Code of Conduct

Basketball should be a good experience for every child.

NYBA’s Code of Conduct explains how players, families, coaches and volunteers help make that happen. The Athlete Safety Policy sets practical boundaries for adults working with children. Our bylaws explain how the association is governed and how decisions are made.

This page is a plain-language guide. Read the full documents for all requirements, exceptions and procedures. The Athlete Safety Policy is part of the Code of Conduct. If a policy conflicts with the bylaws, the bylaws control.

Read the full Code of Conduct in Google Docs
Read the full Athlete Safety Policy in Google Docs
Read the full NYBA Bylaws in Google Docs

For families: cheer, respect and give players room to learn

• Encourage players and let coaches give the basketball instructions. Do not criticize or call out any child during a game, including your own.
• Do not comment on officiating or address an official during a game. Many scorekeepers and some referees are teenagers learning their roles.
• Watch from designated seating or bleachers. Keep sidelines, baselines, baskets and team benches clear.
• Respect every gym’s rules and leave it clean. At away games, report inappropriate conduct to your coach or program lead rather than confronting someone yourself.
• You are responsible for the guests you bring, including extended family and friends.

For players: compete and be a teammate

Follow the rules, listen to your coach and officials, support teammates and shake hands after games. No profanity, taunting, trash talk or retaliation. Treat facilities and equipment with care. If an adult makes you uncomfortable, tell a parent, coach or board member. You will not get in trouble for speaking up.

What families can expect from coaches

Coaches may be demanding and competitive while teaching respectfully. Yelling at a child, mocking, sarcasm, public criticism and profanity are not acceptable. A coach’s own child receives no advantage a neutral coach would not give.

In recreation basketball, playing time must be as close to equal as possible. It cannot be traded away to win. Travel follows its published minimums. A disciplinary restriction requires advance notice to the program lead and parent or guardian, and the applicable review process.

When a recreation team leads by 20 points or more, it stops pressing, uses half-court defense, makes every effort to involve less-capable scorers and takes no three-point shots. No NYBA team should be encouraged to humiliate an opponent.

Athlete safety: everyday boundaries that protect children

• Screening comes first. Coaches, assistant coaches, team volunteers, Division Coordinators and board members must clear NYBA’s background screening before serving. An urgent need for a volunteer is not an exception.
• Contact stays observable. Adults should avoid being alone with a player who is not their own child. When unavoidable, such as waiting for the last pickup, stay in an open, public place where others can see and interrupt. Do not wait in a car or closed room.
• Messages stay transparent. Include the player’s parent or a second cleared adult. Use group communications and platforms that keep records. Do not use disappearing messages or delete threads with players.
• Rides need boundaries. An adult does not transport another person’s child one to one except in an emergency or with the parent’s advance permission. The policy has specific additional guidance for Senior League captains.
• Respect privacy and physical boundaries. Adults do not share changing areas or restrooms with players except for the policy’s own-child, emergency or facility-problem exceptions. Physical contact must be appropriate, needed for the activity and in open view. Physical discipline is prohibited.

Senior League captains have specific communication safeguards, including a group channel with cleared adults. Captains organize their teams; they are not responsible for enforcing conduct rules on other players. See Section 11 of the Athlete Safety Policy for the full rules.

Suspected abuse: report directly and immediately

If you suspect abuse, neglect or a risk of serious harm to a child, report directly to the Connecticut DCF Careline at 1-800-842-2288 or the Newtown Police Department. Do not wait for NYBA’s complaint process. No NYBA volunteer or board member may screen, delay or require an internal report first. NYBA cooperates with authorities and takes steps to protect children; it does not investigate the underlying abuse allegation.

Raising other concerns

Raise safety, injury or wellbeing concerns immediately. For positioning, strategy or coaching decisions, wait until the next day before contacting the coach. A concern about recreation’s equal-playing-time rule may go to the program lead.

1. Start with the coach for team matters.
2. If unresolved, contact the board member responsible for your program—the “Program Function holder” in the documents.
3. From there, the path is the President, the Grievance Committee when the bylaws’ review conditions apply, and the Board. A complaint about the President goes directly to the Grievance Committee.

Put concerns escalated beyond the coach in writing: what happened, when, who was involved and helpful supporting information. Officiating concerns go after the game, in writing, to the board member responsible for officials. Use the Contact Us page for NYBA contacts.

You should receive acknowledgment and notice when a matter closes, although privacy may limit what NYBA can share. Anonymous reports are accepted but can be harder to substantiate. Raising a concern in good faith is protected. Retaliation, including against a child’s playing time, placement or treatment, is a separate serious violation.

On game day: who handles what?

Officials control the game: calls, playing rules, ejections and whether play continues. No coach or board member can reverse a judgment call. NYBA handles the event, including conduct and who may remain in the facility. The duty officer’s number is posted at each site. In Senior League, the director is present and handles event management; player captains handle team organization.

An ejected person must leave before play resumes and misses that team’s next scheduled game. The ejection itself is not a finding that the Code was violated. Refusing to leave or participating while suspended is a separate serious matter.

Consequences and a fair process

The Code uses five tiers, from an unrecorded sideline warning to written warnings, suspensions, removal from a role or exclusion. Serious conduct does not have to work its way through earlier warnings. Conduct toward an official, scorekeeper or monitor under 18 escalates one tier. Articles 12 and 13 explain the outcomes, decision-makers and review requirements.

Before a Tier C, D or E outcome, the person receives written notice and a reasonable chance to respond. Tier D and E discipline requires Grievance Committee review and a Board decision. A written precautionary suspension may be used while a serious matter is reviewed; it is not a finding of wrongdoing.

Tier B and higher outcomes must be written. Tier C, D and E outcomes may be appealed in writing to the NYBA Secretary within seven days of the written decision. Officials’ game rulings, immediate removal from a gym and precautionary suspensions are not appealable; the underlying matter can be. The full Code explains the appeal process.

Keep the full policies handy: Code of Conduct · Athlete Safety Policy · Bylaws