Purpose and Intent
Everyone at Youngstars Academy  has the right to feel welcome, secure and happy. Only if this is the case will all members of the club be able to achieve to their potential. Bullying of any sort prevents this happening and prevents equality of opportunity. It is everyone’s responsibility to prevent bullying happening and this policy contains guidelines to support this ethos.
Where bullying exists, the victims must feel confident to be able to share this with a Manager / Official / Volunteer and have known that the matter will be dealt with quickly and professionally. It is our aim to challenge attitudes towards bullying behaviour and ensure that the club displays an anti-bullying ethos.

Definitions of Bullying
Bullying is deliberately hurtful behaviour that is repeated over a period of time, making it difficult for the person concerned to defend themselves. This can take the form of name-calling, violence, threatened violence, isolation, ridicule or indirect action such as spreading unpleasant stories about someone.

Actions to Tackle Bullying
Prevention is better than cure so a Manager / Official / Volunteer must be vigilant for signs of bullying and always take reports of incidents seriously. Club Members must report any incidence of bullying, whether they experience bullying or witness bullying it is their responsibility to report this to a Manager / Official / Volunteer within the club. They in turn must report any incidents to the Club Child Protection Officer.
All alleged or reported incidents of bullying will be taken seriously, investigated by the Child Protection Officer, a record kept of the incidents and the report findings. The Clubs Child Protection Officer will be responsible for maintaining such a list and will be required to give a copy of his report and the action(s) taken to Manager of the team(s) concerned and to the Club Leader who will report to the Committee for record purposes. This will ensure effective monitoring of such occurrences, and to facilitate any possible corrective action to be undertaken to prevent a re-occurrence. In every case all incidences of bullying will be reported to a club official and then to the Club Leader.
Upon reporting of an incident/complaint of bullying, the Child Protection Officer will be advised of the nature of the incident and will discuss with the players and their parents the issues in a manner appropriate to the incident and to their age and level of the member’s understanding. Each member involved in the incident will be given an opportunity to respond and the discussion will remain focused on finding a solution to the problem and stopping the bullying recurring. The Child Protection Officer should advise immediately of actions that can be implemented to stop the bullying, whilst a long term solution is reviewed to ensure that the re-occurrence is not possible.

Parental Involvement
The club is committed to ensuring parents of bullies and their victims are informed of all incidents involving their children and will be kept involved throughout any investigations. The parents of bullies and their victims will be informed of any action that the club plans to take and be asked to support the strategies proposed to tackle the problem. The bully will also be reminded of the possible consequences of bullying and the sanctions for repeated incidents will be clearly explained to him/her. (Persistent bullies may be excluded from the club and deregistered with the appropriate league).