Hosted by five Sport Welfare Officers from the East Midlands, The East Midlands Sport Welfare Forum took place as a virtual event on 3 December, 6:30pm – 7:30pm.

Officers discussed the role of the club welfare or safeguarding officer, and the responsibilities of the committee in relation to safeguarding. The latter was a theme which those who attended an earlier event had expressed an interest in covering.

The event was interactive event to give attendees from different sports the opportunity to hear and learn from each other. Attendees came from a wide variety sports, at grassroots level, including:

• Archery, athletics, basketball, boccia, bowls, cricket, football, gymnastics, hockey, martial arts, netball, rugby union, swimming, triathlon.

The session started with a brief outline of what support the East Midlands Sport Welfare Officers can provide before moving on to an interactive exercise which asked what they considered the main focus of their role as a club or safeguarding officer.

MAIN DISCUSSION POINTS

• A discussion was led around what the role of the Club Welfare Officer was and what challenges they face.
• There were some great contributions, and in particular a discussion about the need to safeguard adults associated with clubs as well as children.
• The final part of the session looked at the committee's role where we discussed some good practice to ensure safeguarding and welfare remain high on the agenda.

NEXT EVENT

The next event will be in early February with the date TBC.

Once confirmed, the date and session details will be available on the Facebook page East Midlands Sport Welfare Forum.

JOIN THE FORUM

The forum is a private Facebook group, administered by five Sport Welfare Officers from across the East Midlands. The group is a friendly community forum dedicated to club welfare officers and other club volunteers within the East Midlands region. It can provide you with knowledge and updates on safeguarding and welfare topics, events and training in your area.

There are now over 185 members from across the East Midlands.

To join the group: East Midlands Sport Welfare Forum

GET SUPPORT - Clubs in Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland

Find out more and contact the Active Together Sport Welfare Officer: https://www.active-together.org/sport-welfare-officer