Health/Safety and Welfare of Players

Training Session Cancellation Policy

2017-18

Cancellation before training

Health/Safety and Welfare of players

Taking in to account the health, safety and welfare of the players, during winter months and in exceptional weather conditions it may be necessary for the academy staff to make an educated decision and cancel a training session before it starts.

This is particularly so when the players will be training on outdoor surfaces such as astro turf (particularly sand filled astro turf) which in cold weather may be prone to freeze and make the surface slippery and dangerous to the players thus increasing the chance of a serious injury occurring. We will only cancel training sessions if we feel it is absolutely the right thing to do and in the player’s best interests.

Parent/Player travel to/from training

When giving thought and consideration to whether we feel that we should cancel a training session, we will also take in to account the journey that parents and players will have to make to and from the training session. We will also consider the potential for traffic delays or accidents due to current or forecasted adverse weather conditions and whether it is safe for parents and players to make the journey to training and particularly home afterwards.

What time will we make a decision to cancel?

By 1pm on the day of the training session, the Head of Academy Coaching, the Foundation Phase Lead Coach and the Youth Development Phase Lead Coach will liaise with the facility provider (St Lawrence Academy / Melior Community School or any other provider) to identify if the school astro-turf pitch is being closed due to current or forecasted adverse weather conditions and/or for safety reasons.

Parents must check the website sufcacademy.co.uk to check if training is cancelled

If the facility provider informs us that their astro turf pitch is not safe and we cannot hire it, we will inform the parents immediately by posting this information on the Academy website (sufcacademy.co.uk) by 2pmon the day of the training session(3 hours before any training session is due to start).We feel that this is adequate notice and should prevent any parents having to leave work early or have a wasted journey.

It is the parent’s responsibility to check the Academy website for details of any cancellations.

At any stage, if any parent is in doubt as to whether a training session will go ahead or if it has been cancelled, they should contact the Head of Academy Coaching or the Phase Lead Coaches at any time after 2:00pm on the day of the training session. This should prevent anyparents from making any unnecessary journeys.

Cancellation during training

If the weather deteriorates during a training session and the staff reach the opinion that it is unsafe or not beneficial to the players health & safety or welfare to continue, the coaching session will be ended in the interest of player safety or player welfare. For this reason we ask that all parents stay and observe the training sessions just in case it ends before the time stated.

Parents contact details

We ask that all parents update their age group coach and the Academy Secretarywith a minimum of two mobile contact numbers and two email addresses that the player’s parent/guardian can be contacted on when required.

Footwear

On sand filled astro turf pitches we advise the use of flat soled trainers as opposed to rubber studded blades.

On 3G surfaces we advise the use of rubber studded blades or flat soled trainers.

In indoor sports hall players can only wear flat soled trainers.