As a club that focuses on children and youth American Football, we recognise the supreme importance of taking safety seriously. We aim to ensure that kids are safe on the pitch and off it. This page sets out the basics of how we try to do that but we welcome your questions if there are specific things that you need to know in order to be sure your child is safe with the Kent Phoenix.

Safety on the pitch

In its most pure form, American Football is not just a contact sport but a collision sport. Players wear helmets and protective padding for a very good reason and we recognise that accidents can happen. Nonetheless we try to make sure we mitigate and minimize the risks of injury in a number of ways.

Teaching good technique

As a club, we have a big focus on on teaching the basic techniques of blocking and tackling in a way that emphasises ‘heads-up’ football. While the younger age groups are still playing flag football, we spend time ensuring the children are learning to block and tackle with good technique that ensures they keep their head out of the way. As they graduate to kitted football, we continue to teach and emphasise good technique so that as they don shoulder pads and helmets, they are learning to play the game in the best way and, in a way that minimises the risk of injury.

Equipment checks for kitted football

We check all the players twice a season (at the start of the off-season training in September and again in the Spring before the league fixtures begin) to ensure that kit is well-fitted and in good condition. As the children and young people grow physically, it’s important to ensure that helmets and shoulder pads in particular are the right size and appropriately fitted.

We also ensure that the club’s available kit for new players is in good condition and that no kit, particularly football helmets, are used any longer than ten years from the date of manufacture. As a club, we keep the available kit organised and track the helmets and pads that the children and young people are using.

We also set aside some of our available income each month and each year so that we can have a rolling programme of kit replacement as and when it is needed.

We don’t win at any cost

As a club, it is important to us that the children are having fun and we know that winning is always more enjoyable than losing. But the Phoenix do not hold a philosophy of ‘win at all costs’. If a player is carrying an injury or we suspect they are not 100%, then we will sit them out until we are confident they are healthy and ready to play.

First Aid and qualified medical support

The British American Football Association insist that games cannot commence if the minimum medical requirements have not been met. The stipulated medical requirements are that:

• a suitable first aid kit is available;
• a telephone capable of summoning the emergency services is available; and
• a professional practitioner who meets a series of requirements is present.

To meet the third of those stipulations, we usually arrange Paramedic Services with Phoenix Medical Services Ltd so there are trained professional personnel at every game. Despite the name, they are not connected to the Kent Phoenix! That’s just a coincidence.

A number of our coaches and volunteers have also undergone basic First Aid training and we keep our training under regular review.

Safety off the pitch

We want the Phoenix to be a safe environment for everyone. To that end, we recognise that it’s not just about what happens on the field but off it. All of our coaches and volunteers are aware of the standards we expect of their behaviour and we take safeguarding seriously.

All our coaches and volunteers are required to have a DBS check and for those checks to be renewed every three years. Safeguarding training is also important and. to help establish that knowledge and awareness, the British American Football Coaches Association require the UK Coaching qualification ‘Duty to Care’ to be completed as part of all coaches’ qualifications.

We publish our Safeguarding Policy on this website and keep it regularly under review. If children, parents, coaches or other volunteers have any concerns, we want our culture to be open and honest and we welcome and take seriously any concerns that are raised.