Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Play By the Rules Consultant Morgan Lander is hoping a new campaign will encourage kids to talk to their parents and coaches about anything that’s negatively impacting them in sport

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Play By the Rules Consultant Morgan Lander is hoping a new campaign will encourage kids to talk to their parents and coaches about anything that’s negatively impacting them in sport · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Every week, millions of Ossie kids take part in community
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  Speaker 1: sport and mostly because it is fun to do. But
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  Speaker 1: if that sport environment's not physically or emotionally safe, that
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  Speaker 1: fund can rapidly disappear. And a recent survey by Victorian
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  Speaker 1: University found that eighty two percent of respondents had experienced
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  Speaker 1: some form of violence while playing sport as a child.
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  Speaker 1: It's almost unthinkable. And today actually sees the launch of
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  Speaker 1: a brand new national campaign which is called Start to Talk.
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  Speaker 1: It's a campaign aimed at keeping our kids safe in sport. Now.
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  Speaker 1: Morgan Lando is the managing director of Not on My
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  Speaker 1: Watch and has an extensive history of child safe measures
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  Speaker 1: and protecting kids in sport. And Morgan also sits on
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  Speaker 1: the Start to Talk Advisory Committee and joins me on
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  Speaker 1: the line right now. Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: Morgan, Morning, Katie Morgan.
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  Speaker 1: Safeguarding children in sport, What exactly does that mean?
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  Speaker 2: What we're talking about is ensuring that each organization that
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  Speaker 2: provides sports programs for children has some good tools, resources
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  Speaker 2: and systems to reduce the likelihood of inappropriate behavior and harm,
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  Speaker 2: so that inappropriate behavior can be anything from yelling and
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  Speaker 2: abuse from the sidelines and spectators right through any sort
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  Speaker 2: of racist comments, social media abuse, or even far more
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  Speaker 2: serious incidents like criminal assault or sexual assault.
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  Speaker 1: It can be really difficult. You know, I've got two
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  Speaker 1: kids that obviously play sport. They're only young, and some
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  Speaker 1: of what you see can be pretty worrying, particularly you
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  Speaker 1: know when you talk about kids sort of taking aim
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  Speaker 1: at other kids.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, obviously this campaign is geared towards adults, so parents
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  Speaker 2: and guardians having a conversation with their clubs, but it
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  Speaker 2: certainly is encouraging young kids to talk to each other,
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  Speaker 2: talk to their club, talk to their parents and families
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  Speaker 2: about things that they might be concerned about, and certain
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  Speaker 2: things that they see in sport that are great that
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  Speaker 2: they want to be replicated and see more of.
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  Speaker 1: What types of questions do you think that parents should
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  Speaker 1: actually be asking kids when it comes to these issues.
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  Speaker 2: Really good question, I think in my experience, asking children
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  Speaker 2: for feedback informally after their sporting experience is a great opportunity.
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  Speaker 2: So on the car ride home or once you finish
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  Speaker 2: training or a match and they're hitting the canteen or
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  Speaker 2: the barbecue, just saying to them, what was it like today?
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  Speaker 2: Did you have fun? Is there anything you're worried about.
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  Speaker 2: Opens the door for those young people to raise any
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  Speaker 2: concerns that they have. Outside of that, we always encourage
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  Speaker 2: organizations to have some good feedback systems and loops so
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  Speaker 2: that children and their families, their parents and guardians can
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  Speaker 2: raise concerns if they do have any.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it's a tough one, but kids do tend
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  Speaker 1: to open up a little bit more when you are
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  Speaker 1: on that car ride home and having a bit of
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  Speaker 1: a talk to them. I mean, as a parent, how
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  Speaker 1: do you know though, if your child is having an
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  Speaker 1: issue at their club, if they're not opening up on
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  Speaker 1: that car ride home or after the game's over.
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  Speaker 2: Really good question, Katie. What we've seen has worked or
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  Speaker 2: see seems to be a bit of an indicator in
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  Speaker 2: regard to risk is children who are getting apprehensive or
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  Speaker 2: nervous before a sporting activity, or are distressed after a
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  Speaker 2: sporting activity. So they might not be directly disclosing what's
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  Speaker 2: causing that tension or stress, but those sorts of body
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  Speaker 2: language behaviors and those sorts of indicators that parents can
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  Speaker 2: often identify quite easily in their children where they look
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  Speaker 2: quite scared or concerned or pressured, that can be indicated
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  Speaker 2: that something's going wrong.
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  Speaker 1: Morgan, We know this as it is. Clubs do struggle
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  Speaker 1: to get volunteers. Does something like start to Talk in
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  Speaker 1: this campaign make that aspect even tougher in some.
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  Speaker 2: Ways really good question. What we don't want to do
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  Speaker 2: is for any organization to think that this is a
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  Speaker 2: burden or a complex campaign. What we've done is design
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  Speaker 2: simple tools, guides and resources that clubs can initiate, which
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  Speaker 2: don't take very long. They're all free and readily available
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  Speaker 2: via the play by the Rules website, and we hope
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  Speaker 2: that that will encourage more volunteers to come forward. Volunteering
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  Speaker 2: has declined since COVID, and what we're looking for as
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  Speaker 2: parents to step into that safeguarding space. Help your sporting
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  Speaker 2: clubs and organizations to keep children safe by volunteering and
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  Speaker 2: having the conversations with the adults within those programs.
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  Speaker 1: Morgan, Where can people get that info? I know you
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  Speaker 1: mentioned the website. Where can they go to if they
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  Speaker 1: are after some further.
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  Speaker 3: Info, Use the search engine and look for play by
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  Speaker 3: the Rules or just directly into play by the Rules
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  Speaker 3: dot net dot au and you'll find a wealth of
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  Speaker 3: resources and guidelines and tools and advice well.
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  Speaker 1: Morgan Lander. Great to catch up with you this morning.
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  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for your time.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks your time, Katie, thank you