Sports Clubs & Coaches

All Sports Clubs must have their own Safeguarding Children Policy. If your club needs assistance with this, please contact your National Governing Body, or the Guernsey Sports Commission, for support.

Coaches working with young people should have received training in safeguarding. To promote and maintain good safeguarding practices the Guernsey Sports Commission provides the UK Coaching “Safeguarding & Protecting Children” workshops.

Every sports club that runs activities for U18s must have a Club Safeguarding/Welfare Officer. A club welfare officer is the person within a sports club with primary responsibility for managing and reporting concerns about children and for putting into place procedures to safeguard children in the club.

It is recommended that all Club Welfare Officers attend the NSPCC “Time to Listen” Training which is hosted annually by the Guernsey Sports Commission.

The current timetable of workshops provided by Guernsey Sports Commission can be found at the link below. Delegates who wish to book on to a course must do so, along with paying any workshop fee, in advance by filling in the relevant application form or emailing info@guernseysports.com

All sessions provided to U18s in your club should be delivered by a coach who is competent to deliver and oversee the sport or activity safely. A UKCC level 2 or equivalent qualification is the minimum standard to be coaching independently.

All staff and volunteers should be selected through a proper (safe) recruitment process. This should include interviews, references and criminal records checks (e.g. Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)) for staff working with children.

If you have any queries, or need any support with Safeguarding in your club, please get in touch with one of the Guernsey Sports Commission Welfare Officers