Hands of Hope Youth League Code of Conduct

What are things within your community that bring people together? For Grant County, Indiana, it is undeniably, sports! Sports are often used as a great way to teach youth lessons on the field as well as off the field. Yet time and again, most people have witnessed disrespectful behavior coming from parents, coaches and athletes alike. In order to address this, Hands of Hope, a division of Family Service Society, Inc. partnered with Ole Miss Youth Sports in Gas City, Indiana, to develop a Code of Conduct for players, parents and coaches.

Our vision is to see cultural norms around sports change in Grant County through the commitment of sports programs to create fun, safe and respectful environments in which parents/fans act as encourages, coaches serve as supportive role models, and players have absolute fun while learning lessons of respect on/off the field along the way. The Code of Conduct was developed from the #TeachEarly playbook created by the Futures Without Violence organization.

You can access Hands of Hope’s conduct codes for athletes, coaches and fans at these links:

All coaches, parents and athletes participating in Ole Miss Youth Sports are required to sign the Code of Conduct as well as watch a video that was created for the program. We expect through this initiative that we will not only see an increase in respectful behaviors during official sporting events, but that players will receive the benefits of protective factors as well as life-long lessons around character development and respect . As an additional parent and coach resource, Bill Severns highlights the importance letting kids have fun while they learn important lessons through sports through his blog and book, Keepers of the Sandlot.

For more information about the program, please contact Lauren Severns, Hands of Hope DELTA FOCUS Coordinator by email at:  lseverns@famservices.com or by phone at: 765-662-9971 ext. 143.