Coaching sessions and holiday clubs
The following information will help you to ensure the appropriate safeguards are in place at your coaching sessions and holiday clubs.
Safeguarding risk assessments are specific to safeguarding and supervision at your venue, County or Event.
You should have a risk assessment for each coaching programme such as one for junior sessions, and then separate ones for different sessions such as cardio tennis, wheelchair tennis or walking tennis. You should review these regularly, perhaps annually, unless something changes which reduces or increases the risk. This may be a change in staff, location, or perhaps a change in policies and procedures.
Risk assessments are also required for events, activities, and competitions. We have a dedicated template which includes ratios for these activities. This template can also be used for all your general coaching sessions, but you will need to update the ratios. Recommended coach/player ratios can be found here:
You can find a link to the template here:
It is really important that anyone booking coaching sessions or holiday clubs with you, are provided with safeguarding information. This should include details of:
- Who the venue Welfare Officer is
- How to contact them
- How to find out further safeguarding information
An easy way to do this, is to add a link for the venue safeguarding webpage into your booking confirmations. If you use ClubSpark, details of how to include this information can be found on their website:
If you don’t use ClubSpark, make sure you have ways to share this information through booking confirmations.
Whatsapp can be a really useful tool in coordinating sessions, however it is important that appropriate safeguarding measures are in place. Please use the below guidance to support you:
Whatsapp guide
As part of the booking process, you should gather emergency contact information, medical information and consents for photography and filming. You can use these template documents to support you with this.
We want to make sure everyone knows how to stay safe, learn a little bit more and share the message to Say Something if you See Something.
Here are some fun ways to do this, maybe on those rainy days at home or holiday camps. Perhaps you could decorate your venue to make sure everyone gets the message.
Sometimes, you may notice a player you are supporting is struggling with their mental health. This guidance provides top tips on how you can support them:
You can also signpost children and young people to our wellbeing page: