With no on-field activity taking place over the last few months many Clubs and County Boards have concentrated on recruiting new or potential coaches to work with underage teams or in reated roles of responsibility. The coach education provided for NEW or potential coaches offers many Clubs additional numbers from which to choose new coaches in 2021.
These additional coaching programmes have naturally led to a surge in applications to attend the Safeguarding 1 Child Protection in Sport Awareness Workshop, a requirement for all underage coaches. The current temporary ban on face-to-face training has put pressure on our delivery of virtual safeguarding training with every available online slot utilised on a daily basis. We are currently delivering virtual Safeguarding Training Workshops, via our agreed training platform, 7 days a week and we are extremely grateful to our Safeguarding Tutors who have rallied to the call and made themselves available on each and every day as called upon.
While new and potential coaches are also obliged to submit and complete their vetting applications and have achieved, as a minimum, a Foundation/Fundamentals coaching qualification, we are pleased to introduce special arrangements that will assist them in achieving their safeguarding requirements while they await attendance at a virtual or face-to-face safeguarding training workshops.
As a temporary measure, NEW or POTENTIAL coaches of underage teams who have completed or are completing their Foundation/Fundamentals coaching qualification may avail of a short term arrangement and fulfil their initial safeguarding training requirements by completing the Safeguarding 1 Online Refresher Programme. For NEW or POTENTIAL coaches of underage teams this training will be knowns as the Temporary Safeguarding 1 Programme.
This safeguarding training recognition will suffice for them to commence in a coaching or related role of responsibility, in addition to the afore mentioned requirements. This temporary agreement remains in place until such time as the new coach has attended their virtual or face-to-face safeguarding workshop. While the SG1 Online refresher programme is a safeguarding recognised training programme in itself the agreement being proposed is temporary and shall expire on 31 December 2021, unless renewed by the NCSC. On completion of the Temporary Safeguarding 1
Programme, the underage coach shall present their Safeguarding 1 Refresher certificate to their Club Children’s Officer.
All New or Potential coaches who have applied to attend a virtual Safeguarding 1 workshop via their club are (or have been) allocated a workshop date. I cannot emphasise how important it is to fulfil this arrangement once they are informed of their workshop date. Failure to attend will result in their temporary safeguarding training recognition expiring on 31 December 2021 and unless they have attended a virtual or face-to-face safeguarding workshop by that date they will have to withdraw from their coaching roles.
It should be noted that when a safeguarding training place is allocated to your club for NEW or POTENTIAL coaches, and it is not taken up, that they are depriving some other new coach of a place on a virtual workshop – something we are anxious to avoid while we are all under such pressure with training places.
The above arrangements apply to NEW or POTENTIAL underage coaches, it expires no later than 31 December 2021 and does not apply to current coaches or those who work in coaching or other roles of responsibility at Cúl Camps or Club Camps later this year.
Children’s Officers are requested to bring this temporary arrangement to the attention of new or potential coaches who have yet to attend their safeguarding training. The Temporary Safeguarding 1 Programme may be accessed and completed at https://learning.gaa.ie/tempsafeguarding1
