Many children and young people enjoy spending their free time playing or participating in sports activities and, here at the NSPCC, we want to make sure that they are safe when they are doing so.

Next month sees our Keeping Your Child Safe in Sport awareness raising week, which runs from October 7 to October 11.

Keeping Your Child Safe in Sport is a year-round campaign run by our fantastic Child Protection in Sport Unit (CPSU), and it calls on sports and activity groups across the South West and the rest of the UK to participate and prioritise the safeguarding of children and young people.

Everyone has a role to play in keeping children safe in sport. And this campaign aims to support parents and carers to feel confident about playing their part. This year we’re focusing on building safer sporting communities for children.

We’re asking teams and clubs in the South West to bring their sporting community together by hosting a Team Huddle — fun and informal gatherings that bring together everyone involved in the sporting community to raise awareness and create meaningful discussions around safeguarding. This can take place in the lead up to the main week, or on the week itself - whenever suits you most.

A Team Huddle can be part of an existing event, such as a club meeting, or it can be its own standalone event designed to bring everyone together. Free Team Huddle Event Packs are available from https://thecpsu.org.uk/ which include a variety of resources to help spark conversations about safeguarding. 

We’re providing a fun quiz in our Team Huddle activity pack, but clubs can also choose their own activity. Perhaps your club might prefer to invite parents to have a go at their child’s sport, or a scavenger hunt, a table tennis competition, sports day or even hire a bouncy castle to take over the sports hall. It’s up to you.

Our aim for 2024 is to bring your sporting community together. We want to help you create an open and inclusive culture, where parents feel able to speak up, ask questions and raise concerns.

We are really looking forward to seeing what clubs and activity groups in the South West get up to for Keeping Your Child Safe in Sport Week. You can also post about your Team Huddles on social media using the hashtag #SafeinSport.

Andrew Freeman is the assistant director of the NSPCC for the South West and the Channel Islands.