officers · About 3½ hours