Young People Guidance
The majority of information on this web-site is for those adults who have an interest in the Safeguarding of the
Vulnerable (including young people) and gives guidance and advice to enable a safe environment for the Vulnerable to
participate in the Sport of Bowls.
However, it should also be recognised that Young People and Vulnerable Adults may independently wish to do things
for themselves and this module looks to give advice and pointers where this group of individuals can find information
for themselves in the web-site and elsewhere.
Finding a Club to join
Your first port of call may be through school, through relatives who play the game or visiting the various National
Governing Body web-sites [eg
Bowls England;
EIBA Ltd;
English Short Mat Bowling Assocation (ESMBA);
British Crown Green Bowling Association (BCGBA)]
and finding one in your area to contact.
Expected Behaviour and Code of Conduct
It is important to behave and conduct yourself in a manner that you and your peers can enjoy the sport and
also be in a safe environment. The Sport of Bowls take the Safeguarding of Children (Young People) and Vulnerable
Adults very seriously. All Clubs should have a Safeguarding Officer or Welfare Officer who is responsible for Safeguarding in the Club.
A note of who this is (along with contact details)
should always be posted on the main notice board.
All suspicious cases or poor practice should be reported following guidelines in this document.
When a child or vulnerable adult enters the club having been
subjected to abuse outside the sporting environment, sport can play a crucial role in improving the
individual’s self esteem.
Good Practice in our sport means that the adults responsible for you are:
- Ensuring that bowls is fun, enjoyable and fair play is promoted
- Treating all children equally with respect and dignity
- Being an excellent rôle model, this includes not smoking or drinking alcohol
- Always putting the welfare of children first, before winning or achieving goals by encouraging a constructive
environment where healthy competition, skill development, fun and achievement are promoted in equal measures
- Always working in an open environment (eg avoiding being alone with a child, and encouraging open communication with no secrets)
- Building balanced relationships based on trust which enable children to take part in the decision making process.
- Not tolerating acts of aggression
- Recognising the needs and abilities of children, avoiding too much training or competitions and not pushing them against their will
- Giving positive and constructive feedback rather than negative criticism
- Working to Bowls Panel guidance on physical contact, where children are always consulted and their agreement gained before any contact
- Keeping up-to-date with technical skills, qualifications and insurance in sport
- Ensuring that if mixed sex teams are taken away, they are always accompanied by a male and female chaperone
- While on tour, you do not enter a child’s room or invite them into your room, except in an emergency ie when very unwell.
- Finding out if any children you are supervising have medical conditions that could be aggravated whilst playing or training.
- Helping the family of bowls to work towards eradicating harassment and abuse of children from the sport
- Keeping a written record any time a child is injured in your care, along with the details of any treatment provided.
Report the incident immediately to the Club Safeguarding Officer or Welfare Officer (SO/WO) or County SO/WO
with a copy to the Club or County Secretary.
Avoiding poor practice means that the adults must never:
- Spend excessive amounts of time alone with children away from others
- Take or drop off a child at an event
- Take children to your home or transport them by car, where they will be alone with you
- Engage in rough, physical or sexual provocative games
- Share a room with a child
- Allow or engage in any form of inappropriate touching or physical abuse
- Take part in or tolerate behaviour that frightens, embarrasses or demoralises a bowler or affects their self esteem
- Allow children to use inappropriate language unchallenged
- Make sexual suggestive comments to a child, even in fun
- Allow allegations made by a child to go unchallenged, unrecorded or ignored.
- Make a child cry as a form of control
- Do things of a personal nature for children or vulnerable adults that they can do for themselves
- Shower with a child
Codes of conduct
As a Young Person involved in the sport, it is suggested that clubs ask you and your carers should adhere to
the following codes of practice:
Reporting a Concern
If you have a concern in the club, please first report it to the Club SO/WO. The procedure on how to deal with
a complaint or concern can be found in the section Dealing with Concerns and Incidents.
This section also gives useful flowcharts on the procedures involved.
Electronic Communications Media
For young people, the mobile phone, i-pad etc is the way to communicate and many sites such as Twitter, and
Facebook are used.
The Section Electronic Communications Guidance gives information for your parents
to be aware of in order to help them Protect and Safeguard you. You may find some of this information useful.
In addition additional guidance can be found in Email Guidance;
Texting Guidance and Social Networking Guidance.
You can also seek guidance and suggestions on how to keep youself safe on-line through the following web-sites:
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