Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of Terms

These Terms of Service ("Terms") govern your access to and use of Lightning for Players & Parents (the "Platform"), operated by FS Athletics and accessible at fsathletics.site. By creating an account, accessing, or using the Platform, you agree to be bound by these Terms.

If you are under 18 years of age, your parent or legal guardian must review and agree to these Terms on your behalf. If you are a parent or guardian creating or authorizing an account for a minor, you agree to these Terms on behalf of yourself and the minor and accept responsibility for the minor's use of the Platform.

If you do not agree to these Terms, you may not use the Platform.

2. Description of Service

Lightning for Players & Parents is a youth sports recruiting platform that enables:

Players to create recruiting profiles showcasing their athletic statistics, highlight videos, achievements, prior teams, and coach testimonials.
Scouts and coaches to search for, discover, and connect with players through the Platform's search tools and messaging system.
Parents and guardians to monitor and manage their minor child's account through a parent portal, including reviewing messages and controlling profile visibility.

The Platform provides tools for recruiting visibility and communication. We do not guarantee any recruiting outcomes, scholarship offers, team placements, or athletic opportunities.

3. User Accounts

3.1 Account Types

The Platform offers the following account types:

Player accounts: For athletes seeking recruiting exposure. Players provide their name, date of birth, location, position, sport, and optional profile information including stats, videos, and achievements.
Scout/Coach accounts: For coaches, scouts, and team representatives looking to discover and recruit players. Scout accounts are subject to a verification process.

3.2 Account Responsibilities

You are responsible for:

Providing accurate and truthful information during registration and on your profile.
Maintaining the security of your account credentials. Do not share your password with others.
All activity that occurs under your account.
Notifying us immediately at [email protected] if you suspect unauthorized access to your account.

3.3 One Account Per Person

Each individual may maintain only one account. Creating multiple accounts, or creating accounts on behalf of others without their knowledge and consent, is prohibited.

4. Age Requirements and Parental Consent

4.1 Minimum Age

Our Platform serves youth athletes of all ages. Accounts for players under 15 must be created and managed by a parent or guardian. For players under 13, the parent or guardian's act of creating the account constitutes verifiable parental consent in compliance with the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). The parent or guardian's email address is used as the account email, and the parent retains full control of the account.

4.2 Users Under 18

All users under 18 years of age must provide a parent or guardian email address during registration. The following requirements apply:

A parent or guardian must verify the account by responding to a verification email.
Parents/guardians have access to a parent portal to monitor account activity, view messages, and manage profile settings.
Parents/guardians receive email notifications when scouts or coaches message their child.
Parents/guardians may request account modifications or deletion at any time.

4.3 Scout/Coach Accounts

Scout and coach accounts are available only to individuals 18 years of age or older. Scout/coach accounts are subject to verification, which may include confirming organizational affiliation.

5. Minor-Specific Provisions

Because our Platform serves youth athletes, we implement additional safety measures:

Parent verification: All minor accounts require parent/guardian verification before full functionality is enabled.
Communication monitoring: The Platform provides tools for parents to review messages sent to and from their child's account. Parents receive notifications of new messages from scouts/coaches.
Profile controls: Parents can adjust their child's profile visibility settings through the parent portal.
Date of birth protection: A player's full date of birth is never displayed publicly. Only the player's age or graduation year is shown.
Report and block: All users, including minors and their parents, can report inappropriate behavior or block other users at any time.
Scout verification: Scout and coach accounts undergo a verification process to help ensure legitimacy.

6. Acceptable Use

You agree to use the Platform only for its intended purpose: facilitating youth sports recruiting connections. You must comply with all applicable laws and regulations.

Acceptable use includes:

Creating an accurate player profile to showcase athletic abilities.
Searching for players based on position, location, age, and athletic metrics (scout/coach accounts).
Sending professional, recruiting-related messages through the Platform's messaging system.
Using the Platform's tools (analytics, QR sharing, PDF exports, AI recruiting assistant) as designed.

7. Prohibited Conduct

The following conduct is strictly prohibited and may result in immediate account suspension or termination:

7.1 Safety Violations

Contacting minors outside the Platform (exchanging personal phone numbers, email addresses, social media accounts, or physical addresses through Platform messages).
Requesting private meetings with minors without parental involvement.
Any form of harassment, bullying, intimidation, or threatening behavior toward any user.
Sending inappropriate, sexual, or offensive content through messages or profiles.

7.2 Fraud and Misrepresentation

Creating fake profiles or impersonating another person.
Impersonating a scout, coach, or representative of a team or organization without authorization.
Fabricating athletic statistics, achievements, or testimonials.
Creating accounts for recruiting purposes while posing as a player.

7.3 Platform Abuse

Attempting to circumvent message rate limits or other Platform controls.
Using automated tools, bots, or scripts to access the Platform or scrape data.
Interfering with the Platform's operation, security, or infrastructure.
Using the Platform to promote products, services, or opportunities unrelated to youth and student-athlete recruiting.
Collecting or harvesting other users' personal information for purposes outside the Platform.

8. Content Ownership and License

8.1 Your Content

You retain ownership of all content you upload or submit to the Platform, including profile information, photos, videos, statistics, and messages ("User Content").

8.2 License Grant

By uploading User Content, you grant Lightning for Players & Parents a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to display, distribute, and make available your User Content through the Platform for the purpose of operating and providing the service. This license exists only while your content remains on the Platform and terminates when you delete your content or account.

8.3 Platform Content

All Platform content, including design, code, logos, features, and documentation, is the property of FS Athletics and is protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. You may not copy, modify, distribute, or create derivative works based on Platform content without written permission.

