1. About these terms
These Terms and Conditions govern the creation and use of a parent, guardian or adult athlete account on the Cotra mobile application and website ("Cotra" or the "Platform").
The Platform is operated by Cotra Limited, Company No. 17285541, 65 Burgoyne Road, Sunbury-On-Thames, England, TW16 7PS.
By creating an account, accepting a coach's invitation, or using the Platform, you confirm that you:
- are at least 18 years old;
- have read and understood these terms;
- agree to comply with them; and
- have read Cotra's Privacy Policy and Safeguarding Policy.
If coaching is being arranged for someone under 18, these terms must be accepted by that person's parent or legal guardian.
2. What Cotra does
Cotra provides software that helps a coach manage the athletes they already coach. Through the Platform you can:
- see the sessions your coach has published;
- request a place on a session, and have the coach confirm or decline it;
- message your coach directly;
- receive notifications about bookings and messages.
Cotra is not a marketplace. There is no public directory, no search and no way to browse or discover coaches. You reach a coach only by redeeming an invitation that coach sent you. Cotra does not introduce, select, recommend or rank coaches.
Payments are not currently available through the Platform and will be introduced in a later release (clause 14).
The coach provides the coaching. Cotra does not employ, supervise or control the coach, and is not a party to the coaching agreement between you and the coach.
3. Age and account requirements
All Cotra accounts must be created, controlled and used by a person aged 18 or over.
A child must not create an account, access or operate one, make or manage a booking, make a payment, manage a cancellation, communicate with a coach through Cotra, or accept these terms.
Where the person receiving coaching is under 18:
- their parent or legal guardian must create and control the account;
- the account must be registered in the adult's own details;
- the adult must accept these terms; and
- the adult must manage all bookings, communications and, when introduced, payments.
Cotra does not hold a profile or record for a child. When you request a place on a session you can type free text saying who the session is for, and most people enter a first name. That is the only place a child may be named. Cotra holds no date of birth, no contact details, no photograph, no medical record and no account for any child.
Cotra may ask for reasonable confirmation that an account holder is 18 or over, or is entitled to act for the child concerned, and may restrict or suspend an account it reasonably believes is being operated by someone under 18.
4. Accepting a coach's invitation
An account is connected to a coach only by invitation from a coach you already know.
By accepting an invitation you confirm that:
- you recognise the coach who sent it;
- you already know or have an existing relationship with them;
- you have independently chosen to work with them;
- Cotra did not introduce, select or recommend them;
- you are not relying on the coach's presence on Cotra as evidence of their suitability; and
- you understand that accepting an invitation does not mean Cotra has approved, endorsed or verified the coach.
Do not accept an invitation if you do not recognise the coach, did not expect it, are uncertain about their identity, or have any concern about their conduct or suitability.
Report an unexpected or suspicious invitation to safety@cotraofficial.co.uk.
5. What Cotra does and does not check
Cotra does not verify coaches. Cotra does not independently check or guarantee that a coach:
- has undergone a DBS check, or holds the appropriate level of DBS or barred-list check;
- is registered with the DBS Update Service;
- holds current coaching qualifications;
- has completed safeguarding or child-protection training;
- holds valid first-aid certification;
- holds professional or public-liability insurance;
- is affiliated with any club, school or sporting organisation;
- holds governing-body membership or accreditation;
- has permission to use a particular venue;
- has provided reliable references;
- has been identity-checked; or
- remains legally or professionally entitled to coach.
What Cotra does do: every coach must declare, when they create their account, that they hold the DBS check, safeguarding training and governing-body clearance their coaching requires, that they are not barred from working with children, and that they hold appropriate insurance. Cotra records that declaration with a timestamp. Cotra does not see or check the underlying certificates. A declaration is not a verification, and Cotra displays no verification badge or status.
Before coaching takes place, you decide what checks are appropriate and satisfy yourself that the coach is suitable. Reasonable steps include asking the coach directly for identification, their DBS certificate and its date, their DBS Update Service status, coaching qualifications, safeguarding and first-aid training, insurance documents, references, and club or governing-body affiliations.
