Hoops

Should teams without registered coaches forfeit?

It's a box that needs to be ticked!

As part of teacher's registration, each teacher pays for a police clearance.

What is all the fuss about. Any decent run Club (that may be a big ask) should include the requirements for a Police Check in their Coaches Application pack as a pre-requirement for applying for the position in the first place. Alternatively, it should be stated that the submission of a Police check should be a requirement before the Coach takes up their position.

In South Australia, it is FREE for registered organisations, the imposition on the applicant is to fill in the form, take their birth certificate, drivers licence, a Medicare card or similar items to cover the 100 points to their local Police Station and the NPC certificate is returned usually between 7-10 days. The 30 minutes of my life that this simple task took is hardly an imposition, especially as over half of that 30 minutes was driving to and from the local station. The clearance lasts for 3 years. As previously stated by another poster, people under 18 usually do not have to provide a clearance.

As far as protection goes, it doesn't if people have changed their names or haven't been caught or reported. The chances of this happening are slim as most people involved in junior coaching have their own children participating.

Unfortunately we do not live in a perfect world where every one is safe and free to do what they want. We also live in a world where the American way of sue first and think afterwards is starting to come to Australia. The incorporation rules on any body, especially volunteer based, place a big resposibility on their elected officials. Would you pt your house at risk just because you are not prepared to follow and enforce a few simple requirements.

292092 - a little bit of time and effort yes at some financial cost to a club, but to ensure a club is as compliant as they possibly can be according to current legislation, and to minimise the risk of something happening to a child. Will it stamp of child abuse completely - no of course not - but then again, nothing will. Nobody can preictc what someone may do in the future. Nobody truly knows ones intentions except for the person themself. We only have past history to go on. But what is the cost of not doing anything? Are you willing to do nothing and risk the life and wellbeing of a child, and also the long-term financial viability fo your club? Because if something were to happen and due diligence was not taken, the club leaves themselves open to litigation as well.

It's nmot a big assumption to suggest the process improves child safety. By completing a police check as part of the process, at least you are immediately ruling out anyone that has a previous criminal conviction relevant and/or serious enough that that should preclude them from working with children. this is a pretty big step IMO at improving a child's safety and limited a club's risk. Take this checking away and it allows the opportunity for previous offenders with criminal histories to work with children.

And who said the sport has been ruined because of this requirement? In Victoria alone, basketball continues to go from strength to strength at grass roots junior level. EVERY junior sport and activity is impacted by these requirements - it is not just limited to basketball!

Since you have chimed in, what do you propose should happen then? What is your suggested solution since you feel so strongly about it?

Yeah, yeah Triton I am an ar&$hole - we all are. You miss my point. If there is a system and rules in place they need to be enforced. If they are not enforced, don't have them.

These days I am involved in teaching karate and the conditions are no different. i have recently renewed my National Police Certificate and as part of completing a Community Coaching Certificate have also received a Clearance from the Catholic Police Check Unit. Neither cost me anything except filling in the NPC form and visiting the local Police station with the required ID items, including photo ID. The State Government covered the fees as a volunteer community organisation, exactly as mentioned above.

What are they worth - well as the NPC states "In the absence of fingerprints being supplied for positive identification, the following details are supplied on a name check basis only."

The Catholic check states "Please note that other screening processes such as reference checks may also be required and that this police check clearance is only one part of the screening process and does not guarantee automatic clearance for employment or acceptance as a volunteer."

What both do is provide a starting point and at least give a level of security to the organisation that is following the laid down procedures.

If a Club is not making the effort to ensure that these FREE checks are being made, than they are not providing a duty of care to their youngsters and their parents. There is no excuse for Clubs, basketball or any other junior organisation, from following these simple processes - woe be the committee who does not do this and then has an incident. It is on their heads.

056,
forget about the political correctness and the rest. The issue is that there is a process in place and whether the process is correct is not the issue.
The issue is that the process is not followed. If you aren't going to follow through with something, then don't do it.

If Coaches are supposed to go through a registration process and they don't, why have the process in the first place?

If you're an unregistered player and play, you cost your team a forfeit. If you are an unregistered coach, there is no consequence and this just makes a mockery of the process.

I believe that there is a leniency period (first 5 weeks?), but after that there is a fine of $50 per coach not registered. This should make some clubs react.

025,
Parents are responsible for their kids, but when you have custody of their kids in an official capacity you are in loco parentus.

In South Australia this is what is required:

"Under the Children's Protection Act (Section 8B) people in SA who work in jobs which require regular contact with children are required to obtain police clearance before they commence employment."

To clarify further, if a club appoints a coach - whether in a volunteer capacity or not - the law will deem it as 'employment' (whether paid or not).

Care for Kids link (highlights requirements for each satte of Australia): http://linky.com.au/3w8su

It's not a case about forcing coaches and therefore the clubs to comply - you either comply, or you have no team due to the laws in this country surrounding working with children.

In Victoria, it goes one step further, coaches have to complete a "Working with children" check that incorporates a police check. Without it, you cannot work with children either in a paid or volunteer capacity at all - this includes coaches of sporting teams across all sports. If you don't have it done, you don;t get to coach or work with kids...

Clubs and the sport of basketball in general need to limit their liability, because if something bad happens (heaven forbid), the club affected will go down very quickly for allowing it to happen.

I might also add though, the main concerns about coaches centre more around the training sessions rather than the games. At games you are likely to have a number of parents around as well, whereas at training usually the parents drop their kids off and are not seen again until it is time to pick them up.

Totally agree JT.

Every team and therefore their club should also look to have an additional "registered" assistant coach/parent for each team should the nominated coach not be able to do so for any various number of reasons.

993,
That is so true. Police checks are not the be all and end all and there would be a number of nasties who have been clever enough not to get caught. However, it is the current, recognised way of doing things at the moment. While it sounds a little box tickish, it is a way that organisations have to prove due dilligence.

Anon,
there is no cost associated with a police clearance certificate for volunteers. SAPOL allocates all volunteer organisations a code which is put on the form and signed by BSA. They present the form to the local Cop Shop, prove who they are and so the only "cost" is their time.

i was just thinking while looking at the aussie hoops america site how many aussies are there playing in europe. I could think of several off the top of my head but i thought there must be many more.

Neil mottram, Fabriano (Italy)
Matthew Nielsen, Lietuvos Rytas(Lithuania)
Daniel Kickert, Livorno (Italy)
Alex Loughton, Valencia (Spain)
Stephen Black, Angelico Biella(Italy)
Steven Markovic, Red Star Belgrade (Serbia)
David Anderson, CSKA Moscow(Russia)
Wade Helliwell, Sebastiani (Italy)
Michael Kingma, Sweden?

Also does anyone have any idea what these guys would be earning, i mean does the nbl salary cap really have any room to entice any of these guys back to Oz