Toronto FC & Best Athletes Announce New Affiliate Program Partnership

Best Athletes Privacy Policy

Your privacy is important to Best Athletes Ltd, and its subsidiaries (“Best Athletes”, “we”, “our”, or “us”), and Best Athletes is committed to the protection of your personal information. Our Privacy Policy exists to help you understand what information Best Athletes collects, how we collect and use it, and what choices you have. To make sure your personal information is secure, we communicate our privacy and security guidelines to Best Athletes employees and strictly enforce privacy safeguards within the company. Please read this Privacy Policy before visiting our websites, accessing our services, or providing any personal information to Best Athletes. If you do not wish to have your information used and disclosed as provided in this Privacy Policy, please refrain from providing your information and/or delete the information you may have submitted in the past. In doing so, please understand that your access to information, services and other benefits may be substantially limited. Further assistance is available via email to info@bestathletes.co.

If you use Best Athletes’ products or services, further information may also be provided in your contract with us. If you are an employee, worker or contractor of Best Athletes, the information about how we handle your personal information is available in the Best Athletes Handbook. With respect to employees based in Europe, we are committed to cooperating with EU data protection authorities (DPAs) and comply with the advice given by such authorities with regard to human resources data transferred from the EU in the context of the employment relationship. We do not collect social security or equivalent national tax ID numbers, except for employment purposes. If you are a prospective employee or job applicant of Best Athletes, we will provide you with information about how we handle your personal information for recruitment purposes. This will be provided to you if you commence any of our recruitment initiatives.

1. Collection and Use of Personal Information

Personal information is data relating to a person that can be used to help uniquely identify them, either directly or indirectly. You may be asked to provide personal information when in contact with Best Athletes. If you do not provide us with certain requested personal information we may not be able to provide you with some or all of Best Athletes’ products and services.

If you are a representative of a corporate entity, such as a professional sports club, then Best Athletes may use your personal information to provide and customize our products and services, and send you marketing communications related to our products and services.

For all bestathletes.co users, we may use your data for purposes such as auditing, data analysis, and research to improve Best Athletes products, services, and customer communications. Best Athletes and its partners may share personal information and use it as described in this Privacy Policy. Such information may be combined with other information to provide and improve products, services, content, and advertising. This Privacy Policy does not cover and is not intended to restrict what we do with data that is aggregated and anonymized, so it is no longer associated with a personally identifiable user.

Where you are an individual (i.e., not a representative of a corporate entity) and have consented to us using your personal data for marketing purposes, we may use your information to conduct marketing and data analysis or to send you updates and news concerning Best Athletes and its business partners. If at any time after you have consented to us using your information for marketing purposes you wish us to stop using your information for these purposes, please email us at info@bestathletes.co.

2. Personal Information We Collect

When you visit our website(s), download or install a software application, create a registered user account, purchase or register a product, complete a survey, or download a software update, we may collect information, including but not limited to: name, mailing address, phone number, email address, athlete profile information (as described in Section 3 below), contact preferences, credit card information and payment history. 

We may also collect such information when you contact us in person (for example, at clinics, conferences, workshops, seminars and other events), via telephone, facsimile or email. When you send us an email, that address will be recorded automatically for purposes of replying to your email. If you represent a corporate entity, such as a professional sports club, by providing your email address, you are subscribing to our electronic newsletter and product updates, which may include information about new features and new services. You may unsubscribe from this content by following the steps detailed in the email footer or by contacting info@bestathletes.co.

We may receive and store certain types of website usage information when you visit our websites. Website usage information helps us determine how visitors arrive, what type of content is most popular and which visitors are interested in particular content and advertising. We may collect the page visited, the time, the source of the request, the type of browser making the request, the preceding page view and other information about your engagement with our site and services. We may also collect your IP address and your Device Identifier. A Device Identifier is a number automatically assigned to the computer, cell phone or tablet used to access the Internet. We may associate your Device Identifier with the personal information you provide.

When you browse our website(s), we may collect information about you, regardless of whether you have created a registered user account. However, if you choose to access our websites anonymously, we may not be able to provide you with particular products or services. We collect and store personal information if you provide any such personal information, register as a user, provide details at an event, complete a survey or supply personal details through any other form of correspondence. Best Athletes uses this information to provide products and services, as well as for billing, identification, authentication, products and services improvement, contact and research purposes. This information may include: date, time, computer identity, crash data, device type and setting, operating system, language, region, log preferences, registration key, license level, license code, license code status, code registration date, last validation date, Ethernet address, IP address, MAC address, licensed software name and version, OS version, and any other information about user actions required to improve, support and maintain our software.