The appropriate level of DBS check depends on the coach's activities and their relationship with children. Government guidance gives specific eligibility examples for sports roles: DBS checks in sport.
A DBS check is one part of assessing suitability. It does not guarantee anyone's current or future behaviour.
6. The coach's responsibilities
Nothing in these terms transfers a coach's own legal, professional or safeguarding responsibilities to you.
The coach remains responsible for coaching with reasonable care and skill; accurately representing their identity and credentials; maintaining required qualifications, checks and insurance; complying with safeguarding requirements; being legally permitted to work with children; conducting appropriate risk assessments; providing a reasonably safe environment; following venue and governing-body rules; responding appropriately to injuries and emergencies; and complying with applicable law.
A coach must not use Cotra if they are barred, suspended or otherwise prohibited from the relevant activity.
7. Your responsibilities
You agree to provide accurate account information; keep contact and emergency details up to date; manage all bookings and communications yourself; review session details; decide whether the coach is suitable and make whatever checks you consider appropriate; tell the coach relevant health and safety information; make suitable drop-off, collection and supervision arrangements; report suspicious or inappropriate conduct; and ensure a child does not operate your account.
You remain responsible for deciding whether a child may attend a session without you present.
None of this requires you to waive a statutory right, or to accept responsibility for anyone else's negligence, unlawful conduct or breach of duty.
8. Health and participation
Sport involves inherent risk, including injury.
You must give the coach the information reasonably necessary for safe participation — relevant injuries, medical conditions, allergies, disabilities or access requirements, medication affecting participation, and emergency arrangements. Provide only what is reasonably necessary.
Where there is uncertainty about whether an athlete can safely take part, obtain medical advice before the session. A coach may pause or refuse participation where they reasonably believe continuing would create a material safety risk.
Nothing in these terms excludes responsibility for injury caused by negligence or unlawful conduct.
9. Emergencies
Keep your emergency contact details accurate and current.
In a genuine emergency a coach may contact you, contact the emergency services, provide reasonable first aid within their competence, and take reasonable immediate steps to protect the athlete.
Cotra does not provide medical or emergency services. If someone is in immediate danger, call 999. Cotra's reporting features are not a substitute for contacting the emergency services, and Cotra does not operate a 24-hour response.
10. Safeguarding
Cotra does not tolerate abuse or neglect; grooming; sexual or exploitative conduct; inappropriate contact with a child; bullying, harassment or discrimination; threats or violence; fraudulent credentials; misuse of athlete information; inappropriate use of photographs or recordings; or any conduct that places an athlete at risk.
Report a safeguarding concern to safety@cotraofficial.co.uk. You can also report a message or a person directly in the app, using the shield icon in any chat.
A concern about your coach does not go through your coach. safety@cotraofficial.co.uk reaches Cotra directly. Your coach is not told a report exists, is not shown its contents, and cannot access or delete it.
Cotra's Safeguarding Policy sets out who handles reports, how quickly, and what happens next. In summary, where Cotra reasonably considers it necessary it may restrict or suspend an account, preserve relevant records, remove content, prevent further contact through the Platform, request information, and refer the concern to a club, governing body, local authority, the police or another appropriate authority.
Cotra does not investigate. Where a concern suggests a child has been harmed or is at risk, Cotra's role is to record it accurately and pass it to the people whose job it is — not to establish what happened. A referral will be made where the threshold is met whether or not you want one, because a child's safety is not ours to trade away.
If contacting your coach could place someone at risk, report the concern to Cotra or to the appropriate authority directly. You never need Cotra's permission or involvement to contact the police, children's social care or the NSPCC.
11. Communications
Messaging on Cotra is one-to-one only, between you and your coach. There are no group threads, and that is deliberate: in a group thread a message about a child's health or circumstances would be visible to people you do not know. Even a coach's "message everyone" announcement is delivered into each guardian's own private thread.
Cotra does not proactively read or monitor messages. There is no automated scanning. Cotra acts on what is reported to it.
All communication through the Platform must relate to a legitimate coaching purpose, be appropriate and respectful, comply with safeguarding requirements, and avoid unnecessary sharing of personal information.
