Societies Sports Core Officer Training 202021 Picture 136

Societies & Sports Core Officer Training 2020/21 Picture? 1/36

Who Are We? § 2/36 We are the Students’ Union Student Activities team, responsible for helping you lead our Sports Clubs and Societies. Dominic King Student Activities Manager Picture? Lewis Higgins Student Activities Coordinator Jack Parker Student Activities Coordinator susocs@essex. ac. uk blades@essex. ac. uk

What Are Your Roles? 3/36 • President, Vice-President (Sports), Secretary, Treasure, Welfare Officer and COVID Officer. • Together, you have primary responsibility for your society or club’s day to day running. • You must attend Executive Committee meetings and Student Activities General Picture? Meetings. • You must attend meetings called by the Student Activities Team, together with any training which the role requires. • It will also be your responsibility, along with your COVID officer to keep up-todate with the regulations surrounding Covid-19; this includes regularly checking for any email updates from us as well as keeping up-to-date with government advice.

President 4/36 • You are the main point of contact within your society or club. • Members will expect to receive regular updates on all types of information from you. • You will usually be the first point of contact should anyone from the Student Activities team need to contact you – please make sure you regularly check emails & Sports & Societies social media pages for any information. • Picture? You are responsible for making calls on bigger decisions in the event of deadlocks. Most decisions should be made by members of the society or club – an executive team is mainly in place to help carry out the requests of the members. • You are jointly responsible, along with the Treasurer, for carefully budgeting and spending money on behalf of your society/club. • You’re responsible for ensuring that the society/club doesn’t break laws.

Vice-President/Secretary 5/36 • You are responsible for taking notes at events and meetings (especially executive meetings) and relaying this information back to your members. • Your minute-taking will be crucial for things such as event planning where you can keep track of who has to complete certain actions and by what date. • You will be a primary contact for the Student Activities when dealing with standards and awards applications and will usually be the person in charge of making these Picture? applications. • You will play a crucial role in making sure your fellow executive members have carried out tasks/training that they need to, or supporting them when they need assistance. • This year it will be really important to make sure your members know the Covid-19 rules that apply to events and gatherings, so you will need to be liaising with your Covid-19 officer and whoever is in charge of your social media to make sure updates are being emailed out and posted across your social media feeds.

Treasurer 6/36 • You are responsible along with the President for budgeting and spending your society/club money. • We recommend using the budgeting template on the FAQ’s page and presenting this to your members as early as possible so that they can query any projected spending. Picture? You are responsible for making sure that the society/club carefully plans things such as events to make sure that you always have enough money available. • • You will be responsible for paying in money to the SU for your society/club as well as signing off on expense claims from members (unless the claim is yours, in which case the President will sign it).

Welfare Officer 7/36 • Your role is to help ensure that your society/club is a safe and welcoming space for anyone – regardless of age, race, sexuality, gender or disability. • It is important that you familiarise yourself with the different services that can help with supporting students such as Student Support and SU Advice – please always remember that you are not counsellors and should never seek to give professional advice. • You will be the main point of contact should anyone wish to make complaints about your society/club or individuals within it. • Your role should have a focus on creating de-stress events or supporting ones that the SU and University create. • This year it will be important for to assist your society or club’s COVID Officer to ensure that members feel safe and comfortable at any face-to-face events that you hold, when they are permitted.

COVID Officer 8/36 • During the global pandemic all clubs and societies have been mandated to create Covid Officer roles. It is recognised that risk in some activities such as sport cannot be completely eradicated, but with caution and care, risks can be reduced and the benefits of student activities enjoyed fully again. • If your society or club does not yet have a designated COVID Officer, you will need to email either susocs@essex. ac. uk or blades@essex. ac. uk to nominate someone, and then they will need to view this training session.