9. Messaging Rules

The Platform provides an in-platform messaging system for recruiting-related communication. The following rules apply:

Rate limits: Message sending is subject to rate limits to prevent spam and protect users. Exceeding rate limits will temporarily restrict your ability to send messages.
Professional conduct: All messages must be professional and related to athletic recruiting. Personal, romantic, or inappropriate messages are prohibited.
Reporting: Any user can report a message or conversation that violates these Terms. Reports are reviewed by our team and may result in warnings, restrictions, or account termination.
Blocking: Users can block other users at any time. Blocked users cannot send messages or view the blocking user's profile.
Parent visibility: For minor accounts, parents/guardians can view all messages through the parent portal and receive notifications of new messages from scouts/coaches.
Expired account messaging: Expired player accounts can see when scouts contact them but require a paid subscription to read and reply.
Individual messaging only: All messages must be sent individually to each player. There is no batch or group messaging feature. This ensures each communication is intentional and accountable.

10. Subscription Terms

10.1 Plans and Pricing

The Platform offers multiple subscription tiers for both players and scouts/coaches:

Expired: Basic profile with limited features. Available when no active subscription is in place.
Paid tiers: Enhanced features including additional videos, messaging capabilities, analytics, profile sharing, and advanced recruiting tools. Pricing is displayed on the upgrade page and may be updated from time to time.

10.2 Free Trial

New paid subscriptions may include a free trial period of up to 30 days. During the trial period, you have full access to the features of your selected plan. If you do not cancel before the trial period ends, your payment method will be charged for the subscription.

10.3 Billing

Subscriptions are billed annually through Stripe. By subscribing, you authorize us to charge your payment method on file at the beginning of each billing period. All prices are listed in U.S. dollars.

10.4 Cancellation

You may cancel your subscription at any time through the subscription management portal. Upon cancellation:

You will retain access to paid features through the end of your current billing period.
Your account will revert to expired status when the billing period expires.
No partial refunds are provided for unused time in the current billing period.

10.5 Refund Policy

If you are unsatisfied with a paid subscription, you may request a refund within 14 days of your initial subscription purchase (excluding trial conversions). Refund requests should be sent to [email protected]. Renewals are non-refundable. Trial periods provide ample opportunity to evaluate the service before any charge is applied.

11. Termination

11.1 Termination by You

You may close your account at any time by contacting us at [email protected]. Account deletion is subject to our data retention policy described in our Privacy Policy.

11.2 Termination by Us

We reserve the right to suspend or terminate your account, without prior notice, if we determine in our sole discretion that you have:

Violated these Terms of Service.
Engaged in conduct that threatens the safety of other users, especially minors.
Created a fake or fraudulent profile.
Used the Platform for purposes unrelated to athletic recruiting.
Attempted to circumvent Platform safety controls or security measures.

11.3 Effect of Termination

Upon account termination, your profile will be removed from public view, and you will lose access to all Platform features. If your account is terminated for violations, you are not entitled to a refund for any remaining subscription period. We may retain certain data as required by law or our legitimate business interests.

12. Disclaimers

No guarantee of recruiting outcomes: The Platform is a tool for visibility and communication. We do not guarantee that any player will be recruited, receive scholarship offers, or be selected for any team or program.
Off-platform contact: We are not responsible for any interactions, communications, or relationships that occur outside the Platform. We strongly discourage sharing personal contact information through Platform messages and prohibit it in our messaging rules.
Scout verification limitations: While we take steps to verify scout and coach accounts, we cannot guarantee the identity, qualifications, or intentions of every user. Users and parents should exercise their own judgment.
Accuracy of user content: We do not independently verify the accuracy of player statistics, achievements, or other profile content. Scouts and coaches should conduct their own evaluation.
"As is" service: The Platform is provided "as is" and "as available" without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, and non-infringement.

13. Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, FS Athletics and its officers, directors, employees, and agents shall not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, including but not limited to loss of profits, data, use, or other intangible losses, resulting from:

Your access to or use of (or inability to access or use) the Platform.
Any conduct or content of any third party on the Platform.
Any content obtained from the Platform.
Unauthorized access, use, or alteration of your transmissions or content.

In no event shall our total aggregate liability exceed the amount you have paid us in subscription fees in the 12 months preceding the claim, or $100, whichever is greater.

14. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless FS Athletics and its officers, directors, employees, and agents from and against any claims, liabilities, damages, losses, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to your use of the Platform, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any rights of a third party.

15. Dispute Resolution

15.1 Informal Resolution

Before initiating any formal dispute resolution, you agree to contact us at [email protected] and attempt to resolve the dispute informally for at least 30 days.

15.2 Governing Law

These Terms shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of Florida, without regard to its conflict of law provisions.

15.3 Jurisdiction

Any disputes arising from these Terms or your use of the Platform that cannot be resolved informally shall be resolved in the state or federal courts located in Florida. You consent to the personal jurisdiction of such courts.

16. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is found to be unenforceable or invalid, that provision will be limited or eliminated to the minimum extent necessary so that the remaining provisions of these Terms will remain in full force and effect.

17. Changes to Terms

We reserve the right to modify these Terms at any time. When we make material changes, we will:

Update the "Last Updated" date at the top of this page.
Post a prominent notice on the Platform.
Send an email notification to registered users for significant changes.

Your continued use of the Platform after changes are posted constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms. If you do not agree with any changes, you must stop using the Platform and may request account deletion.

18. Entire Agreement

These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy, constitute the entire agreement between you and FS Athletics regarding your use of the Platform. These Terms supersede any prior agreements or understandings, whether written or oral.

19. Contact Us

If you have questions about these Terms of Service, please contact us:

FS Athletics - Lightning for Players & Parents

Email: [email protected]

Website: fsathletics.site

For urgent safety concerns involving a minor, please email [email protected] with the subject line "Urgent: Minor Safety" for priority review.

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