​BWPL is working with the Swim England Safeguarding & Welfare team to help create as safe an environment as possible for all participants, be they senior or junior, coach, team manager or official. We will be consulting with Swim England on future relevant updates to Wavepower (Swim England’s safeguarding policy), and in the meantime, and with Swim England’s support, we are writing to all involved in BWPL as follows.

While providing the best possible environment for our best players it remains key for everyone involved to contribute to the safety of others and we would ask all concerned with the League to look at Swim England’s Wavepower:

 https://www.swimming.org/swimengland/wavepower-updated-version/

Can everyone please make sure they read and understand the sections relating to “junior” players participating in “senior” competitions and therefore against senior players. As many as one in four competing in our Women’s competitions and one in eight in our Men’s competitions are currently under eighteen years of age. Wavepower pages 105-106 deal with the matter specifically, but of relevance to the League is the section on competitions:

Games and competitions (Wavepower page 106)

"The coach has a duty of care to take all factors into account when selecting a team, including, but not exclusively, the age, gender, physical capability and skills of all players in the team and of the opposition’s team."