Nobody reaches a kid here by accident.

Every young athlete has a circle: their team, their program, their org’s coaches, their family. On Ball in the 6 that circle is called your 6, and it is checked before any channel opens.

A person is inside a kid’s circle because of something real that already happened off the app: they share a roster, they’re registered in the same program, they coach at the organization, or a parent added them by hand. Nobody talks their way in.

• CANCoaches can message the athletes on their own team.
• CANTeammates can message each other.
• CANYoung athletes can be fans of coaches and adults — looking up to people is the point.
• CANNOTAn adult cannot message an athlete under 16 they share no team with. It goes to a parent first.
• CANNOTAn adult cannot become a fan of an athlete under 16 without a parent’s approval — not even a coach on their team. Being a fan is watching, and it doesn’t come free with a roster spot.
• CANNOTAthletes under 16 cannot message or mention kids outside their circle without a parent approving it.
• CANNOTNobody can get around a parent’s “no” by asking again. A refusal stands until the parent changes it.

When someone outside the circle tries to reach an athlete under 16, nothing opens. The request is held, and every verified parent on the account is notified. Any one of them can allow it or refuse it.

Approvals expire, and a parent can revoke one at any time from their dashboard — permission is a decision you keep making, not a box you tick once. Revoking closes the channel it opened: the messages stop, and if a group chat was opened on that approval, the person is removed from it.

Your coaches keep the access they need. Coaching a team carries the right to message the athletes on it, because that is the job and your organization is already accountable for who holds it.

What changes is everyone else. A parent, a scout, a coach from another club, an adult with no connection to the roster — none of them reach your athletes without a parent’s explicit yes on record. That record is stored with a timestamp and the deciding parent, and it is available if you are ever asked to show it.

We collect parental consent under PIPEDA and keep the consent record — timestamp, IP, and what was agreed to — for seven years. That part is settled law and we follow it today. See our Privacy Policy.

Canada is also actively legislating on children and social media. Bill C-34, the Safe Social Media Act, had first reading on June 10, 2026 and is at second reading. It has not received Royal Assent, and it is not law. Nobody — including us — can be certified compliant with a bill that has not passed, and we will not tell you otherwise.

What we can tell you is what we built. C-34 as drafted lets the proposed Digital Safety Commission exempt an operator that “provides adequate safeguards… for the protection of children.” The rules on this page are our answer to that standard, built before we were asked for it. If the Act passes and applies to us, we intend to make that case with a gate that already runs in production.

If you run an organization and need this walked through with your board, or you’re a parent who wants to see exactly who is inside your child’s circle, talk to us.