Coaches have a vital rôle to play in safeguarding children and vulnerable adults in Bowls. The coaches at club level will be a focus for children and their activities. Good coaching is about providing a fun and safe environment in which people can enjoy their first experience of bowls, gain some success and be motivated to want to go on playing.
The guidance is intended for all those involved in coaching whether or not they hold coaching qualifications and applies equally to children and vulnerable adults. All references to children should also be taken to refer to vulnerable adults.
Click here for the Crown Green element of the EBCS (contained on the BCGBA web-site). Other information can be found on the EBCS web-site.
Promoting Good Practice
Child abuse and harassment can take place in many situations, from the home and school to a sporting environment. Bowls coaches will have regular contact with children; adopt the highest standards of practice and be responsible for identifying those in need of protection
As a coach they will look up to you and if a child decides to talk to you about abuse, you will need to know what to do. You also need to understand your duty of care towards young bowlers, current guidance on good practice, and act responsibly when you are around children. This will protect the children you coach and reduce the potential for misunderstandings and inappropriate allegations being made. The following guidelines should help you know what to do if you are worried about a child, and demonstrate how you can create a positive culture whatever code of bowls you play.
Good practice means:
- Being an excellent role model, this includes not smoking or drinking alcohol whilst coaching
- Ensuring that bowls is fun, enjoyable and fair play is promoted
- Treating all learners equally with respect and dignity
- Always putting the welfare of the participants first, before winning or achieving goals by encouraging a constructive environment where healthy competition, skill development, fun and achievement are promoted in equal measures
- Always working in an open environment (e.g. avoiding being alone with a child, and encouraging open communication with no secrets)
- Building balanced relationships based on trust which enable participants to take part in the decision making process.
- Not tolerating acts of aggression
- Recognising the needs and abilities of the bowlers, avoiding too much training or competitions and not pushing them against their will
- Giving positive and constructive feedback rather than negative criticism
- Working to Bowls Panel guidance on physical contact, where children and carers are always consulted and their agreement gained before any contact
- Keeping up-to-date with technical skills, qualifications and insurance in sport
- Ensuring that if mixed sex teams are taken away, they are always accompanied by a male and female chaperone
- While on tour, you do not enter a child’s room or invite them into your room, except in an emergency ie when very unwell.
- Finding out if any pupils you are supervising have medical conditions that could be aggravated whilst playing or training.
- Keeping a written record any time a person is injured in your care, along with the details of any treatment provided. Report the incident immediately to the Club CPO or SO (or County CPO or SO) with a copy to the Club/ County Secretary
- Promoting good sportsmanship by encouraging participants to be considerate of other athletes, officials, and club volunteers and by being modest in victory and gracious in defeat.
Avoiding poor practice means you must never:
- Spend excessive amounts of time alone with children or vulnerable adults away from others
- Take or drop off a pupil at an event without written permission
- Take children or vulnerable adults to your home or transport them by car, where they will be alone with you
- Engage in rough, physical or sexual provocative games
- Share a room with a child or vulnerable adult
- Allow or engage in any form of in appropriate touching or physical abuse
- Take part in or tolerate behaviour that frightens, embarrasses or demoralises a bowler or affects their self esteem
- Allow children or vulnerable adults to use inappropriate language unchallenged
- Make sexual suggestive comments to a child or vulnerable adult, even in fun
- Allow allegations made by a child or vulnerable adult to go unchallenged, unrecorded or ignored.
- Make a child or vulnerable adult cry as a form of control
- Do things of a personal nature for children or vulnerable adults that they can do for themselves
- Shower with a child or vulnerable adult
Any of these can leave you open to allegations
Where physical contact is for motivation or celebratory reasons, agree with the children, teachers or other appropriate adults that to praise good performance a ‘High Five’ or similar action will be used
Never help pupils dress unless they request this and genuinely require assistance
Never take on one to one coaching with a pupil unless another adult/ carer or parent is present.
If you need to communicate with a child for the purposes of coaching or passing on information, us a parent’s mobile telephone number. If you have agreed with the parents in advance to use the child’s own mobile phone for communicating with them, under no circumstances make the number available for general circulation.
If any of the following incidents take place or are observed you MUST report then to the club CPO or SO and make a written note of the event using the incident report form and inform the parents where appropriate if:
- You accidentally hurt a child
- A child seems distressed in any manner
- A child misunderstands or misinterprets something you have done
- Responding to disclosures suspicions and allegations
There are a number of reasons where a coach finds it necessary to report a concern including:
- In response to something a child has said
- In response to signs of suspicions of abuse
- In response to allegations made against a member of staff or volunteer
- In response to allegation made about a parent, carer or someone not working within the family of bowls
- In response to bullying
- In response to a breach of code of conduct or poor practice.
- Observation of inappropriate behaviour
Responding to a child who tells you about abuse.
You need to:
- Stay calm, do not show disgust or disbelief
- Keep an open mind
- Do not dismiss the concern, make assumptions or judgments
- Listen carefully to what is said and take the child seriously. Let the child know that if what they tell you leads you to believe they are in danger, you will have to pass the information on to someone who can protect them.
- Ask questions for clarification only and at all times avoid asking questions that suggest a particular answer
- Reassure the child that they have done the right thing by telling you
- Tell them what you will do next and with whom the information will be shared
- Record in writing what was said using the child’s own words. DO this as soon as possible, using the Incident Report Form.
- Avoid approaching any alleged abuser to discuss the concern
- Report the incident to the CPO or SO.
Summary – Coaching Children a Code of Ethics
- Follow all guidelines and procedures set by the National Governing Body including those related to Child Protection
- Ensure training is suited to the child’s age, maturity, experience and ability
- Respect the rights, dignity and worth of every child and treat each one equally
- Develop a correct relationship with parents and child based on mutual trust and respect
- Place the well being and safety of the child above developing performance
- Ensure child and parents understand what is expected of them
- Encourage and guide the children to accept responsibility for their own behaviour
- Promote the positive aspects of the game – fair play, sportsmanship etc
- Let child and parent know what they are entitled to expect from you
- Display high standards of personal behaviour and appearance.
Guidance on good practices in Welcoming Youth into your club can be found by clicking here (Welcoming Children to your Club).
Managing Challenging Behaviour Guidelines
Guidelines for managing challenging behaviour can be found in the document Managing Challenging Behaviour and is based on the advice from Government guidelines (Every Child Matters briefings) and briefings from the Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU).
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