CLUBMARK FOR RMGC

13/01/2009

ROYAL MALTA ACHIEVES FIRST STEP IN CLUBMARK ACCREDITATION

The Royal Malta Golf Club was one of the first 18 local sports clubs that was granted the Bronze Certificate in a brief but significant ceremony held at the Maltese Olympic Committee headquarters on Friday 9th January, 2009.

Work towards this endorsement had in fact initiated in 2006 with the introduction of the first modest steps towards a full package of a Child Protection Policy for children joining the golf junior academy at Marsa. These first steps were improved over the ensuing months and the Malta Golf Association officially incorporated the Clubmark criteria at its launch date in late 2008. This made it possible for the affiliated Club to gain this Bronze accreditation and over the next weeks the process will continue to enable the Club to achieve Silver, in turn the Gold status of this prestigious certification.

The Royal Malta Golf Club will be recognised and promoted as a Clubmark club, thereby giving it cross-sport recognition and status as a quality club. It will be identified as having achieved Clubmark status on the Maltese Olympic Committee website and other forms of club directories and it will be able to promote this locally.

WHAT IS CLUBMARK?

Clubmark, developed by Sport England, is a cross-sport accreditation for sports clubs with junior sections in recognition of a quality club. It has been introduced to:
Ensure sport’s national governing bodies have core common criteria to ensure good practice runs through all development and accreditation schemes.
To empower parent(s)/carer(s) in choosing a club for their children.
To recognise an accredited club through a common approach to branding.
To provide a focus around which national governing bodies, can come together to support good practice in sports clubs working with children and young people.

WHY CLUBMARK?

Nearly half of all children and young people are members of sports clubs outside school and it is important that these clubs serve young people well. The reasons for this include:
Ensuring the well-being of young people whilst in the care of adults, other than their legal parent(s)/carer(s).
Enthusing young people to enjoy sport and active recreation to build a healthy lifestyle.
Enabling young people to use their leisure time creatively.
Developing young people’s talents.
Identifying and developing the most talented young people for representative sport.

Until recently there were few guidelines and little support available to most clubs to develop and assess themselves. Initiatives that were developed by the Maltese Olympic Committee, some National Governing Bodies of sport and local authorities were not coordinated and could lead to duplication of effort. Sports clubs that work with children and young people need and deserve support to improve the quality of work they do.

Clubmark sets core and common criteria for sports clubs to meet in the following categories:
Child protection
Coaching and competition
Sports equity and ethics
Club management.

MAINTAINING ACCREDITATION

Accreditation is usually renewed every four years and there is a simple annual procedure of self-assessment and declaration organised by NGBs. Clubmark clubs can go on to develop even better standards of service and programmes to children and young people with further support and advice. Some NGBs have club development programmes that encourage further development of clubs.

BENEFITS TO CLUBS

Each club that works towards qualifying for Clubmark accreditation will:
Receive support from sports development professionals.
Improve the quality of coaches in the club so that their club can be even more successful and competitive.
Access workshops to capitalise on the latest thinking in relation to motivating young people, protecting them, being accessible to all young people in the community and developing their club.

Each club that gains accreditation will:
Be better organised and resourced as a club and able to further develop.
Increase membership and so ensure the future of their club whilst increasing the competitive pool from which to draw in the future.
Be networked into local and national sports organisations that can provide further support to Clubmark clubs.
Be promoted in their local community and on a national database.

Source: The Maltese Olympic Committee (www.nocmalta.org)