COVID Officer 9/36 • The COVID Officer will need to: - Act as the primary point of contact for all covid related activities with the SU and University. - Be responsible for ensuring that each session is run in line with the Clubs/Societies approved Risk Assessment and Operating Procedures. Coaches for clubs may also take on this role for their sessions to ensure that all necessary health and safety procedures are followed during their coaching sessions. - Be aware of Government guidelines and Covid-19 related safety, hygiene and social distancing protocols

COVID Officer 10/36 • The COVID Officer will need to: - Work with the club/society committee to ensure each session is compliant with the guidance. - Ensure all players or members attending sessions understand the guidelines for the session. - Liaise with the SU, Student Activities team and Essex Sport staff to ensure full compliance of sessions. - Review the clubs/societies Covid-19 risk assessment and ensure compliance.

COVID Officer 11/36 • The COVID Officer will need to: - Ensure the session implements a pre-booking system to manage the number of players or members attending each session allowing for you to maintain social distancing measures. You cannot allow members to play or join without them having pre-booked their attendance. - Manage session delivery and movement around venue to ensure that group sizes are not exceeded and social distancing is maintained at all times. - Remind all participants (players, coaches, members, coordinators) of their responsibility to notify the Covid-19 Officer should they get symptoms of Covid-19. The person with symptoms should seek a test promptly and follow the NHS Track and Trace procedure.

COVID Officer 12/36 • The COVID Officer will need to: - Carry out a pre-session health screen questionnaire on all attendees, noting contact details (including bubbles) for all members. - Ensure records are updated securely with the SU. - Ensure the records are kept only as long as necessary and in line with GDPR requirements. - Records of attendance at events can be taken on a laptop/pen & paper at the event but need to be sent/typed up and sent ideally as soon as the event has finished but within no longer than 24 hours. Your copy needs to be destroyed as soon as we confirm we have received it. We will then destroy this information once we no longer need it. This must be detailed enough to allow NHS Test and Trace to contact all participants if a player becomes ill with COVID-19. - Failure to provide attendance sheets within the 24 hours timeframe will result in a suspension of your club/society activities. • If for some reason you need to keep records of attendance, this will need to be approved by the Student Activities staff and then kept in a password protected document for a maximum of 21 days. - Test & Trace Further Info - https: //www. gov. uk/guidance/nhs-test-and-trace-how-it-works

COVID Officer 13/36 • If the COVID-19 officer is not present during a club or society session, it is expected that another club official/committee member will be appointed to fulfil these responsibilities for the duration of the session. For example, this can be the coach or the welfare officer. If no-one is able to deputise the Covid officer role, the session will need to be cancelled.

COVID Officer • 14/36 Transmission - According to current evidence, COVID-19 is primarily transmitted between people through respiratory droplets and contact with contaminated surfaces – usually those that are frequently touched. Airborne transmission is possible in specific settings where certain procedures or sports treatments are performed in close proximity. • Mitigating risks - All student activities have been asked to complete a detailed Covid risk assessment and operational plans to show they are mitigating risks of Covid and other risks associated with the activity. These plans allow for activities to take place whilst maintaining appropriate compliance with social distancing and permitted group sizes. The activities are only permitted provided they follow guidance by the relevant national governing body (NGB). Compliance with current guidance on social mixing must be maintained at all times when not on the field of play (clubs).

COVID Officer • 15/36 Club/Society Preparation - Each club must only return to sport when they have the appropriate measures in place as developed by the NGB and general government guidance in relation to recreational sport. - Societies must only return to activities when they have the appropriate measures in place as per government guidelines. - All players, officials, volunteers, spectators and members must undergo a self-assessment for any COVID-19 symptoms. No-one should leave home to participate in sport or society activities if they, or someone they live with, has symptoms of COVID -19 currently recognised as any of the following: A high temperature A new, continuous cough A loss of, or change to, their sense of smell or taste - Should an individual have demonstrated any such symptoms, they must follow NHS and PHE guidance on self-isolation.

