Transforming lives through the power of sport

Welfare and Safeguarding Resources for Coaches

DSW believe that coaches and volunteers are essential to the creation of fun, safe and inclusive physical activity (including sport) for all (disabled) children and young people. In ensuring that activities offered through Disability Sport Wales always represents best practice we encourage and support all coaches and volunteers to gain appropriate qualifications, attend useful continuing professional learning opportunities, have experiences of working with other coaches and volunteers so that ideas can be shared, and to ensure all of this links to Minimum Deployment Standards (MDS) and a focus on participant-centred delivery.

Where Welfare and Safeguarding are concerned there are some fundamental things you should make sure you do:

If you are working in Regulated Activity (which you are likely to be if you are coaching or leading sessions with children and young people frequently and in an unsupervised setting) make sure you have a current DBS check
Make sure you have attended the sports coach UK 'Safeguarding and Protecting Children 1' or 'Safeguarding and Protecting Children 2' workshop
Ideally attend a 'Protecting Adults at Risk' workshop
Ask the club you are coaching for if you can have a copy of their Welfare Policies (or if you work directly for DSW get access to our policy and toolkit)
Check the role description the club, NGB (or DSW) have for the coaching or volunteering role you are doing
Always ensure that there is an appropriate risk assessment conducted or available for the sessions you are involved with
Be aware of the ratios the sport recommend for the group you are coaching