Privacy Policy

Program Changers (“Program Changers,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates programchangers.com (the “Site”), a recruiting platform that connects high school and junior college (JUCO) basketball players with college coaches. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, who can see it, and the choices you have.

**Program Changers is free to athletes and families. We never charge players, parents, or families to use this Site, for any feature, at any time.**

If you have questions about this policy, contact us at **coachmarkgaither@programchangers.com**.

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## 1. Information We Collect

### 1.1 Information from Players and Families

When a player (or a parent/guardian on a player’s behalf) submits a profile, we collect:

– Name

– School name

– Grade/class year

– GPA

– SAT/ACT scores (if provided)

– Height

– Position

– Phone number

– Email address

– Links to highlight video hosted on third-party platforms (e.g., Hudl, YouTube) — we embed these videos, we do not host or store the video files ourselves

We only collect what’s needed to build a usable recruiting profile. Fields marked optional on the submission form may be left blank.

### 1.2 Information from Coaches

College coaches and college staff who register with the Site provide:

– Name

– School/program name

– Email address

– Phone number

### 1.3 Information Collected Automatically

When you browse the Site, our servers and first-party analytics system automatically log limited technical information to help us understand traffic and improve the Site, including:

– Page views and on-site interactions (e.g., which profile was viewed, whether a video was played, whether a coach clicked “interested”)

– A hashed (SHA-256) version of your IP address — we do not store your IP address in readable form

– Browser/user-agent string

– Referring page and campaign parameters (if you arrived via a link from an email or campaign)

This analytics system **honors the “Do Not Track” browser signal** — if your browser sends DNT, we do not log the event. It is a first-party system we built and operate ourselves; we do not use Google Analytics, Meta/Facebook Pixel, or similar third-party ad-tech trackers on this Site.

If we email you (for example, a coach digest or a submission confirmation), the email may include a small, invisible tracking image that tells us whether the email was opened. This is used only to measure whether our own emails are useful, not to build advertising profiles.

### 1.4 Cookies

We use a small number of first-party cookies:

– A cookie that remembers your cookie-consent choice

– Session cookies needed for login (coaches) and basic site functionality

You’ll see a cookie banner on your first visit; you can accept or decline non-essential cookies there. Declining does not block you from using the Site’s core features.

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## 2. Why We Collect This Information

We use the information above to:

– Build and display player recruiting profiles

– Match players with college programs that fit their level, position, class year, academics, height, and geography

– Let coaches search, filter, and express interest in players

– Notify players/families when a coach expresses interest

– Verify and register coach accounts

– Operate the Site securely (rate limiting, fraud/abuse prevention)

– Understand aggregate usage (e.g., which pages get traffic) so we can improve the Site

– Communicate with you about your account or submission (e.g., confirmation emails)

We do **not** sell player or coach personal information to third parties. We do not use player data for behavioral advertising.

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## 3. Who Can See Your Information

Different pieces of information are visible to different audiences:

| Data | Public (any visitor) | Coaches (registered) | Program Changers staff (internal) |

|—|—|—|—|

| Player name, school, class year, position, height | Yes | Yes | Yes |

| GPA, SAT/ACT scores | Yes* | Yes | Yes |

| Highlight video (embedded) | Yes* | Yes | Yes |

| Player phone number, email | No | Yes, only after a coach registers and the info is shared through the platform’s interest/contact flow | Yes |

| Coach name, school, email, phone | No | Visible to players/families they’ve expressed interest in | Yes |

\* Player profile pages are **public** — visible to any visitor to the Site, not only to logged-in coaches. This is a deliberate design choice so that any interested college program can discover a player, even without registering first. If you do not want a specific field public, don’t submit it, or contact us to have it removed (see Section 6).

Internally, a small number of authorized Program Changers staff can access the full underlying database for support, matching, and site-operations purposes. We do not share this data with advertisers, data brokers, or any third party outside of what’s described in this policy.

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## 4. No Advertising on Player Pages

We do not run third-party advertising of any kind on player profile pages, and we do not use player data — including that of minors — to serve targeted or behavioral advertising anywhere on the Site. This is a deliberate choice, not just a legal minimum.