Where the athlete is under 18, the coach must communicate through your adult-controlled account, must not encourage secret or private contact with the child, and must not send sexual, exploitative or otherwise inappropriate communications.
You must not use Cotra to harass, threaten, deceive, exploit or harm anyone.
12. Photographs and recordings
The Platform has no photo, video or file sharing. Nothing can be uploaded to Cotra, so no image of an athlete can be posted, stored or shared through it.
Photographs and recordings taken by a coach at a session are outside the Platform and are governed by the coach's own obligations, the Safeguarding Policy and the rules of their club, venue and governing body. Where the athlete is under 18, permission should normally be obtained from the parent or legal guardian, and permission given for private coaching analysis does not extend to advertising, social media, public profiles or promotional use — that requires separate permission.
13. Bookings
You request a place on a session your coach has published; the booking is formed when the coach confirms it. Confirmation locks the place.
Bookings may be subject to coach availability, confirmation by the coach, venue availability, the applicable cancellation terms and, when introduced, payment.
The coach is responsible for clearly communicating session dates, times, location, price, attendance and equipment requirements, cancellation terms, and any other material condition.
Once confirmed, both you and the coach should honour the booking unless it is cancelled or rescheduled under the applicable policy.
14. Payments
Payments are not currently available through the Platform. Until they are, you arrange payment directly with your coach and Cotra is not involved.
When payments are introduced they will work as follows:
- You pay the coach. Each coach holds their own Stripe account, and your payment goes to that account.
- The coach is the merchant of record for the session. Your payment contract for the coaching is with the coach, not with Cotra.
- Cotra does not hold your money at any point. Cotra provides the payment technology and takes a fee from the coach's side of the transaction; it is not an additional charge to you.
- The total you will pay is shown before you confirm.
- Cotra never receives or stores your card details.
Cotra's involvement in processing a payment does not make Cotra the provider of the coaching.
15. Cancellations and refunds
Cancellations, rescheduling and refunds are governed by the Refund and Cancellation Policy, which forms part of these terms and sets out the applicable notice periods and refund amounts, together with any lawful cancellation terms your coach clearly showed you before you booked.
If your coach cancels a confirmed session, you are entitled to a full refund for that session, regardless of how much notice was given. You may agree to a replacement session or a credit instead if you prefer, but you do not have to.
Because the coach is the merchant of record, refunds are issued by the coach from their own Stripe account. Cotra cannot issue one on their behalf. If a coach does not process a refund that is due, raise it under the Complaint and Dispute Resolution Policy — Cotra will follow it up and may restrict or suspend the coach's account.
Nothing in these terms restricts any mandatory consumer remedy. A trader supplying a service must perform it with reasonable care and skill under section 49 of the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
16. Account security
You agree to provide truthful information, keep it up to date, protect your access codes, prevent children and other unauthorised people from using your account, not impersonate anyone, not create accounts for fraudulent purposes, and tell Cotra promptly if your account may have been compromised.
Cotra uses email one-time codes rather than passwords. A coach invitation may only be used by its intended recipient.
You are responsible for activity through your account, unless it resulted from Cotra's failure to provide reasonable security or another matter for which Cotra is legally responsible.
17. Acceptable use
You must not use Cotra unlawfully; provide false or misleading information; harass or discriminate against anyone; share another person's private information without authority; misuse athlete health information; attempt to access another user's account; interfere with Cotra's security or operation; introduce malicious code; use Cotra to groom, exploit or harm a child; arrange fraudulent payments or refunds; or use the Platform for unauthorised advertising.
18. Your content
The only content you create on Cotra is text — your name, the free-text label on a booking, and your messages.
You keep ownership of it. You grant Cotra a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to host, store and display that text solely in order to operate the Platform for you and your coach. This licence does not extend to marketing, promotion, or the development or improvement of other products.
Cotra may remove content that breaches these terms or creates a legal, safety or safeguarding risk.
19. Cotra's intellectual property
The Platform, its software, branding, designs, databases and features belong to Cotra Limited or its licensors. You may use the Platform only for its intended coaching-management purpose, and must not copy or distribute it, reverse-engineer it except where the law permits, reproduce Cotra's branding, or commercially exploit its technology without written permission.
