Membership, FAQs & Policies

If you are already taking part in gymnastics at a British Gymnastics club, now it’s time to become a member with British Gymnastics.

Whether you are just getting started or are already involved in our exciting sport, they are here to help, support and advise you at every stage of your membership. To find out more, join or renew your membership please visit https://www.british-gymnastics.org/memberships

Our Policies

As a club we take the health and welfare of our gymnasts extremely seriously. We have in place comprehensive policies to protect both our gymnasts and staff. All our policies are in line with British Gymnastics' standards. These policies and staff training in these policies are reviewed and renewed on a regular basis.

If at any time you have any concerns you can contact our safeguarding lead.

Club Safe guarding lead contact information

Robin Goddard

Contact no: 07427556781

Policies And Procedures

Gymnasts’ Code of Conduct

An Airborne Gymnast must:

Show respect to coaches, judges, officials and other gymnasts.
Listen to and follow the instructions of his/her coach.
Support and encourage his/her teammates.
Always train with a positive attitude.
Attempt to do every move with good form.
Take care of the Club’s equipment.
Take pride in their Club and make sure that they do their part in keeping the gym clean and tidy.
A gymnast must always drink plenty of fluids during training, i.e., water/squash only.
Our coaches wish to maximize coaching time with their group of gymnasts, therefore if you wish to speak to your child’s coach, please do so either before or after the training session.

Parents’ Code of Conduct

Ensure that your child wishes to participate in Gymnastics. Encourage your child to participate, do not force them. Focus on your child’s efforts and performance rather than winning or losing. Never punish or belittle a child for poor performance or making mistakes.
Encourage your child to learn the Centre rules and to abide by them.
Ensure that your child comes appropriately dressed for their session and brings a full water bottle.
In the case of absence, a message should be left with the gym, prior to the start of the training session.
Please Park your vehicle responsibly.
No shoes are to be worn or food to be eaten in the gym.
Parents must stay in the waiting area unless permission is granted from the senior coach.
The viewing area should be left clean and tidy – Please use the bins provided and clean up after yourselves.
Children must be supervised at all times.
Noise levels must be kept to a minimum in the waiting area whilst a class is in session.
Parents should not attempt to communicate with their child during their class except in the case of an emergency.
Show an appreciation of volunteers, coaches, officials and administrators.
Criticism of other people’s children / coaches can be upsetting to all and is frowned upon by this Centre. Please refrain from this.
Never undermine your child’s coach in front of any parents or child and do not talk negatively about any coaches, parents or gymnast in front of your child.
Always use appropriate language on Centre premises and at events/competitions.
Remember that children learn best by example. Set a good example for your child by recognising good sportsmanship and applauding the good performance of all.
Respect coaches’ and other officials’ decisions and teach your child to do likewise.
If you have any issues regarding your child and you wish to discuss them directly with the appropriate coach, you can speak to them briefly before the start of their session, via e-mail or arrange a longer chat at a time that is convenient for the coach and that doesn’t take them away from a scheduled training session.
Concerns and complaints about any aspect of the Centre should be raised via e-mail and through the appropriate channels.
Always collect your child promptly at the end of the session and remind them that they must wait in the building until collected.
Please update any contact/medical details if they change (a new form can be obtained from the coaching team).
Please pay fees promptly.
We only refund if the class is cancelled by ourselves. In unforeseen circumstances that are out of control refunds will not be given.

Gymnasts/Parents Guidelines

Hair must be neatly tied up, out of the gymnast’s face
Gymnasts should wear a leotard or T-shirt and shorts
No jewelry whatsoever, including ear studs or body piercing adornments to be worn at any time during training or competition. This constitutes a safety hazard and BG Gymnastics and their Insurers have made it a no-tolerance policy.
If your child is expected to be away longer than 2 weeks, please let the gym know by email if possible.
Gymnasts should arrive a few minutes before the start of training. It is particularly upsetting for the younger children to arrive after all the others have started. All gymnasts should attend and take part in the warmup. It is an essential part of the training that helps the prevention of injury.
Please do not drop off your own, or other children, early to watch the classes unattended. The Gym Club cannot be responsible for these children until their coach is ready to take the session.
Please ensure you are punctual collecting your children and remind them that they must wait in the building until collected.
Please advise the Gym Club of any change of circumstances, i.e., medical, change of address and particularly Mobile Phone No’s.
Our coaches wish to maximize coaching time within the gym, therefore if you wish to speak to us about anything to do with the classes please talk to your coach before or after classes or drop us an email.