3. Athlete Profile Pages

These pages may contain and therefore collect: name, home and email addresses, phone number, school (name, city and state), graduation year, GPA, ACT/SAT scores, transcripts, parent/guardian information (name, relation, email and phone), age, birth date, photograph, height, weight, jersey number, Twitter handle, sports position, performance scores (30 m sprint, 5 m sprint, endurance test, vertical jump), speed and strength information, sports psychological information, sports awards, sports videos featuring the athlete, and other athlete profile information, as may be updated from time to time. This information can be accessed by the athlete, coaches and team administrators. Verified recruiters may access the profile information of athletes located outside the EU and of those athletes inside the EU that have affirmatively consented to this. The general public may have limited access to athlete profile information based on administrator selected privacy settings. Home and email addresses, phone number, GPA, ACT/SAT scores, transcripts, parent/guardian information (name, relation, email and phone), age, birth date, graduation year and sports awards are not available to the general public by default. 

4. Data Storage 

Best Athletes uses third-party vendors and hosting partners to provide the necessary hardware, software, networking, storage and related technology required to run the Best Athletes website, and such third-party vendors may collect and store your data on behalf of Best Athletes. Best Athletes owns the code, databases and all rights therein. Best Athletes incorporates reasonable safeguards to help protect and secure your personal information. However, no data transmission over the Internet, wireless transmission, or electronic storage of information can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. Please note that Best Athletes cannot ensure or warrant the security of any information you transmit via its websites and/or products, and you do so at your own risk. The websites are general audience websites. 

5. Disclosures to Third Parties 

There are circumstances where we may wish to disclose or are compelled to disclose your personal data to third parties. We may share your personal information with: our subsidiaries, branches or associated offices, our partners, vendors, licensees, agents, representatives, distributors, independent contractors, legal advisors, our other professional advisors, and/or to any other third party where you have provided your permission.

Any disclosure to third parties will only take place in accordance with the applicable law and for the purposes listed. These scenarios include disclosure: (1) as required to provide products or services you’ve requested; (2) in order to provide partner-sponsored feature enhancements; (3) when necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, suspected fraud, situations involving potential threats to the physical safety of any person, violations of our Terms and Conditions of Use, or as otherwise required by law; (4) on a temporary or permanent basis for the purposes of a joint venture, collaboration, financing, sale, merger, reorganization, change of legal form, dissolution or similar event (in the event we are acquired by or merge with another company, you will be notified before your information is transferred); (5) to protect the security or integrity of our business, including our databases and systems, and for business continuity reasons; (6) to our legal advisors who may need to manage or litigate a claim; and (7) for any other purpose when we have your permission. 

6. Children 

We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under age thirteen (13) (or the otherwise applicable age of digital consent in any particular jurisdiction). Children under the applicable age of digital consent are not permitted to use our websites and services, and must request a team adult, parent or guardian provide any personal data in connection with the site and/or services. We will delete any information later determined to have been collected from an underage user. Coaches and Account Administrators may add underage users to a team roster and/or direct invite codes to such users only with express written consent from a parent or legal guardian. Best Athletes is not liable for obtaining such consent on behalf of a team. 

7. Web Beacons 

Our website contains electronic images (generally, single-pixel .gif images) called “web beacons.” Web beacons allow Best Athletes and third parties to monitor and collect information about the viewer of the web page, web-based document, email message or other communication, such as the type of browser requesting the web beacon, the Device Identifier that the web beacon is sent to, and the time the web beacon was viewed. Best Athletes uses web beacons to count web browsers, visits and page views. It also uses beacons to monitor traffic and conversion patterns, to personalize your experience, including advertising and content, and to determine whether or not messages were opened, links were clicked or notifications/offers were acted upon. 

8. Cookies 

A “cookie” is a small amount of data that often includes an anonymous unique identifier that is sent to your browser from a website and stored on your computer’s hard drive. When you access this website, cookies may be sent to your web browser and stored on your computer or mobile device. We use cookies to record information about your online preferences and allow us to tailor our websites to your interests. Information supplied by cookies can help us to understand the profile of our visitors and help us to provide you with a better user experience. It also helps us to recognize when you are signed in to your Best Athletes account and to provide a more personalized experience. Additionally, Best Athletes uses cookies to serve some targeted advertising. To help promote Best Athletes teams and athletes, we sometimes embed content from social media and other third-party websites. These may include YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, SoundCloud, Instagram, Pinterest and Flickr. As a result, when you visit a page containing such content, you may be presented with cookies from these websites and these third-party cookies may track your use of the Best Athletes website. Best Athletes does not control the dissemination of these cookies and you should check the relevant third party’s website for more information.

