Cath Cooke and Franky Boyland have recently been appointed as the Sports Welfare Leads for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire, and Derby and Derbyshire, to support the work of the Club Welfare Officers.
The roles are part of a national network of Sport Welfare Officers funded by Sport England to support National Governing Bodies of Sport (NGBs) to work with their clubs to provide positive, inclusive and safe experiences for all participants.
As part of this work Cath and Franky would like to hear from clubs about what their support needs are in this area.
Franky said: “We know there are some great sports clubs in Nottingham and Nottinghamshire and Derby and Derbyshire and we want to support clubs and physical activity providers to make the experiences of members even more positive, safe and inclusive.
“We are still working out exactly what support we should be offering to clubs and how this is best done. Our role is not to ‘audit’ and tell clubs what they are missing or doing ‘wrong’ it is to offer support in the way that meets their needs.
“We have started to consider what the support we offer could look and feel like and would really appreciate it you clubs could complete our short survey or get in touch.”
Or contact cath.cooke@activepartnerstrust.org.uk (for Nottingham and Nottinghamshire) or franky.boyland@activepartnerstrust.org.uk (for Derby and Derbyshire) with your thoughts on the list of ideas below.
- Be a sounding board and offer advice if you have any concerns or worries.
- Offer additional training/awareness to help you to feel more confident in your role.
- Provide ideas and share good practice from other clubs about ways to make your club a fun, safe, inclusive place for all.
- Support you to find an appropriate CWO if your club does not have one already.
- Support you to ensure that all your safeguarding and welfare policies and processes are in place in line with your NGBs requirements.
- Support you in getting a positive, inclusive message across to your clubs.
- Provide forums and networking opportunities for you to talk to other CWOs.
- Any other areas that you think would help you and your club.
