Strava Run Club Guidelines

ACC Exceed Strava – Run Club – Guidelines for participation

ACC Exceed Run Club – Student Profile

The Exceed Strava club is a private club and people have to request permission to join the club through the app.The ACC admins verify and approve all members. The club is also for the exclusive use of ACC students in member schools or ACC school teachers that are managing their school run program or their own school Strava club.  Each member of the club needs to have a personal Strava account to join the club. Basic Strava membership is free.

Teacher Access and Profiles

The ACC Exceed Run Club on Strava is designed for the students, not the teachers and coaches and not ex-students. The ACC Club is also a private club so the only people that can join the club events are the members of the club and the ACC admins approve all members. If a staff member in a school wishes to join the club then we are advising that they create a school or team profile in Strava and not use their own personal Strava profile. ACC advice is that teachers do not use their own personal profile and if you need to follow the ACC Club activities then create a team or school profile. As examples, the ACC office profile username for Strava is Directeur Sportif.

GUIDELINES

1.  Each student must have their own Strava account and profile in order to participate and join the club. The basic Strava account is free. Once the student has opened their Strava account then they can go to the ACC Club page and request to join our Exceed Club. The ACC office will then check their name and verify their identity before approving their membership of the club. https://www.strava.com/clubs/exceed-acc-run-club

2.  Profile Name: When students set up their Strava profile please ask them to use their correct name and not their social media handle or Avatar name. This allows the ACC to verify their identity as an ACC school student. As an example student Simon Jones wants to join Strava and he creates a profile with the name jonsey_21. The ACC would reject this membership request as we cannot verify who jonsey_21 might be.

3.  Anonymous Profile: The ACC has a system set up for any student to use an official ACC anonymous profile name for Strava. If a parent, student or school has any concerns about their privacy on Strava then they can request that the ACC provide them with an anonymous Strava profile name. The school will need to contact the ACC to request the anonymous profile for any specific students. The ACC will then generate a random 8 letter code that the student can use for their First Name and Last Name on Strava. The ACC has a database of every student so that we can record these random code names against the real student name so that the school and ACC can still follow their performances. As an example, Simone Jones requests an anonymous profile through their school and the ACC would assign a code like BKMZ WCWX to be used as their first and last name. Only the student, school and ACC will know that Simone Jones is in fact Strava athlete BKMZ WCWX. Anonymous Strava code names are optional and only issued upon a request from the school sports coordinator.

4.  Age: to use Strava students must be at least 13 years of age.

5.  Privacy Location: there is an important privacy zone location setting that students should set for their profile settings. There is a short video on the ACC YouTube Channel with instructions https://youtu.be/CaXz9qqjKQM. This setting just provides a geo block around their home address so that people cannot track the beginning point of their runs to find where they live. Thank you to the guys at St Norbert College for sharing the video with us.

6. Devices: as well as a free Strava account, students will need either a smart phone or a fitness device that can be linked to Strava i.e. Garmin. The device records your activity and feeds the data to the Strava app. You can just use a smart phone with the Strava app, a fitness device like a Garmin watch is not essential.

7. COVID19: Prior to April 27, students can only run solo or in a pair. However this restriction has now been lifted to 10 people and students could now complete a group run with up to 10 people.

• If students are running in a school organised activity with a teacher then the student group size should be 9 + one teacher.
•  If students are running informally and away from school, then group size should be 10 and if a parent is running in the group then the student number should only be 9.
• COVID physical distancing rules must still be maintained and students must remain at least 1.5m apart at all times. Physical contact such as hand shaking, hugging and sharing of drink bottles is not allowed.

8.     Supervision:

• ACC recommendation is that students that are away from school learning at home should be supervised by a parent where possible when participating in an ACC Exceed Run Club event. Parents are responsible for their children outside of the school environment and must use their own discretion when it comes to supervising students on runs taking into account the age of the students, and the route location.
• ACC recommendation is that students that are back at school and learning in the classroom should be supervised by a teacher if they are participating in an ACC Exceed Run Club event as a school organised activity. This includes school organised runs that take place during school hours or before/after school. Supervision of informal runs outside of school hours and not organised by the school are the responsibility of the parent.

 9. Social Media: 

• Strava is a type of social media platform that it used by elite and recreational athletes to record and share their training performances. It can be an effective motivational tool and a great way to feel that you are part of an online exercise community. But like all social media it needs to be used prudently and schools and students should follow the privacy and guidelines that the ACC provides.
• Parents need to approve access to use Strava for their own childrena nd ensure that they use the recommended privacy settings and guidelines of the ACC. 
• Followers: Strava allows other users to request to “follow” your activities on Strava. While this can be a good fun and help build community spirit, it needs to be used wisely. Never allow someone to follow you if you don’t know who they are. If the ACC administrator (Directeur Sportif) or your School coach Teacher (i.e. Servite HOS) asks to “Follow” you, then you must agree to their request. This is both a safety feature and administrative necessity so that the school and ACC can track your performances and also monitor your activity and use of Strava in accordance with these guidelines.
• Messaging: unlike other social media platforms like Facebook, Strava does not have a built in direct messaging system. The only way to message people is to allow them to Follow you on Strava so that they can see your activities. After you complete an activity on Strava your Followers can see your activity and they can create a comment about your activity and message you in this way. This is the only messaging feature in Strava.
• Photographs: The Strava app allows users to post a picture as their profile image. Users can also post photos that relate to activities (runs/rides/swims/walks) that they have completed on Strava. ACC advice is that students should never post photos that that could be used to identify them, the equipment they use, their home location or regular routes that they use for their activities. Any photos posted should be generic with no personal or location identifiers.
• Online Behaviour: ACC students who join the Exceed Run Club are reminded that they are joining the club and using the app as a student in an ACC member school. As such the usual standards of behaviour should be the same on Strava as with any communication that you have with other students while at school.
• Never use foul or derogatory language.
• Never vilify anyone by race, religion, gender, social class or ability.
• Never post personal information about another student without their permission.
• Never post images that would be considered inappropriate or sexual in nature.
• Never post images that could be used as a personal or location identifier.