A proposed ban in Australia is ruffling feathers, with their Human Rights Commission drafting up guidelines that would stop coaches from texting young players.
It's part of an effort to remove the risk of inappropriate relationships between adult coaches and kids, but some are labelling it extreme.
Aktive's coaching manager Luke Morriss is one of those who considers such a ban unnecessary in New Zealand, but does admit there is always some risk with one-on-one messaging between adults and children.
"It's pretty dramatic, yes. It's really a balance of getting a safe environment and letting kids have fun and learn and develop at the same time as well as letting coaches coach," he said.
Mr Morriss said there was no existing evidence that coaches grooming their young athletes was an issue within New Zealand sport.
"There's a lot of really good policies in place already with child protection, with national bodies, with clubs and schools in place, so it's not a big issue at the moment no," he said.
"There's certainly always going to be risk there and a lot of coaches use a device to communicate with their athletes but I guess a safer way is to use apps or group messaging to communicate that way with your athletes which is a little bit more of a good practice than one-on-one communication."
Mr Morriss did however admit texting is a very handy tool in coaching an athlete.
"It can be really useful because a lot of people have a phone with them and it's a direct form of communication and we like to empower our young people to be self-responsible," he said.
"So it's them texting their coach that 'I'm running late' or 'I might not make it' so it's a two way conversation really."
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