COVID Officer 16/36 • Participants should be made aware of any increased risk associated with taking part in specific activities, based on the assessment undertaken by the governing body or SU. They should also be strongly advised to comply with public health restrictions and avoid high risk behaviour outside the activities’ setting to reduce the risk to their fellow participants when they do attend. • Participants are encouraged to follow best practice for travel to club or society events including minimising use of public transport and limiting car sharing. Walk or cycle if you can. People from a household or support bubble can travel together in a vehicle. • See the government’s safer travel guidance for passengers for further information. • Clubs and societies should strictly limit the time spent congregating at a venue before activity begins. Meet-up times should reflect this. For sport, this includes arriving changed and ready to begin the warm up. Exceptions may be made where safety and safeguarding measures require this, for example supporting disability athletes with minimum time spent waiting or in changing rooms.

COVID Officer 17/36 • All clubs and societies must adhere to social distancing throughout warm-ups (sports) and avoid equipment sharing. The sport specific action plan must address the issue of how the sport can best mitigate the risk of social distancing in competitive matches and training. • Having completed the droplet transmission risk assessment (clubs), each sport may introduce ‘COVID 19 adaptations’ to lower the frequency of activities that cannot be done whilst socially distanced. Avoid unnecessary breaking of social distancing such as pre-game handshakes, huddles, face-to-face confrontation with opponents and officials, and scoring celebrations. • All participants must remain socially distanced during breaks in play or activities with spaced areas for equipment and refreshment storage for each individual including officials and substitutes. Coaching staff and substitutes, should, for example, spread out and avoid sharing a dug out or bench if social distancing cannot be observed. • Water bottles or other refreshment containers, should in no circumstances be shared. Participants are advised to bring their own, in a labelled or highly distinguishable container. • After activity participants must maintain government mandated social distancing for social interaction. This includes in any available clubhouse facilities or other venue participants congregate in afterwards.

COVID Officer 18/36 • The sharing of equipment must be avoided where possible, particularly that used around the head and face e. g. helmets. Where equipment is shared, equipment must be cleaned before use by another person. • Sports and societies should give consideration on how to protect participants in relation to all equipment use and the risk of transmission, including checking ongoing Government research and advice on transmission of the virus and ensuring their guidance reflects it. • Participants in sports should take their kit home to wash it themselves, rather than have one person handling a large quantity of soiled materials. Where kit absolutely has to be shared or kept together (for example last minute stand-in players, shortage of kit, or an essential club function), each person handling it must wash or sanitise their hands immediately after. • Based on the fomite transmission risk assessment, sports where a common ball needs to be handled by multiple players (e. g. basketball, cricket, football) will produce a plan to reduce this risk following advice from their governing body.

COVID Officer 19/36 • Match officials or society officials (e. g. workshop coordinators) should observe the governing body/government guidance in the same way as participants are required to. Match officials for sports must remain socially distanced from players where possible during play. Should match officials not be able to remain socially distanced due to their role in the sport, their sport should conduct a risk assessment to see if other mitigations may be necessary. • (Sport) A code of behaviour should be developed by each sport to ensure a commitment for all involved to adhere to COVID-19 adaptations, match officials will be empowered to ensure measures are adhered to through appropriate sanctions designed by the NGB. Participants must be clear that they are opting in to participating as defined in the sport-specific guidance with regard to risk and risk mitigation. • There is an additional risk of infection in close proximity situations where people are shouting or conversing loudly. This particularly applies indoors and when face to face. If possible, members should therefore avoid shouting or raising their voices when facing each other during, before and after games, and during society events.

COVID Officer • 20/36 Injury Treatment - Injuries during events should still be treated as participant wellbeing is utmost. The best way to protect yourself and others is through rigorous cleaning, personal hygiene and regular hand hygiene. An increased frequency of cleaning and disinfection of all surfaces and equipment, using standard household cleaning and disinfection products, is recommended. Face coverings are also advisable when undertaking treatment. - After contact with an injured participant, clean your hands thoroughly with soap and water or alcohol hand sanitiser at the earliest opportunity. This advice is applicable to all situations, regardless of whethere was close contact or the minimum social distancing was maintained. Avoid touching your mouth, eyes and nose. - Physios or their equivalent, should keep a record of each participant they have come into contact with for test and trace purposes. • No spectators permitted at sports training sessions. • For sports reliant on third party owned or managed facilities adherence to these guidelines should be worked out collaboratively between club and facility. Each facility must have a specific facility operations plan that incorporates a full risk assessment.

