In April 2008 Basingstoke and Deane Canoe Club achieved Sport England ClubMark accreditation and Canoe England Top Community Club Status. The accreditation was renewed in 2015 and now runs to 2015.
Sport England has developed the ClubMark scheme to allow sports clubs to show that they are well managed and child friendly. It is not granted directly but is tied to equivalent schemes run by the national governing bodies for each sport: in our case the Canoe England Top Club scheme.
Top Club requires the Club to meet criteria set out by Sport England and Canoe England in four categories:
By gaining this accreditation sports clubs can demonstrate to parents that they meet national standards in key areas such as coaching and child protection.
Basingstoke and Deane Canoe Club decided that it could achieve Top Club by going down the community club route. Peter Mansell, the Club's Youth Officer said, "This was a great opportunity to work more closely with Canoe England to strengthen the management of the Club and to improve the quality of coaching we can offer".
The Club now runs an introductory programme for children every year based on the highly effective Canoe England PaddlePower programme. Achieving Top Club status has not fundamentally changed BADCC, which remains a family orientated recreational Club. However, it has helped to run the Club more effectively and to show that the Club meets national standards in key areas such as safety, coaching and child protection.
To view the current ClubMark and Top Club certificates please click here.