20. Privacy and information about children
Cotra's position is that the ICO's Children's Code does not apply to this service. The Code applies to services likely to be accessed by children. Every Cotra account must be created and controlled by someone who confirms they are 18 or over; there is no means for a child to create, sign into, or operate an account, or to see or interact with the Platform in any way. The only information relating to a child anywhere on the Platform is a first name an adult may type into a booking. On this basis, children do not access the Platform, and Cotra does not treat the Code as applying.
21. Platform availability
Cotra aims to make the Platform reliably available but cannot guarantee uninterrupted or error-free access, and may carry out maintenance, correct errors, add or remove features, suspend a feature for security reasons, or restrict access where legally or operationally necessary. Where reasonably possible, notice will be given of significant planned interruptions.
22. Closing your account
You can delete your account yourself, at any time, from within the app — and also from a page on Cotra's website without signing in, if you no longer have the app installed.
Deleting a guardian account removes your profile, your space memberships, your messages, your bookings, your notification settings, your record of accepting these terms, and your blocks.
Some records are deliberately retained: safeguarding reports survive account deletion with the personal identifiers removed, because a moderation record that its own subject can erase is not a record. Payment records, once payments exist, are retained for the period UK tax law requires. If your coach closes their account, their space becomes read-only and you keep your own booking and message history — including the space name, without which that history would be meaningless.
Cotra may restrict, suspend or close an account where it reasonably believes these terms have been breached, the account is being operated by someone under 18, false information has been provided, fraud or unlawful activity is suspected, a safeguarding or security risk exists, suspension is needed to investigate a serious complaint, or Cotra is legally required to act. Where appropriate and safe, Cotra will explain its decision.
Questions about closing an account: hello@cotraofficial.co.uk.
23. Cotra's responsibility
Cotra is responsible for providing its Platform services with reasonable care and skill.
Cotra is not responsible for a coach's independent coaching services, actions, qualifications or representations, where Cotra did not cause or contribute to the loss. Cotra does not guarantee that a coach is suitable for a particular athlete, that a coach's credentials are accurate, that coaching will produce a particular result, that every user will behave appropriately, or that the Platform will always be available.
Nothing in these terms excludes or limits liability where doing so would be unlawful, including for death or personal injury caused by negligence, fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, Cotra's own failure to comply with data protection law, or any other liability that cannot legally be excluded. Consumer terms cannot exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence — Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 65.
Nothing in these terms removes your statutory rights, or those of the athlete.
24. Complaints
A complaint about the coaching itself should normally be raised with your coach first.
Raise it directly with Cotra where it concerns safeguarding, abuse or inappropriate conduct, fraudulent credentials, a serious safety concern, misuse of personal information, the operation of the Platform, or any situation where contacting the coach would be unsafe or inappropriate.
The Complaint and Dispute Resolution Policy sets out how complaints and disputes are handled, including where you and your coach disagree about a refund.
- Safeguarding: safety@cotraofficial.co.uk
- Everything else: hello@cotraofficial.co.uk
Cotra may review relevant account, booking and communication records when considering a complaint.
25. Changes to these terms
Cotra may update these terms as its services and legal obligations develop. Material changes will be notified through the Platform or by email, and where required you will be asked to accept the updated version before continuing. Your acceptance of each version is recorded with its version number and date.
These terms will be reviewed before Cotra launches any public coach directory or marketplace, recommends or matches athletes with coaches, introduces formal coach verification, directly sells coaching, changes its payment structure, permits under-18s to access Platform features, or materially changes how information about children is processed.
26. Governing law
These terms are governed by the laws of England and Wales. The courts of England and Wales have jurisdiction, except where consumer law entitles a person living elsewhere in the United Kingdom to bring proceedings locally.
27. Contact
| Purpose | Address |
|---|---|
| Safeguarding concerns and reports | safety@cotraofficial.co.uk |
| Data protection requests | privacy@cotraofficial.co.uk |
| Everything else | hello@cotraofficial.co.uk |
Cotra Limited, Company No. 17285541 65 Burgoyne Road, Sunbury-On-Thames, England, TW16 7PS
ICO registration number: 00015217864
If someone is in immediate danger, call 999.