News

Sub Aqua awarded licence to accredit

BSAC has been awarded its Clubmark licence by Sport England, becoming the 27th Governing Body to be accredited by the scheme.

BSAC's accreditation announcement follows a recent Clubmark pilot, in which four BSAC branches -Mid Lancs SAC, Medway, Tameside Divers and Chillington Divers - were taken through the assessment process. They will receive their Clubmark award at the BSAC Awards Dinner on 1 December 2007 at the Hotel Russell, London.

Government announce £5million coach campaign

A campaign to recruit 10,000 voluntary community sports coaches in 70 of the most deprived areas of the country was launched on 24th September 2007 by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport James Purnell.

The drive will help build strong communities by getting adults and young people involved in activities in their local area. It will also help increase sport participation and help develop sporting talent.

Reddish Rebels reap rewards

Since achieving Clubmark our Club has developed significantly. Membership has increased through the Clubmark quality assurance and there are now over 100 members and 14 teams at the Club.

The structured committee that we now have in place has helped to put into action lots of good ideas to improve the general organisation of the Club. Through achieving Clubmark status we have been able to secure lots of funding from England Basketball.... 

BADMINTON England club together in £3.5m development plan

BADMINTON England has chosen this week's National Badminton Week to unveil its £3.5m Club Future scheme.

Club Future, a strategy for club development, has been awarded almost £2m cash injection from Sport England's Club and Coach Fund, as BADMINTON England step up their bid to make English badminton the best in the world over the next 10 years.

Spotlight on…Ellen Falkner

Ellen Falkner is a Development Manager for Sport England East. One of Ellen's policy areas is club development which Clubmark is integral too. Ellen took up this post in October 2006 having previously worked as a Workforce Development Manager for Living Sport, the County Sports Partnership in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Case Studies

Athletics club supports volunteers

Athletics is an up and coming sport. With the Olympics coming in 2012, more children are getting involved. It is our job as a club to keep the young athletes safe and encourage their enthusiasm in the sport. We also have to grow our number of coaches and officials, all of whom are unpaid volunteers.

Clubmark helps golf club to develop junior participation

A very familiar sight at Hamptworth Golf & Country Club is that of a group of juniors having a putting competition as you pass them on the drive into the club, however this wasn't always the case.

Operational update

The lifeblood of Clubmark clubs 

We recognise that volunteers are the lifeblood of Clubmark clubs, yet all too often they are taken for granted. Over the past 18 months, as part of the external verification process we have visited many clubs and spoken with a handful of the thousands of volunteers that give up their time to coach, administer and help co-ordinate and develop clubs and members.

Our evidence suggests that volunteers within accredited clubs are

• empowered with clearly defined roles and tasks
• able to develop skills and keep their knowledge up to date through equity and child protection training
• offered the opportunity to, for instance, gain coaching and first aid qualifications
• able to participate in high quality sporting opportunities

Furthermore, a recognised benefit of achieving Clubmark accreditation is the ability to attract more volunteers.

For example, West Hove Golf Club attracted 5 new female volunteers to work as a team and assist with the junior girls through structures put in place to achieve Clubmark.

Steve Darlow, England Basketball's National Club Development Manager, recognises the importance of volunteers, "The volunteers who commit to the Clubmark programme, work through the accreditation process and see their applications through to success are the real assets of our sport. It gives me great pleasure to financially reward their endeavours, helping them secure a solid base for further development."

Many volunteers comment on the rewards they receive through their involvement in community sport, deriving fun and satisfaction in addition to achieving personal development.

We would like to take this opportunity to commend the dedicated teams of volunteers that ensure our children and young people participate in safe and friendly environment.

Summary of accredited clubs

Congratulations to the clubs accredited in October