Club Development

Suffolk Sport aims to provide support and advice for the county's sports clubs. Below is information about various areas where we can offer guidance, but if you have a general query please feel free to contact Vicki Askew, Sports Development Manager on 01502 523632 or vicki.askew@suffolksport.com

To search for a sports club in your area please follow the link below.

Clubmark

Sport England Clubmark is a cross sport accreditation programme for clubs with junior sections. By gaining Clubmark accreditation, your club can prove to members, potential members, parents and schools that you offer a quality environment for young people to develop their sporting skills.

In 2005, Suffolk Sport was one of two counties to pilot a new scheme that enabled County Sports Partnerships to accredit sports clubs through their own licensing process. This has allowed a variety of sport clubs whose NGB does not offer Clubmark, the ability to gain accreditation to show that they meet all the criteria set out by Clubmark. Find out more information about this process.

Anyone that is from a Clubmark accredited club / or equivalent ie Swim 21, can attend any Suffolk Sport Workshop in the Coach Education Program at a heavily reduced cost. For a full list of the workshops offered through the Suffolk Sport Coach Education Programme.

Child Protection

As we are sure you are already aware, child protection is a very important issue within sport. All sports clubs should adopt a child protection policy, which outlines what they will do to ensure the safety and welfare of junior members. Suffolk Sport has produced 'Implementing a Child Protection Policy - A Guide for Sports Clubs', which provides advice about putting your policy into practice. It also includes a sample policy if your club doesn't already have one.

Running Sport

'Running Sport' is Sport England's education and training programme for sports volunteers. It aims to help volunteers run their clubs as effectively as possible, through a series of workshops and free resources addressing such issues as volunteer management, club finances and development planning. Suffolk Sport runs Running Sport courses as part of its annual Club & Coach workshop programme. These are heavily subsidised and take place around the county.

You can download the Running Sport resources for free, and access lots of other useful information and advice, from the Running Sport Website

Supporting Your Club's Coaches

Coaches are the life-blood of sport and the backbone of sports clubs. It is important that clubs are able to recruit enough coaches to operate effectively, but it is also important that these coaches are supported to help them develop and to ensure that they remain committed to your club. Suffolk Sport, in conjunction with Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Active Sports Partnership, has produced 'Employing Coaches - A Good Practice Guide for Paid and Voluntary Coaches'. This takes organisations through the entire process of recruitment, selection and support, and is full of useful information and examples. Volunteers

Like coaches, clubs wouldn't survive without their other volunteers. For advice about recruiting new volunteers for your club.

Community Amateur Sports Club

To find what your local authority can do to help promote this scheme.

Club Focus

Each month Suffolk Sport will profile a sports club in Suffolk in our special club focus section