CROQUET ASSOCIATION – CHILD SAFEGUARDING (9th February2021)

As we all anticipate the post-Covid return to Croquet this summer, hopefully including recruiting and training more junior players, the CA Council has approved and published a very timely revised and updated ‘Child Safeguarding Policy ‘. This incorporates the comprehensive changes required at all levels of our Sport to improve our ‘Safeguarding’standards for youngsters under 18.

As a first step towards setting up and running the new system:

All Clubs, Federations and Academies must appoint their own Local Safeguarding Officer (Welfare Officer) and register him/her with the CA.

This register will be maintained by our newly appointed National Safeguarding Officer, Dr. Ron Carter, and we have set an implementation date of 1st May 2021 so that it is actively operating for the summer playing season.

A separate Register of CA Members holding a current DBS Enhanced certificate and willing to volunteer their help with juniors will also be maintained.

Please read the attached summary of this Policy, which has links to the CA website where the comprehensive and detailed policy documents are available for reference.

The updated Policy must apply to all croquet related activities in England from the 1st May 2021. This includes everything from club sessions to top class tournaments, and Open Days or other events involving the public. It reflects the requirements placed upon the National Governing Bodies of all sports by UK legislation, Sport England, the NSPCC, and other national organisations to significantly improve safeguarding standards

If your club has an existing child safe-guarding policy then you should review it, taking into account the new CA policy. In particular, you may need to change the contact details of the CA’s National Safeguarding Officer since Jean Hargreaves has now retired from the role. If your club already has a safeguarding (welfare) officer then please send details to Ron Carter as soon as possible.

Ron Carter is available to give advice and to answer questions as they arise. Contact details as listed on the CA Members’ Directory:

Tel: 07973 239319 (email: dr.roncarter@gmail.com)

See the Summary of the Child Safeguarding Policy HERE

Opening Date for Online Entries Postponed

The opening date for online entries to tournaments or courses (other than virtual ones) has been postponed to at least the end of February, due to the current state of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Traditionally, the calendar has been published on, and online entries accepted from, 1st February, to coincide with delivery of paper fixtures books.  It had already been decided not to print the fixtures calendar this year, because of uncertainty about the Covid-19 pandemic, but it had been intended to stick to the same timetable.  However, it is now looking increasingly unlikely that events early in the season will be able to take place, and it is too soon to be able to predict which ones will be able to proceed. 

Refunding entries for events which have to be cancelled requires significant effort, is error prone and incurs additional transaction costs.  It has therefore been decided not to accept online entries until further notice, which will be no earlier than the end of February.  The situation will be reviewed before then.

We appreciate that many players enjoy planning their season at this time of year.  Due to enhancements to the fixtures calendar system it will still be possible to do so and save a wallet of events to enter once entries are being accepted for them.

Clubs which have events with allocation or closing dates before 15th March will be asked to review them and inform the CA Office whether they want them cancelled, or postponed or retained with allocation and closing dates on or after then.  It is important that all events should have allocation dates specified, so that players know that they can delay entering until then without reducing their chance of their entry being accepted.

The allocation, closing and draw dates for the inter-club competitions have been postponed by a month, to 8th, 8th and 15th of April respectively.

We apologise for the inconvenience that will be caused by this, but are satisfied that it is the best response to these uncertain times.

I trust you have an enjoyable season once it comes. 

Link to online news item.

Best wishes,
Mark Suter
Manager Croquet Association.
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Next CA Webinar – Croquet Lawn Care and Maintenance – Sat 30 Jan 9.30

Croquet Association Webinars are a series for CA Members, CA Member Clubs and Federations, to learn and discuss particular topics around croquet administration. We aim to run this on the last Saturday morning of each month.

Recordings of past webinars are available via the Webinars page (member login required).

Have a suggestion for a topic? Wish to present? Email cainfo#croquet.org.uk

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Next Webinar

Saturday 30th January 2021 – Croquet Lawn Care and Maintenance (Duncan Hector and George Noble)

Join us in hearing from Duncan Hector and George Noble – two of the leading experts on croquet lawn care in England.

Potential topics (details tbc):

• General lawn care advice
• Equipment
• Construction of new lawns
• Greenkeepers’ calendar
• Winter play
• Recent advances

Duncan Hector, of Great Dunham Croquet Club, is a lawn care professional advising on more than 90 croquet lawns around the UK. He has worked with the Sports Turf Research Institute on sports turf nutrition, and control of turf diseases and pests, and established two high quality lawns from scratch at Letchworth Croquet Club.

George Noble, Chairman of Surbiton Croquet Club for many years, converted Surbiton’s 7 lawns over the years from rough, sloping, former tennis courts to some of the best in the country. A leading light in instilling a volunteering ethos and always willing to roll up his sleeves, he willingly shares his knowledge via the CA’s Lawn Advisory Group.

Details: Saturday 30th January 2021, 9:30-11:00am.

Please sign up on Eventbrite by 5pm (BST) on Thursday 28th January to reserve your place.

The webinar will be held on Zoom and broadcast live on YouTube. Meeting details (how to join the webinar) will be shared with registered attendees on Friday 29th January.

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Past Webinars

Date	Title
31st October 2020	Meet the new CA Executive Board
26th September 2020	Marketing your Club
29th August 2020	A conversation on Diversity and Inclusion in Croquet
25th July 2020	Managing A Croquet Roll-Up/Competition (COVID-19 Edition)
27th June 2020	Recruiting Young Players Over Lockdown
30th May 2020	Court Booking Systems

Want to view a previous webinar? Visit the Webinars page (member login required)