Parkour should be fun, safe, and include everyone.
As a Parkour UK coach, you are in a unique position to safeguard young people and adults. In particular, you are the person who determines whether participants keep coming back, whether they enjoy the sport, and how they relay their experience to friends, family, and loved ones. You can empower individuals and communities and help them grow and build confidence.
We hope this page helps you to avoid upsetting, disappointing, harming or abusing those who trust you.
Coaches should adhere to the Parkour UK Coaching standards. This document outlines the conditions under which a coach (whether part of an organisation or an individual professional) should operate.
Anyone leading a session must hold a Parkour UK Level 2 qualification.
As a minimum to coach, all coaches must have the following:
Once those are in place, you could consider the following:
Coaches should work with parents and carers to help them support their children and keep them safe. Parents should be encouraged to ask questions and to contribute ideas to the club or organisation. Your club/organisation should have clear expectations of parents’ behaviour towards participants and coaches during training. This page has some more ideas on how to improve parental involvement in your club. Click here for sample codes of conduct.
Safeguarding is a crucial topic that children, young people, and adults should be familiar with—not just knowing who the Safeguarding or Welfare Officer is, but also understanding where to find more information. It’s important to consult and listen to young people and adults, especially those at risk. Consider regularly seeking their feedback during training sessions, one-on-one discussions, or through surveys about your coaching style, competitions, and more. For additional ideas, see here:
Participants should be encouraged to ask questions and to contribute ideas to the club/organisation.
As a coach, you are in a position of power. You contribute to the club/organisation’s success, participant enjoyment and safety. With power comes responsibility. Good coaches understand that they work in collaboration with clubs, parents, participants, children and volunteers. They understand that those people are all in a bystander position. Coaches should encourage people to call out, challenge and intervene, not create a permissive environment.
When things go wrong it is sometimes because the coach is too powerful; for fear of negative treatment or perceived as failing, people do not feel free to speak out or to question poor practice.
More ideas and guidance via the links below:
If you have any concerns about the welfare of a child, you must report it.
If you have any concerns regarding the online safeguarding of a child, there is a helpline that supports professionals working with children. It can be accessed here. Further information on online safety can also be found here.
The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 and the regulations made under it apply to club organisers who are both employers and self-employed. The law requires them to do what is reasonably practicable to ensure people's health and safety. Anyone (including volunteers) with control of premises like a gym or facility has a duty to ensure that the premises, access to them, equipment and substances provided are safe for the people using them.
More information can be found on the HSE website.
UK Coaching has produced a Guide to Safe Practice to help apply principles of safe practice.
As part of running sports sessions, it is vital that risk assessments are carried out to help identify and minimise potential incidents and hazards.
It is important, before every session, that you check the sports equipment you provide and/or have control over to ensure it is safe to use (store equipment safely when not in use).
A risk assessment template can be found here.