9. Hosted Service Partners and Their Privacy Options

Our major network advertising partners include Facebook, Google, Twitter, and their respective advertising networks. These partners may use cookies, web beacons, and similar technologies to collect information and use that information to provide measurement services and target ads. If you wish to restrict, remove or refuse to accept cookies which are set by any website (including this website), you should do this through the browser settings for each browser you use to access the Internet. The Help function within your browser should tell you how to do so. For further information about how to restrict, remove, and refuse to accept cookies, visit www.aboutcookies.org or www.allaboutcookies.org.

You can opt out of Facebook collection here. You can opt out of Google analytics here, and adjust other Google privacy settings here. Twitter also uses conversion tracking and tailored audience products for advertisements. You can modify your Twitter privacy settings here. Our website may also provide hyperlinks to other websites owned and controlled by others. Best Athletes is not responsible for the privacy practices of any website that it does not own or otherwise control, and you should read the privacy policies of websites owned and controlled by others before deciding whether to proceed.

10. Tracking 

Best Athletes’ website does not respond to “do not track” settings in browsers. 

11. Online Training 

Online Training Sessions are governed by the Best Athletes privacy policy. 

12. Messaging and Notifications 

Best Athletes’ private messaging tools (“Best Athletes Messaging”) are available to Best Athletes subscribers. Messages may be between one sender and one or more recipients. Best Athletes Messaging enables users to have conversations with individual athletes and coaches, custom groups, or the whole team on the same Best Athletes roster. Best Athletes Messaging is intended for use that includes, but is not limited to, sending reminders about practice times, requesting feedback from the team, discussing game strategy, or sharing links to training resources.

When a message is sent, all participants in the conversation (except the sender) receive a notification within HuBest Athletesdl Messaging that they have a new unread message.

Once a message is deleted from the sender’s personal account, it is deleted from the recipient(s’) account(s) as well. Neither the recipient nor the sender is then able to see the message. Once the message is deleted, the action cannot be undone. Any information the sender submits through messaging, however, may be passed along by the recipient without the sender’s knowledge. This may occur by forwarding the notification email or text, or capturing and forwarding a screenshot of the message(s) prior to deletion.

Best Athletes supports the privacy and competitiveness of teams by requiring authentication to view the messages and files shared within a specific team. Best Athletes reserves the right, but is not obligated to, disclose any information if, in its sole opinion, Best Athletes suspects or has reason to suspect that the information involves a party who may be the victim of harassment in any form. Information may be disclosed to authorities that Best Athletes, in its sole discretion, deems appropriate to handle such disclosure. Appropriate authorities may include, without limitation, law enforcement agencies, child protection agencies, or court officials. Additionally, Best Athletes reserves the right to divulge the contents of a communication to an addressee or intended recipient of such communication. Given this, even if both the sender and recipient(s) deleted their message(s), conversation(s) directed at either party may be provided to the individual at either party’s request. 

We may also use aggregated Messaging information for purposes such as auditing, data analysis, and research to improve Best Athletes’ products, services, and customer communications. Best Athletes will not share with any partners any information provided via Messaging, except on aggregate, unless explicitly approved by the team admin. 

We reserve the right to access Messaging information when necessary to investigate, prevent, or take action regarding illegal activities, including suspected fraud, harassment, and threats to the safety of any person, as well as violations of our Terms and Conditions of Use, or as otherwise required by law.

13. Retention of Personal Information

Your personal information will be retained for as long as it is necessary to carry out the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy (unless longer retention is required by applicable law). However, we will not retain any of your personal information beyond this period and the retention of your personal information will be subject to periodic review. We may keep an anonymized form of your personal information, which will no longer refer to you, for statistical purposes without time limits, to the extent that we have a legitimate and lawful interest in doing so.

14. Confidentiality and Security

Best Athletes is committed to seeking to safeguard all personal information that you provide to us; seeking to ensure that it remains confidential and secure; and taking all reasonable steps to ensure that personal privacy is respected. All our data is stored in written or electronic form on our servers and computers and in various physical locations. We maintain physical, electronic and procedural safeguards to protect your personal information from misuse, unauthorized access or disclosure, and loss or corruption by computer viruses and other sources of harm. We limit access to personal information to those staff members, joint venture partners, subsidiary companies and third parties who need to know that information for the purposes set out in this Privacy Policy.

