Raising awareness about welfare and safeguarding in swimming

Raising safeguarding awareness among parents and carers was a key aim for the Active Sussex team at a recent swim event. 

The Sport Welfare Team, consisting of Angela Nilmadhub-Watson and Lauren Rickson, were invited by Sussex Swimming to attend a County Swimming event, held at the K2 in Crawley last month.

During the event, they had a pop-up stand in the main foyer of the leisure centre, speaking to parents and clubs to raise awareness about the importance of welfare and safeguarding. 

Angela said: “One of the key things we spoke to parents about was the importance of knowing who their welfare officer is and how they can get in contact.

“It was very interesting listening to concerns that parents had, including one parent who highlighted the challenge of managing emotions and expectations, and the value of offering positive feedback, not solely linked to performance.” 

During the day, the team distributed supportive resources, including the Active Sussex pocket guides for parents, which provided signposting to key resources for parents on welfare and safeguarding in sport. 

They also handed out resources from the NSPCC’s ‘Keeping Children Safe in Sport’ campaign, including parent pocket cards that highlighted key messages to keep sport fun, respect everyone, and ‘see something, say something’. These resources encourage parents to play a part in keeping children safe in sport and physical activity. 

Lauren added: “Raising the visibility of club welfare officers is vital. During the event, we handed out about 100 pocket guides and parent pocket cards, and gave club welfare officers badges to wear and posters for their noticeboards, to help raise the visibility of the welfare role in their clubs.” 

Feedback from clubs included a positive response to introducing a parent liaison role, as well as the challenge of managing the expectations of both parents and swimmers.

If you would like the Sport Welfare Officers to attend one of your events, please contact them via sportwelfare@activesussex.org. To find out more about the Sport Welfare Officers, visit www.activesussex.org/sport-welfare-officers/