Your club may wish to establish criteria or conditions for membership. These could include, for example
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age ranges
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standards of play
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geographic locations
Whilst you can establish minimum standards for your membership, your policy must be fair and equitable to applicants cannot discriminate against specific groups of potential members. Your membership procedures should comply with your equity statement (see Resources panel).
A membership form (template in Resources panel) should be completed by all current and new club members at the beginning of each season or when the membership fees are collected.
For health and safety reasons the coach, team manager and/or other appropriate club staff must be informed of any injury, medical condition or allergy that a member may have.
Junior members
Additional arrangements are likely to be required if your club includes children or young people as members or involves them in activities.
Parents must always be given full and complete written details regarding the organisation and administration of any activity, visit or journey (i.e. away matches, visiting specialist training facilities). A meeting may be appropriate for residential ventures where an activity briefing sheet could be distributed i.e. contact telephone numbers, food, clothing requires, times of arrival and depart etc.
A parent consent form (template in Resources panel) should be signed and returned to the organiser before any activity or trip takes place. The original form should be held centrally and a copy of the form given to the relevant coach, which should be kept with them at all times.
Your club should also take steps to ensure that everyone working with children and young people is aware of your child protection arrangements.