COVID Officer 21/36 • All venues will have entry and exit and parking arrangements to venues that ensures social distancing can be maintained. • Venues will display the appropriate signage to facilitate at all points throughout the facility and car park. • Venues will implement traffic flow systems where appropriate. • Venues will outline socially distanced areas for teams, officials, spectators and members. • Venues will ensure that all accessible provision within the site and the facility are available. • Changing rooms and showers (sports) - Players should arrive changed and shower at home. Use of changing and shower facilities must follow government advice on the use of indoor facilities and University where available. - If these facilities remain closed, exceptions may be made where safety and safeguarding measures require their use, e. g. supporting disability athletes.

COVID Officer 22/36 • Participants will be encouraged to refrain from spitting or rinsing out their mouths on or around the playing area. • Clubhouses and Hospitality • Venues will use clubhouses and hospitality facilities in line with government guidance on hospitality settings. • Groups in clubhouses and hospitality facilities must be restricted to 6 person gathering limits and spread out, in line with wider government guidance. • High ventilation in indoor facilities is paramount to reducing transmission of COVID-19; keep the facilities well ventilated, for example by fixing doors open and opening windows where appropriate. • If facilities remain closed, exceptions must be made for essential activity such as provision of first-aid or access to essential equipment for the match/event.

COVID Officer • To access the document with all COVID related information, with expanded guidelines and appendixes, visit: https: //www. essexstudent. com/activities/studentactivitiesexechelp/covid-19 -information/ and then click here: to download the document. 23/36

Documentation • • • 24/36 Terms of Reference Code of Conduct Constitutions Budget Plan Declaration of Financial Responsibility Alcohol Policy All documents can be downloaded from the Student Activities resources page soon – we’re just making some amendments at the moment! Picture? • Terms of Reference – the go-to document for all society/club policies. Includes information on things such as elections, finances and conflicts/disputes. This does not need to be signed, but is a good resource to use if you’re ever unsure on something – if you can’t find an answer here then get in touch. • Code of Conduct - It is advised that as Core Officers, you work with your members and remaining executive members to create a Code of Conduct that includes regulations on how members must act at society events, as well as guidance on social media regulations. This should be accessible to download through your individual society webpages as well as posted across your various social media feeds.

Documentation 25/36 • Code of Conduct (cont. ) Within your Code of Conduct, it is recommended that you implement a threestrike policy, or something similar, whereby if a member continuously breaks the policy rules, they will face disciplinary procedures that are set out by you but are agreed to by the Societies staff. • Constitutions – Societies and clubs need to complete their own constitutions which set out different aspects of their group such as aims and objectives and membership prices – this form will likely differ between clubs and societies. • Picture? as a core officer, you agree to the SU Alcohol Policy. By standing • Both the President and Treasurer must sign the Declaration of Financial Responsibility and then scan and send to susocs@essex. ac. uk or blades@essex. ac. uk. • Budget Plan – This is not compulsory, but advised to be completed and presented to your members, so that any queries they have with regards to projected spending can be made. • Declaration of Financial Responsibility – a document that needs to be signed by clubs and societies which states that you are aware of certain financial procedures and rules that you need to abide by.

26/36 Disciplinary Proceedings • When there is any conflict, our first piece of advice would be to reach out to the individuals for mediation, whether on a 1 -to-1 basis or with another executive member that they may feel open to talk to or in a more informal setting as a team. During this meeting, we would recommend you refrain from using any accusatory language but try to fact-find and see if there may be any challenges that the individual may be facing that would lead to the issue. Picture? • Following this informal meeting, if you still feel that no positive changes has been made to improve the situation then you should call a formal meeting with the Student Activities staff by emailing us. • If any issue within a society or club involves bullying or harassment of any kind, then you need to go straight to SU Advice/Student Support.