Club Complaints Procedure

If you have a complaint or concern about any club member – be it a gymnast, coach, committee member or another parent please let us know as soon as possible.

How to Complain:

We hope that most problems can be sorted out quickly, often at the time that they arise and with the person concerned.
If your problem cannot be sorted out this way and you wish to make a complaint, please speak to Jason or email airbornegymclub@yahoo.co.uk
Parents are reminded that for safety reasons they should not approach any of the coaches during classes and that in any case Club matters are the responsibility of the Committee not the coaches. If it is necessary, the club will pass on the complaint to the Club Welfare Officer.
Ideally this should be as soon as possible after the incident concerned, in a matter of days or at most two weeks while the incident is still fresh in the memory.
Written complaints should be addressed to Robbyn Goddard who will then arrange an appointment to speak to you in order to discuss your concerns.

What the Club will do:

Your complaint will be acknowledged, and we aim to have investigated your complaint within 2 weeks of the date that you raised the matter with us. A record will be maintained of all complaints and concerns – whether verbal or written.

Child and Vulnerable Adult Protection Policy

Airborne Gymnastics Club complies with the British Gymnastics Child Protection Policy. The club will endeavor to promote the highest standards of care for all members, staff and officials by:

Providing and implementing procedures to safeguard the well-being of all participants and protect them from abuse.
Respect and promote the rights, wishes and feelings of all participants.
Adopt good practice in recruitment, training and supervision of all employees and volunteers, and provide guidance to parents and careers.
*The appointment of a Welfare Officer to whom grievances or complaints can be made confidentially.*
Ensuring that staff are suitably trained in Child Protection and Health, Safety and Welfare issues.
Ensuring that coaches and officials have been screened to confirm their suitability to work with children including Enhanced Criminal Record Disclosure and registration with ISA. (ISA?)
Ensuring that a minimum of two responsible adults are present at all training sessions or events.
Ensuring that the participants and/or parents are aware of the purpose of videoing, filming and photography during training or events.
Having a zero-tolerance level of poor practice, bullying or any potential form of abuse.
Require all employees, members and clubs to adopt British Gymnastics’ Code of Ethics and Conduct, Health, Safety and Welfare Policy and the Child Protection Policy and Procedures.
Respond to all allegations and concerns and implement the appropriate disciplinary and appeals procedure.

For full details of the Child Protection Policy please visit the British Gymnastics website

Airborne Gym Club code of Conduct for Gymnasts and Parents/Guardians

Please read the following, both Gym member and parent/guardian. Once read, can you please both sign and date and return on the gymnasts first session back.

Airborne Gym Club is fully committed to safe-guarding and promoting the well-being of all its members. The Club believes that it is important that members, coaches, administrators and parents associated with the club should, at all times, show respect and understanding for the safety and welfare of others. Members are encouraged, therefore, to be open at all times and share any concerns or complaints that they may have about any aspect of the club with Jason Tucker, Club manager or Lauren Anin-Mensah, our appointed Welfare Officer. As a member of Airborne Gym Club you are expected to abide by the following club rules:-

All gymnasts must participate within the rules and respect coaches, judges and their decisions.
All gymnasts must respect opponents and fellow club members.
Gymnasts should keep to agreed timings for training and competitions or inform their coach if they are going to be delayed or absent.
Members must wear suitable attire for training and events as agreed with the coach. All long hair must be tied back and all body jewellery must be removed.
Members are required to look after the gym equipment and tidy up before and after training. Gymnasts MUST NOT use any equipment unless accompanied by an appropriate coach.
Parents are required to accompany their children to and from the gymnasium; coaches will ensure safe dismissal of gymnasts to their parents. We would appreciate your child being collected promptly following their session.
You should never use social sites, for example Facebook, twitter or mobile services i.e. bbm, WhatsApp to post any disrespectful status’s towards the gym club or any coaches or other members.
You should behave appropriately at competitions or events and remember you are representing the club at all times.
If you have any worries that you can’t discuss with your coach or parents/carers, you can contact our Club Welfare Officer, Lauren Anin-Mensah on ….
You must not use derogatory language of any kind towards fellow athletes or coaches at any time.
You must inform the head coach of any injuries or illness or concerns you have before the warm-up begins.
If you arrive at the gym before any of the coaches, you MUST wait outside until a coach arrives.

