Health and Wellbeing of TSC Players

Home Health and Wellbeing of TSC Players

Health and Wellbeing of TSC Players

All persons volunteering in the junior program must understand Basketball ACT’s Guidelines for Working with Children and hold a Working with Vulnerable (WWVP) People Card.

Physical Health

Pre-existing conditions

Parents or carers of children with pre-existing medical conditions are responsible for informing their child’s Coach and Manager of any pre-existing medical conditions and what action to take in any emergency.  If a child requires medication during training or games (for example an asthma preventer) the child must be able to self-manage their medication or a parent/carer must stay for the duration of the training or game.

Injury insurance and reporting

All Basketball ACT registered players (and others participating in club sanctioned trials) are insured for all injuries that occur at club sanctioned trainings (including pre-season training) and Basketball ACT competitions. All injuries must be reported using the Basketball ACT Injury Report Form within 7 days of the injury.Only club sanctioned trainings are covered by insurance.  If a junior Coach wishes to conduct a training session outside of those scheduled by the Club, they must seek approval from the Boys Coordinator (for boys teams) or the Girls Coordinator (for girls teams).

Injuries to players during training or games

Our Committee, Coaches and Managers are all volunteers so are not trained to administer First Aid.

  • If a player is injured on the court during training, they must tell their Coach immediately.  If the player requires immediate medical attention, call 000 and, if the player is a junior, contact the player’s parent or carer.  Otherwise, if the player is a junior, the Coach or Manager must advise the child’s parent or carer of the injury as soon as practical so they can seek appropriate medical attention.  
  • If a player is injured on the court during a game, the player should sit down.  The Manager should seek the assistance of the Member Service Officer (MSO) to administer appropriate first aid.  
  • If ice is applied to an injury, the player is not to return to the court (except for blood noses). If a player is refusing ice, the Coach is to exercise their duty of care in determining if the player should return to the court – apply the ‘if in doubt, sit it out’ principle. 
  • If the player is bleeding, in accordance with Basketball ACT’s Blood and Communicable Disease Policy, assist by:
    • Providing help to stop the bleeding. 
    • Ensuring the open wound is completely covered before the player returns to the court.
    • If there is blood on their uniform or training clothes, ensuring they change their uniform/clothes (each team is to have a blood top in their kit) before they return to the court.
  • If a player sustains a head injury or is suspected of being concussed in training or in a game, as per Basketball Australia’s Concussion Guidelines  and the AIS AMA Concussion in Sport Position Statement, the player is to cease playing and seek immediate medical attention.  They cannot return to the game or training until cleared by a medical doctor.

If a player sustains an advise them, or if the player is a junior their parent/carer, that they are to submit a Basketball ACT Injury Report Form within 7 days of the injury.

Injured players – Returning to play

In accordance with the Sports Medicine Australia’s Basketball Fact Sheet the Club must sight evidence that any player considered to have been substantially injured (break, fracture, dislocation, sprain, strain or concussion) must be fully rehabilitated before returning to play.  Medical evidence (certificate or letter issued by a doctor or, where appropriate, physiotherapist) must be emailed to the player’s Coach and/or Manager and, for junior players, the Boys Coordinator (for boys teams) or the Girls Coordinator (for girls teams).

Toxic Team Behaviours

The Club’s Players Code of Conduct stipulates that players will represent the club’s values by ‘treating players in my team, my club and on the opposition, as I would like to be treated. Not interfering with, bullying or taking unfair advantage of another player’.  

In accordance with Basketball Australia’s Member Protection Policy and Basketball ACT’s Bullying Policy and Codes of Conduct, the Club has a zero tolerance for racism, discrimination and bullying. The Club may hand down extensive suspensions or expulsion for proven incidents of racism, discrimination and/or bullying. Incidents of this type are to be reported to the team Coach and/or Manager and, if not addressed, referred to the President.

If a team Coach or Manager identifies this type of behaviour during team training or in games they must address it immediately by ‘sitting out’ the players involved for the remainder of the training or game.

Mental Health

Our Committee, Coaches and Managers are all volunteers so are not trained to administer Mental Health First Aid.  We encourage all Coaches and Managers to read the ‘Hey Sport R U OK? Coaches Guide’ published by the R U OK organisation <<attach Hey Sport R U OK? Coaches Guide PDF>>.

Where players are demonstrating they may be struggling, Coaches and Managers are to take a player aside to somewhere relatively informal and private, and are to:

  1. Ask are you ok?
  2. Listen to the player with an open mind
  3. Encourage the player to seek assistance from a parent or carer or other family member, and/or
    1. Kids Helpline | Phone Counselling Service | 1800 55 1800 (for 5-25 year olds)
    2. Headspace 1800 650 890 or  visit the eheadspace website (for 12-25 year olds)
    3. Lifeline Australia – 13 11 14 – Crisis Support and Suicide Prevention 
    4. Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467
  4. Check in with the player or their parent or carer (with the player’s permission) a few days later

Child Abuse

As a club we want all of our junior players to be happy and healthy but above all safe.  Our Committee, Coaches and Managers are all volunteers so are not trained to investigate allegations of abuse.  All allegations must be reported to the relevant authorities to be investigated (if they haven’t already been reported). 

  • All of our Coaches and Managers are encouraged to complete the free online training (takes approximately one hour) offered by the ACT Government on how to respond to allegations of child abuse.  
  • Abuse includes physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, family violence and neglect.  For definitions of each of these abuse types please see the ACT Government’s Keeping Children and Young People Safe Guide.
  • To support children experiencing abuse assist them to contact Kids Helpline | Phone Counselling Service | 1800 55 1800.  The Kids Helpline website also offers email and WebChat services and online resources for kids.
  • To report child abuse you will require information about:
    • the child – including name, age, background
    • the family – including general details of the parents and other significant people living in the home (the child’s address can be attained from the club)
    • the reason for your concern – including what happened and where, who was involved, what led to the incident, any visible injuries, the impact on the child, who is allegedly responsible
    • relevant known circumstances – such as drug or alcohol misuse, mental health, financial issues, past trauma, unemployment, court matters
    • your details and connection to the child – your information will remain strictly confidential, child protection services (or the Police) may just need to contact you if more information is needed.
  • Reporting allegations of child abuse:
    • If the child’s life is in danger call the police on 000 
    • If the child is in immediate danger from abuse or the abuser does not live with the child or is outside the child’s family, contact the police on 131 444 

If the child is not in immediate danger use the ACT Government’s online report form (if the child lives in the ACT) or call the Child Protection Hotline on ‍13 2111 (if the child is living in NSW)