What Is Clubmark?

• Ensure that accrediting partners apply core common criteria to ensure that consistent good practice and minimum operating standards are delivered through all club development and accreditation schemes.
• Enable parent(s)/carer(s) to make informed decisions when choosing a club for their children.
• Ensure that Clubmark accredited clubs are recognised through a common approach to branding.
• Provide a focus around which all organisations involved in sport can come together to support good practice in sports clubs working with children and young people.

• The playing programme
• Duty of care and child protection
• Sports equity and ethics
• Club management

Why should clubs apply for accreditation?

CHANGE4LIFE (C4L) CLUBS – BRIEFING FOR CLUB ORGANISERS AND COACHES

Background. In the past three years British and England Fencing (B&EF) have

·     Produced a nationally/externally (ie non-fencing) approved Framework for Schools Fencing Competitions with guidance and support for tournament organisers.

·        Designed and delivered a range of workshops for the training of teachers and sports leaders in the delivery of the soft-form of the game.

·        Successfully run tournaments as after-school competitions.

·        Increased accessibility to foundation-level coach training

·        Increased the number of foundation and participation level coaches

·        Been recognised by the Youth Sport Trust (YST) as a National Governing Body (NGB) that, despite ‘capacity issues’ (ie we’re small!), has shown a willingness and ‘can-do’ attitude to integrating fencing into State primary and secondary schools and FE Colleges.

C4L. As if all these opportunities weren’t a positive enough advance for our sport, fencing has been chosen as one of 7 Olympic sport options from which secondary schools have chosen to establish a C4L after-school club. 317 schools across England have opted for a fencing club. The defining characteristics of these clubs (determined by the YST) are that they

§         Are ‘owned’ by young people and the school

§         Happen once a week during school terms

§         Take place regularly at the same time and place

§         Are planned and delivered across the whole year

§         Will be based on the ‘soft’ form of fencing (with plastic foils and masks)

§         Will include some sort of subscription and affiliation/membership

§         Will include coaching and an element of competition

§         Will provide opportunities for young people to lead and volunteer

B&EF held a Training Design Forum at the beginning of June to discuss possible training and delivery strategies for the project and a training designer was appointed to draft up to 40 session plans for delivery over the school year as well as compile a compendium of games and fencing-related exercises. A promotional/instructional video has been shot and is in post-production ready for the new term.

C4L training will start for School Sport Partnerships (SSPs) next September. Our intention is for this training to take place in temporary 'centres' in each region or county and to do so over a two-week period, and for this to happen each term in the next school year. C4L Club volunteers will get one day of training per term.

C4L Tutors will be trained to develop the volunteers who will be running the C4L clubs. Small local tutor teams for each region (or county where demand dictates) will be established, and an additional team of mobile tutors will be set up which can be deployed to any area to cover for absences and to double up the delivery in areas of high demand.

Each C4L club can have up to 20 members. This represents 6360 young people who will get an introduction to our sport and, at least for a year, 318 more affiliated clubs, effectively doubling the number of EF affiliated clubs. Consider this; if just 5% of participants are sufficiently motivated to seek out a fencing club and stay with the sport that’s an increased membership of over 300 fencers.

Where does Our Club Come in? Your club may not necessarily have a school local to it that has C4L club. But in case you haven’t figured it out already, those that are local to such a C4L club must do all in their power to create meaningful and sustainable links with C4L schools. Your club will reap the benefit in increased participation and membership. These new members may be the potential champions, armourers, referees, organisers and club volunteers of the future. B&EF will be contacting your club in September to confirm details of which of your local schools are establishing a C4L fencing club.

The project is only funded for a year. Our aim must be to ensure that C4L clubs have a life after academic year 2010/2011 and provide an accessible and transparent talent pathway for those identified as keen and/or gifted, so that these participants are included in, integrated into and supported by clubs such as yours.

FAQs

·         Is C4L and Sport Unlimited the same thing? C4L and Sport Unlimited are entirely different projects, funded differently. Sport Unlimited programmes are for 10 weeks. C4L clubs will operate for almost a whole school year. We have produced a resource containing over 35 session plans.

• Why have you chosen plastic over metal? It was not down to B&EF. Funding for equipment was very limited, so the most obvious route was to go for the cheaper but just-as-effective option. Hence, C4L Fencing Clubs will receive a kit pack comprising 20 masks, 20 plastic foils, 4 chest protectors and a kit bag to store it in. C4L Clubs will need to purchase additional chest protectors from their start-up grants. There is no way the government funding available could have stretched to kitting out each club with the necessary clothing and equipment for metal fencing.

·         Whilst schools were waiting for more information about C4L they contacted us to engage a coach. Do we have to abandon any arrangements made before we knew about all this? Where schools have chosen to engage an external coach they should be aware that funding for coach's time is unlikely to cover a full year's worth of sessions. The start up grants must also cover additional kit (eg buzzing foils, chest protectors etc), additional training and affiliation to BF which is a requirement of the programme.

• How will C4L training be set up? Schools have been briefed by the YST on what to expect about the training. The coaching bursary only covers one person from each school for three days of training (one day at the start of each term), so C4L clubs must put in some of their start-up grant to cover the cost of additional people to be trained. The training will equip them with sufficient skills, knowledge and leadership behaviours to deliver a term's worth of sessions, fully supported by paper-based and electronic resources. The C4L programme is progressive and developmental and allows for local coaches to be invited in to support the volunteers in the delivery of the sessions. More information on the content of the programme will be sent to your club soon.
  
  
  

• Why aren’t fencing coaches being deployed to run these clubs? First, there are simply not enough coaches on the B&EF register to cover every C4L club. Second, the YST is seeking to create a new cohort of deliverers for these clubs. B&EF along with the 6 other NGBs have been thinking creatively about the courses to accommodate this requirement. We have come up with new specific-to-C4L young leader and adult courses to support the C4L clubs.

• Why can’t the coaching bursary be used by the school to train up a L2 coach? The C4L coaching voucher is just that, a voucher. The money goes direct to the NGB. B&EF cannot redeem this voucher for anything other than specific C4L training. Arrangements will be worked out for follow up training to bring those who wish it to the L1 coach award after the first year when funding has finished.

·        Why was there a delay in communicating all this with us? You’ll have read the news about Government spending reviews and cuts. We simply did not know for two months whether the project would proceed. The delay in funding confirmation has impacted on the originally planned timescales for the delivery of the resources, although SSPs have been progressing with planning the delivery of their new clubs in the autumn term.

• What form does the chest protector take that is being supplied? The chest protectors supplied are like a netball tabard, with the front made of cloth-covered foam. Clubs will have to spend some of their start-up grant to buy more than the 4 supplied with the kit. It is thought that some clubs will ensure they have one for everyone, be they boys or girls.

·         What about insurance? Though these clubs will be affiliated to BF, the individual members will be insured through the school or college's normal insurance for school sport and competition. Individual BF membership is not required.

• If the C4L club is affiliated, surely BF safety codes will apply. Whilst these clubs are not the brainchild of B&EF, we will apply BF safety codes. There will be at least two volunteers delivering each session for up to 20 members. When and if a local coach is invited in to a C4L club to conduct revision sessions or a master-class, as we hope they will be, as long as there is assistance in the salle (which doesn't need to be another qualified coach), the coach is covered for classes greater than 12.

The revised timelines

For further information please contact norman.randall@britishfencing.com