Tour with a club - Top tips for taking a sports team on tour

Summer tour tips

As the sun finally makes an appearance and British Summertime begins, the thoughts of many sports and recreation clubs will turn to going on their summer tour.

A trip away can be the highlight of the year, bringing players and coaches closer together and creating a club atmosphere that improves performance on the pitch, too. However, the long list of things to consider before leaving can be overwhelming, not least in ensuring the right insurance policies are in place for all eventualities.

Key things to consider before taking a team away:
 

The essentials

• For youth groups ensure that your club has a safeguarding children policy, policies and procedures for selecting and recruiting volunteers, an active Welfare Officer on the trip and procedures for reporting concerns about the welfare of a child.
• All players under 18 will need a signed consent form, kept safely in line with data protection legislation, before they can travel.
• A qualified first aider should be included on the trip.
• Ensure you have the following insurance in place: public and civil liability, personal accident and vehicle breakdown cover. Professional indemnity insurance can protect coaches and trainers too. Don’t forget that employers liability insurance is just as essential for volunteers as for paid staff.
• On trips away, club members may take part in activities outside their normal sport – for instance swimming. Every child will need specific written consent for each activity – and check your insurance covers those activities.
• For trips abroad, ensure your insurance covers foreign trips and consider extra medical cover for more dangerous activities such as skiing or mountain climbing.
• Don’t forget European Health Insurance cards

Preparation

• Appoint a tour committee to organise the trip – this can be far more effective than relying on one person to do everything
• Have a brainstorm to decide on destination, date and budget.
• Raise funds towards the trip to make it more affordable – race nights, quiz nights, raffles and sponsored events are all good. Check out easyfunding.org.uk, a free online fundraising service which can help too. Remember any events on club premises need to be covered by public liability insurance to cover against anyone being injured as a result of an accident on club property.
• Try setting up a ‘400 Club’. This involves every player finding as many people willing to part with £1 a month for the period of the fund raising. When the figure reaches at least 400, each person is allocated a number and a draw made to provide prizes – 50 per cent goes to the draw, 50 per cent towards the tour.
• Set up a reliable system for tour members to pay. The ‘Teamer’ app can be useful to help organise group communication and shared payments - https://teamer.net/. The app Splittr can be useful for adult groups wanting to share expenses while away - http://www.splittr.io/

On the trip

1. Remember for youth groups (for children over eight years old) there should always be two adults on the trip – and a minimum of 1 adult to 16 children. More adults are required for younger groups.
    
2. When taking a male group there should always be a male member of staff – and female groups require female staff too.
3. Ensure anyone driving on the trip has a valid licence, MOT, tax and insurance, especially if using their own vehicle.
4. Identify who will be the Welfare Officer for the trip and make everyone aware.
5. Give everyone an information pack. This should include: dates, what you are doing, where you are going, rules, kit list, medical care needs, club rules.
6. Make sure you have the best possible and most cost-effective insurance before you travel by dealing with a reliable broker.