The role of the coach in safeguarding

Safeguarding

The latest entry of Basketball England's safeguarding blog series by our Safeguarding Specialist Amy Riding.

Missed the others? Read them back:

This month's blog focuses on the role of the coach in safeguarding.

Coaches are paramount to our game and support for coaches at all levels of the coaching pathway is available through BE's learning hub.

When it comes to safeguarding, our safeguarding course is now the only course we accept for coaches refreshing their training.

Not done yours yet? Sign up.

Are you a young coach?

UK Coaching has a bunch of learning opportunities to help ensure you have the knowledge when it comes to safeguarding:

Position of trust

All coaches need to be fully aware of all of relevant legislation, policy, and procedure governing your role.

Did you know that coaching is a legally recognised as a position of trust?

This means that coaches are subject to the same legal provisions as other adults who work with children, such as teachers. It is illegal for a coach in a position of trust to engage in sexual activity with a child under 18.

Do you know about your legal and moral duty of care as a coach?

Anyone in charge of children within a basketball activity has a duty of care for their safety and wellbeing. To demonstrate a reasonable standard of care as a coach, you need to:

keep an up to date attendance register
keep accurate and current records of contact details for participants
ensure appropriate supervision ratios (refer to the Basketball England policy)
keep a detailed record of any specific medical conditions for children (eg. allergies, asthma)
ensure first aid provisions are readily available
ensure all staff and volunteers have been selected via an appropriate recruitment and selection processes, including DBS checks

We advise that all coaches keep their safeguarding knowledge up to date, follow regulations and policy, and complete risk assessments for all basketball activities.

See our Duty of Care document for more information.

Duty of Care

Are you familiar with our safeguarding regulations and policy?

Our regulations and policy clearly set out the standards that we expect.

To protect both juniors and adults in the game, we would not expect to see the following from coaches when coaching juniors:

Providing lifts home
Directly messaging U18s 1-1
Inviting juniors to spend time with you outside of basketball
Engaging in rough, physical activity or ‘horseplay’
Using inappropriate language or making insensitive comments
Using physical punishment
Acting in anyway that a child may perceive as threatening, intrusive, intimidating, patronising, or belittling
Allowing concerns to go unreported

To summarise, our coaches are paramount to our game; it is important you have all the knowledge and support to assist us in our commitment to safeguarding the welfare of children and adults at risk in basketball.

If you need further assistance in meeting safeguarding requirements and understanding your role please get in touch with your club welfare officer or the safeguarding team.

Download our essential documents below.

Safeguarding Regulations

Safeguarding Policy

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