Legal Information 27/36 • If you are ever unsure whether something you are doing is on the right side of the law, please contact the Student Activities staff and ask. • Societies or clubs can never open their own bank accounts. • You also cannot agree to sponsorships and/or contracts without them being agreed to by the Student Activities staff first – this applies to any form of agreement, including verbally even if you have not physically or digitally signed anything. An agreement can even be in the form of a Facebook message so always be mindful when discussing contracts/sponsorships with anyone.

Elections 28/36 • Elections can happen at any point during the year if you decide to create a new position or if an existing executive leaves their role. Please read the Terms of Reference (on the Societies FAQ’s page) to see the ways in which you can hold these elections. • General elections happen every academic year around February/March – it is compulsory for every society and club to take part. If the core positions are not occupied after two rounds, your society or club will be made dormant. Picture? • Elections for the core officer roles must be held on the essexstudent. com website – the Student Activities staff will help you to set this up. • Within your role, it is key to promote the elections to make sure that enough people vote for the elections to be valid. You are allowed to endorse candidates, but it is usually advised not to so as to avoid conflict. • Please note, the position you hold will last until 31 st July unless all incumbent and newly-elected executives agree to handover earlier.

29/36 Societies & Clubs Resources Page Picture? https: //www. essexstudent. com/activities/studentactivitiesexech elp/ This will be updated in the coming weeks to make it clubs & societies friendly!

Student Activities Buddy System 30/36 • Our buddy system is designed to help students who may not feel confident enough to go to society and sport events on their own without knowing anybody who will be there. • As core officers, you will be primary contacts for us to contact should students who perhaps feel anxious or nervous about attending events use the form on our resources page to register their interest in societies or clubs. • We will look to put you in contact with the student so that you can arrange to meet up informally and get to know each other, so that if they then want to attend one of your events, they will have a familiar face there and someone to pair up with or talk to if they need to – although it may seem a little less friendly, these meetings should currently be held through Zoom so that we are as Covid safe as possible. • This year, initial meetings with new society and sport members may need to be held via Zoom, so it would be beneficial for any exec members taking on this responsibility to attend the Zoom training session.

Welcoming st 1 Years 31/36 • One of the things our members have told us is that Societies and Clubs can make them feel at home at Essex but also that it can be quite intimidating to join one. • It’s time to start thinking about your first socials of the year - socials are a great way to engage new students and make them feel welcome here at Essex. • Socials will be more challenging at the moment however as we are advising any society or club social activity to be held online for the foreseeable future – do some research for games or activities that can Picture? be done online and via the screen share function on Zoom. Some activities that we think are great are holding a Netflix Watch Party, playing Jackbox, playing pictionary on Skribbl. io or even setting up society and club tournaments on Playstation or XBOX. • We ask that on social media and at Freshers Fair, you promote the buddy system so that new students know there is a service that could help them with joining societies and clubs if they need it.

Fresher’s Fair • It’s happening! Saturday 10 th & Sunday 11 th October from 9 am-5 pm. Picture? 32/36

Fresher’s Fair • If your club or society is planning to have a stall at Freshers Fair, you will need to fill out the Stallholder Agreement form which has been sent to you via email Picture? – please email susocs@essex. ac. uk or blades@essex. ac. uk if you haven’t received this. 33/36 Page 1

Fresher’s Fair • Please note that Freshers Fair this year is contact free so you cannot give anything out to students like you would have done in previous years, including items like fliers and sweets. There will be no sign up sheets so people wishing to join your club or society will need to get their trial or standard membership online. Picture? • Each club and society will have a QR code on their stall though which will link to your individual essexstudent. com page so this should make sign ups easier! 34/36 Page 2

Fresher’s Fair • 35/36 Make sure to put any events that your club or society is holding on your pages so that students see these when they are directed there after using your QR code – you can do this by using the admin tools through your page. This will be covered more in-depth at the Communications, Social Media & Website training on Monday 5 th October! Picture?

Any Questions? 36/36 • Ask now! • Email - susocs@essex. ac. uk, blades@essex. ac. uk • Join the Facebook exec group https: //www. facebook. com/groups/1220501761675438 if you need to ask a question, chances are someone on this page will know the answer and may be able to help you quicker than we can, especially during busier periods of terms!