15. Compliance with Privacy Laws

Best Athletes complies with the data protection and privacy laws to which it is subject. You should satisfy yourself that you are familiar with those laws, including any exceptions which may apply under them. You should also be aware that privacy laws in various jurisdictions may change from time to time. Except to the extent expressly stated otherwise in this Privacy Policy, Best Athletes accepts no obligations with respect to the handling of personal information other than those mandated by law in the country which has or countries which have jurisdiction over Best Athletes in any given circumstances.

16. Grounds for Processing in the EU/EEA

If you are in the European Union and/or European Economic Area, to process your data lawfully we need to rely on one or more valid legal grounds. The grounds we may rely upon include: (1) your consent to particular processing activities. For example, where you have consented to us using your information for marketing purposes; (2) our legitimate interests as a business (except where your interests or fundamental rights override these). For example, it is within our legitimate interests to use your data to send you our electronic newsletter and product updates if you represent a corporate entity (unless you have unsubscribed); (3) our compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject. For example, we have a duty to investigate and respond to complaints made against us and may need to process your personal information as part of such investigation; or (4) if you are a customer, or are representing a customer, because processing your personal data is necessary for the performance of a contract.

17. Your EU/EEA Data Protection Rights

Please contact us at info@bestathletes.co any time to exercise any of your data protection rights. Data protection law applicable to individuals in the European Union and/or European Economic Area provides individuals with certain rights, including the right to access, rectify, withdraw consent, erase, restrict, transport, and object to the processing of their personal information. Individuals also have the right to lodge a complaint with the relevant information protection authority if they believe that their personal information is not being processed in accordance with the law. Further information about your rights is set out below:

Right to obtain a copy of your personal information. You may have the right to obtain a copy of the personal information we hold about you.

Right to rectification. You may request that we rectify any inaccurate and/or complete any incomplete personal information. If we disagree and believe the information to be accurate and complete, we will advise you and include a notation on the record that you dispute the information’s accuracy. We will respond to your request to correct or supplement your personal information within a reasonable time period and, in any event, within any time period specified in relevant laws.

Right to withdraw consent. You may, as permitted by law, withdraw your consent to the processing of your personal information at any time. Such withdrawal will not affect the lawfulness of processing based on your previous consent. Please note that if you withdraw your consent, you may not be able to benefit from certain service features for which the processing of your personal information is essential.

Right to object to processing. You may, as permitted by law, request that we stop processing your personal information. You also have the right to ask us not to process your personal data for marketing purposes.

Right to erasure. You may request that we erase your personal information and we will comply, unless there is a lawful reason for not doing so.

Your right to lodge a complaint with the supervisory authority. We suggest that you contact us about any questions or if you have a complaint in relation to how we process your personal information. However, you do have the right to contact the relevant supervisory authority in the relevant country directly. In the UK, this is the Information Commissioner’s Office at https://ico.org.uk.

18. International Transfer of Personal Data

The Best Athletes platform is currently only intended for individuals in North America (Canada and the US). Note, personal data may be transferred throughout the Best Athletes organization and to our outsourced service providers located abroad. In these circumstances, we will, as required by applicable law, ensure that your privacy rights are adequately protected by appropriate technical, organization, contractual or other lawful means. Please contact Best Athletes (details set out below) for further information about the safeguards which we have put in place to protect your personal data and privacy rights in these circumstances.

19. California Privacy Rights 

Residents of California have the right to:

• Know what personal information we collect about you and from where we collect it.
• Access a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Understand how we process your personal information and how it may be shared.
• Opt out of having your personal information shared with certain third parties.
• Request we delete your Best Athletes account and personal information.

To make such a request, please send an email to info@bestathletes.co.

20. Contact Us

This website is owned and operated by Best Athletes Ltd.

Best Athletes 14 Erb St W. Waterloo, Ontario, Canada N2L 1S7 email: info@bestathletes.co

21. Changes 

Best Athletes may periodically update this Privacy Policy. The most current version of the Privacy Policy will govern our use of your information and will always be available at https://www.bestathletes.co/privacy. By using the websites and products, you acknowledge your agreement to the terms of this Privacy Policy. We will notify you about material changes in the way we treat personal information by sending a notice to the email address specified in your membership account or by placing a prominent notice on our website. 

Updated March 20, 2020