Anti-Bullying

It is our aim to provide all our members with a happy, safe and fulfilling experience when attending our gymnastic club. We hope to help all our gymnasts achieve their potential by raising their self-esteem, giving positive feedback and ensuring all our sessions are structured and fun. We aim for all our participants to work as a team especially our squads and do not tolerate competitive individual behaviour as every gymnast’s learns at different paces and all participants have varying skills.

There are different sorts of bullying, but the three main types are:

Physical hitting, kicking, taking or hiding belongings including money
Verbal name calling, teasing, insulting, writing unkind notes
Emotional being unfriendly, excluding, tormenting, spreading rumours, looks

Bullying is an anti-social behaviour which will not be tolerated in our club; it undermines the confidence, self-esteem and happiness of the victim and can lead to lack of concentration, depression and in some cases leaving the club.

Any concerns regarding bullying can be reported directly to our Welfare Officer or communicated to the coaches. Concerns will be dealt with immediately. We will listen to ‘both sides’ in private and record information to report to the parents of the children involved. We will involve the parents and children in deciding the outcome and any sanctions which may need to take place to ensure the bully changes their behaviour. In cases where bullying continues after warnings and sanctions, the bully will be asked to leave our club.

CODE OF CONDUCT FOR PARENTS AND GUARDIANS

Encourage your child to learn the rules and participate with them.
Support your child’s involvement and help them to enjoy their sport, do not force them.
Focus on the child’s effort and performance rather than winning and losing.
Always drop off and collect your child promptly at the beginning and end of the session.
Never punish or belittle your child for making mistakes.
Share any complaints or concerns about any aspect of the club through the approved channels. The appointed Club Welfare officer is Lauren Anin-Mensah.
Endeavour to establish good communication with the club officials and coaches for the benefit us all.
Use correct and proper language at all time.
Keep the club informed if your child is ill or unable to attend training sessions.
Always ensure your child is dressed properly for the gymnastics activity.
Respect coaches and other club official’s and teach the children likewise. Without all the volunteers, coaches and officials your child could not participate.
Please pay all fees on time as requested.
Remember that children are participating in this sport for their benefit, not yours.
Set a good example for by recognising a good sportsmanship and applauding good performance for all.
Inform the club of any changes in contact details.
Parents are welcome to watch the training in the designated viewing area, but they MUST NOT interfere or interrupt the session by trying to speak to the gymnasts while the session is in progress. It is imperative that gymnasts have the coach’s full attention at all times. Any parent interrupting the session may be refused access to the viewing area.
Drop off and pick up of the gymnasts - if you are only dropping off and picking up your child please wait outside the gym, safe dismissal will be done by the club official at the gym door.
Gymnasts must enter the gym only the gym clothes sweat shirt, trainers and their gym bag with the hand apparatus.
Please DO NOT take any pictures and videos of the gymnasts or coaches during training sessions unless by prior consent. (For example a new routine is to be learned. These however should not be uploaded on social media if any other person apart from your child is shown on that video/photo.)
Never undermine your child’s coach in front of any parents or children and do not talk badly about any coaches, parents or other gymnasts in front of your child. If for any reason you have concerns, please follow the correct procedure.
Keep the club informed if your child is ill or is having problems at home or school or unable to attend sessions either by verbal communications directly with your child’s coach, or via email.
Understand that a place in a competition squad involves a commitment to participate in any competitions that the gymnast’s coach has deemed suitable for them. Plenty of notice will be provided for any such competitions and an expectation to compete is assumed, extenuating circumstances excepted. Recognise that a squad place is based upon a gymnast’s ability, behaviour and approach to their development and is subject to continual review in order to best benefit the gymnast.