It’s hard to find the right sports coach. You hear the stories in the press about the terrible things that have happened to children in the past or you’ve booked classes and they haven’t turned up or perhaps each week a different coach comes along – they don’t know the children, what they are like and how to get the best out of them.
Maybe, the coach is great but the admin side is just painful. Emails are not replied to, things not being done that you’ve asked for. It really doesn’t fill you with confidence- will the safeguarding be up to date?
How do you know the good providers from the bad? It’s not always easy but here are my top tips.
1 – Providers should always respond to you quickly, professionally and do what they say they will and when they say they will do it. This can provide you with some confidence that they won’t let you down and will provide a professional service
2 – Any documents that you request they should be happy to show you and these should be provided quickly. This can be things like DBS checks, first aid qualifications to show the coaches are trained and fully qualified and they are on top of this important part.
3 – Good reviews – is there anything that shows any concerns? Are people happy to talk about the excellent experience they’ve had?
4 – A consistent reliable team. A regular coach who is there every week, who you get to know and knows the children well, what they like and don’t like and how to bring the best out in them and build their skills and confidence.
5 – Membership of a professional body. Such as the Institute of Children’s Activity Providers (ICAP) Showing they take ongoing training and keep their knowledge up to date. Also sharing best practice throughout the industry to help improve all children’s activity providers.
I am happy to say (and you might have guessed) that Leapfrog Sports excels at all of these! We take the safety of children seriously and we don’t want to mess you around – we are here to make your life easier!
To demonstrate who serious we are, as members of ICAP I recently applied for their quality assurance rating. This was no mean feat! They looked into every part of my business – in fact over 67 different questions to answer with evidence to provide!
- The compliance, making sure we have every possible document and policy in place eg, insurance, DBS, properly registered with the authorities, accounts completed, health and safety and many more.
- The programme, checking it was age appropriate, developmental, it is progressive, fun. How it is delivered, how it is reviewed and many more
- The communications, how happy customers are, our customer service, how we get in touch with customers, our website, charity events.
I am so proud that we achieved the highest rating 3 Gold Kites!! You can rest assured that Leapfrog Sports only provides excellent quality programmes from a very well run business.
The ICAP rating team said ‘The application showed excellent attention to detail in compliance, programmes and marketing communications. You’ve clearly set your business and programmes up for success. We’ve received a large number of rating applications. Many of these applications haven’t received our highest rating of three gold kites so hopefully the fact you have, gives you renewed confidence in just how well you run your business.’
Please get in touch if we can help you in any way
Jo
Thanks a lot for sharing such a great piece of article! I found it a good helpful write-up with a good sound and explanation. Please keep sharing more updates!
Appreciating the time and effort you put into your website and in depth information you offer. You’ve really covered up almost all the possible info so that anybody can find the right sports coach. Thanks for your help!