“A lot more to do

“A lot more to do" on duty of care in sport

Dame Katherine Grainger, UK Sport chair and Olympic Gold Medallist, has urged British sports to improve athlete welfare.

Several National Governing Bodies have now been subject to bullying allegations with inquiries into duty of care standards for British Gymnastics, British Cycling, British Swimming, British Canoeing, and GB Taekwondo.

Grainger, a five-time Olympian and London 2012 gold medallist, said that governing bodies must "rise to the challenge" of improving high-performance culture and that there is "a lot more to do" on duty of care.

Months of negative headlines led many to believe that recent medal success may come at the expense of welfare. Of this, Grainger said:

“This isn’t about putting welfare before performance because there isn’t a choice between the two. I genuinely believe that a better culture will lead to a stronger system and that in turn will help improve performances.”

UK Sport Director of Performance Chelsea Warr said:

“It is essential that we avoid complacency and continue to be mindful of not just ‘what’ we deliver but ‘how’ we go about it. It’s about putting people, the high performance system’s greatest asset, at the heart of everything we do.”

Inspiration, Integrity, excellence, and respect

Working with athletes, UK Sport has released guidance to coaches and staff on how to treat athletes with more respect, and identified four ‘golden threads of a positive and winning sporting culture’.

  • Inspiration
  •  Integrity
  • The pursuit of excellence
  • Respect

In addition, following a key recommendation of Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson's duty of care review earlier this year, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Sport Tracey Crouch has said she was open to appointing an independent ombudsman to investigate cases of bullying and discrimination.

Image credit:  https://katherinegrainger.com/

EduCare can help

EduCare for Sport® is our comprehensive duty of care e-learning service for the sports and leisure sector. The package of courses ensures that your staff will always be up-to-date on key duty of care issues, to help you maintain a safer and more compliant service. Contact us for more information.


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