Have fun, Be safe

What makes you enjoy sport?

• Having fun
• Spending time with friends
• Making new friends
• Learning new things
• Getting a sense of achievement  
• Being supported and getting told you're doing things well
• Being encouraged to improve

What makes sport not enjoyable?

• Being shouted at
• Feeling under pressure to do well or to win
• Being made to feel that you're not any good
• Being made to do things you don't want to do

What should you expect from your sports coach?

You and your friends have the right to take part in sport, to enjoy it and to have fun.    

We have written a Code of Conduct for Coaches to help make sure coaching sessions are enjoyable and safe.  The 'Code of Conduct' outlines good practice for coaches including:

• Setting a good example for others to follow
• Never ridiculing or shouting at a young person for making a mistake or losing
• Positively encouraging players and helping them to improve
• Teaching players to be fair and to follow the rules of the game/sport
• Dividing time equally between all standards of players
• Making reasonable demands on participant's time; realising that young people have other interests too
• Making sport fun and promoting enjoyment not a 'win at all costs' attitude
• Investing in the interests and well-being of the players and not their win/loss record
• Following professional advice when determining if an injured player is ready to train
• Encouraging an open environment i.e. 'no secrets'
• Being committed to improving as a coach and developing skills and knowledge

What should you do if you are worried or unhappy?

If you are taking part in sport and something is making you feel uncomfortable, worried or unhappy, someone is making you keep secrets or making you do something you don't want to do, you haven't done anything wrong. Tell someone and they can help.

You can tell:

• Your mum, dad or whoever looks after you
• Someone else in your family
• A friend
• A teacher
• An adult you trust
• Active Surrey Sports Partnership

If you are happy to talk to one of the Active Surrey team or one of our coaches, they can help you.

How you feel is important. All our staff will take everything you say seriously and will take the right steps to sort out what is worrying you. 

To do this we will need to write down what you tell us and can't promise not to tell anyone else. But we will only tell the people that need to know to help us to sort things out.  

If you need advice and don't feel that you can talk to someone you know, the NSPCC has trained people that you can help:

(Open 24 hours)

Page last updated: January 2007