WSA host insightful second edition of Safeguarding Community at Cardiff City Stadium
The Welsh Sports Association (WSA) was thrilled to host its second Safeguarding Community event at the Cardiff City Stadium on Wednesday 14 May.
Following on from a successful first event at Complete Background Screening in January, this second Safeguarding Community event once again brought the sector together to provide valuable insight around the key issue of safeguarding in sport.
The morning was packed with thought-provoking discussions as attendees enjoyed two panel discussions before an address from ex-rugby professional Lloyd Ashley.
Kicking things off, WSA Safeguarding Manager, Sian Jones, introduced Just Culture Founder and Director, Liz Lowther.
With the theme of this year’s Mental Health Awareness Week being community, the discussions centred around the importance of networks and communities in safeguarding.
“Who safeguards those who safeguard?” was an important question throughout.
Leaning on her lived experiences, Liz proceeded to discuss how vital it is to create supportive cultures and embed safeguarding within organisations, providing staff with a dynamic that includes everyone and allows people to take part in open conversations.
Enabling vulnerability, compassionate leadership, and tailoring management to compensate for individuals’ whole life as opposed to within the office proved key aspects in Liz’s insight.
Another key point raised by Liz was the idea of reframing what “enough” looks like. In an environment with a lot of pressure, Liz commented on how crucial it is for individuals to do what they need to do to breathe, away from work life, in order to perform as best as possible. Selfcare, as Liz stated, is “strategic, not selfish”.
These ideas transferred into the morning’s next panel, where Matthew Griffiths and Laura Warren touched upon the necessity of seeing athletes as humans with more than on-field performances going on.
Sian once again facilitated the discussion, alongside Laura, a former-Wales and GB Lacrosse international who, having not had the same opportunities in her playing days, provides player welfare services and athlete mentorship, and Matthew, who has a wealth of experience in player care and education across Cardiff City FC and the FAW.
The pair provided fantastic insight into the need for a safe, open, and supportive cultures from the get-go for athletes.
One focus of the panel was the idea of providing spaces where athletes feel safe to release their frustrations and anxieties, away from the performance pathway, while also establishing solid relationships with them so that conversations happen around the clock rather than simply when something is wrong.
This all-encompassing approach to player welfare allows for organisations to build athletes as people, as well as performers, and ensures that young people maximise the learning opportunities of being involved in environments like football academies. Not only is this proactive approach key for on-field performance, but also develops young people in a way where they’d be able contribute to wider society in the future.
Safeguarding means investing in people, agreed Laura and Matthew.
Laura went on to describe her experiences as an elite athlete, and how she failed to get the support she needed during her career, especially when she injured her ACL at a European Championship at 37 years of age.
The barriers she faced in recovery and returning to play accentuated the need for people around you that will hear and understand you, inspiring her to drive change across sport.
The WSA Safeguarding Community event was capped off by an address by Lloyd Ashley, the former Ospreys player who now specialises in wellbeing and personal development.
His high-energy address provoked contemplative thought among the room, putting emphasis on collaborative and collective conversations to ensure that we do create safe spaces.
Much like the second panel, Lloyd outlined how important it is that we see conversations to simply be about caring for each other, rather than labelling them as to be addressing mental health issues or mental illness.
Another key point of Lloyd’s address was around setting standards for ourselves that align with those we set for others, as well as the necessity of taking time – no matter how little – to do something – no matter how small – that allows us to reset and relax in order to improve our mental state and put ourselves in a position to perform at our best in whatever situation we’re in.
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