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## 5. Minors’ Data

Many of our users are minors (high school athletes) or their parents/guardians submitting on a minor’s behalf. We take the following approach:

– **Parental involvement is expected.** Profile submissions are intended to be made by the player with parent/guardian awareness, or directly by a parent/guardian on the player’s behalf. If you are a parent or guardian and want to review, correct, or remove your child’s information, contact us at the address in Section 8 — no login or account is required to make that request.

– **No targeted advertising to minors**, as described in Section 4.

– **No sale of minors’ personal information.**

– **Minimum necessary collection.** We only ask for the fields that are actually used in matching and recruiting (name, school, academics, athletic profile, contact info, video links) — we don’t collect anything beyond what a recruiting profile needs.

– **Public visibility is disclosed up front** at submission time, so families can make an informed choice about what they share.

We are aware that a growing number of U.S. states have enacted design codes and data-protection laws specifically aimed at protecting minors online (covering things like parental notice, restrictions on targeted advertising to minors, and data minimization). We intend for our practices — no ads to minors, no data sales, minimal collection, and an easy deletion path — to be broadly consistent with that direction, and we will update this policy as our understanding of specific state requirements develops.

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## 6. Data Retention

– **Player and coach profile data** is retained as long as the account/profile is active and useful for recruiting purposes (generally, through the player’s eligibility window), or until you request deletion.

– **Analytics event data** (page views, clicks, video plays) is retained for a limited period for operational and reporting purposes.

– **Coach email addresses captured in email-campaign tracking** are automatically purged (the raw email value is deleted; only an anonymized, non-reversible hash is kept for aggregate reporting) **90 days** after the event, on an automated daily schedule.

– We do not keep data indefinitely “just in case” — inactive or graduated player profiles and stale coach accounts are periodically reviewed for removal.

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## 7. Your Rights and How to Request Deletion

You (or, for a minor, a parent/guardian) can ask us at any time to:

– Tell you what information we have on file for you or your player

– Correct inaccurate information

– Delete your profile or account and the associated personal information

– Opt out of future email communications (every email we send includes an unsubscribe/opt-out option, or you can just email us)

To make any of these requests, email **coachmarkgaither@programchangers.com** with the player’s name, school, and the request. We will verify the request is coming from the player, a parent/guardian, or an authorized account holder, and will act on it within a reasonable time.

Deleting a profile removes it from public search and coach-facing search/matching. Some minimal records (e.g., that a deletion request was made and honored) may be retained briefly for compliance/audit purposes.

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## 8. Data Security

We store data in a secured WordPress/MySQL backend with access limited to authorized staff. We use nonce-based verification, rate limiting, and input sanitization across our forms and account flows to reduce the risk of abuse, unauthorized access, or injection attacks. No online system can be guaranteed 100% secure, but we take reasonable, ongoing steps to protect your information.

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## 9. Third-Party Links and Embedded Video

Player highlight video is embedded from third-party platforms such as Hudl and YouTube. When you view an embedded video, that platform’s own privacy policy and cookies may apply — we do not control what those platforms do with your interaction data. We encourage you to review Hudl’s and YouTube’s privacy policies if you have questions about their practices.

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## 10. Children Under 13

Program Changers is intended for use by high school and JUCO-age athletes (generally 13 and older) and their parents/guardians, and by adult college coaches and staff. We do not knowingly collect personal information directly from children under 13 without parental involvement. If we learn that we’ve collected information from a child under 13 without appropriate parental consent, we will delete it. If you believe this has happened, contact us immediately at the address in Section 8.

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## 11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time as our practices or the legal landscape change. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page reflects the most recent revision. Material changes affecting how we handle minors’ data or advertising will be called out clearly.

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## 12. Contact Us

Questions about this policy, or requests regarding your data (including deletion requests)?

**coachmarkgaither@programchangers.com**

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*This policy is written to reflect Program Changers’ actual current practices as implemented on programchangers.com as of the date above.*