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17 September 2025  3 min read

Safeguarding Awareness Week: Day Three - Bringing safeguarding to life

Two seasons ago Yateley Silverbacks Basketball Club launched 'The Silverbacks Seven' - seven values that the club stands for and how its members think, act and behave, whether that be on the court, in training, on the bench, in games (winning or losing), volunteering and as spectators.

The seven values are:

• Pride
• Passion
• Inspire
• Family
• Health
• Respect
• Teamwork

Throughout last season, the Silverbacks celebrated a value each month, and recognised a member who had demonstrated this value above and beyond.

Ben (pictured above), who won the Inspire Award, plays for the U16s team and is an inspirational team-mate through his actions on and off the court.

The clubs says: "He’s always there to congratulate when things go well and encourage when things get tough. Ben also coaches our U12 and U14 CVL teams and inspires the younger players at training with his input and knowledge, as well as inspiring when coaching games on Fridays where he is still unbeaten. His dedication to the club and desire to be a better player and coach is truly inspirational. Ben was presented with the award by Chairman Pete Daines and Club Mentor and Men’s Captain John Macauley."

Three other examples of how the Silverbacks make safeguarding a club-wide engagement are:

• A welcome pack: Each season, we provide all members and parents with a pack that includes everything and anything they need to know about the club from teams, fixtures and training dates, through to code of conduct, safeguarding officers, coaches and values.
• A bi-monthly newsletter: The Backs Pages is a bi-monthly newsletter that gets sent to all of our members and parents. As well as celebrating news and stories, they provide club updates, spotlights on teams and players, a ‘Coaches Corner’, key events, success stories (like players being invited on BE's Aspire camps and junior England teams) and showcase members' stories too.
• Regular videos: The club also shoots and sends out quarterly video updates from our chairman Pete Daines, which include sharing the vision, key news, how teams are currently doing, how the league tables are progressing, what’s coming up, and what to look out for. 

Pete Daines, Chairman, Yateley Silverbacks Basketball Club said:

"Communication is key for our club, and it's vital we not only share our voice, but the voices of all our members and our wider community. We utilise a variety of mediums and tools to ensure inclusivity and to allow us to reinforce our values which are the bedrock of our club." 

Yateley Silverbacks

Huskies welcome videos

The Hartlepool Huskies have also levelled up their safeguarding game by creating welcome videos to ease in new members and their families.

The videos were made as a way of helping new members to get to know the club before they even step through the door. It can be very daunting for many kids (especially those with SEND) to come into a new, unfamiliar environment where they don't know anyone or what to expect. 

As an inclusive club, the Huskies are passionate about making young people feel safe and valued no matter what their experience or skill level.

A club spokesperson said: "Our videos are designed to support the very first steps of our members' basketball journeys. Our young people did a fabulous job of making the videos and we are incredibly proud of them.

"It's just one example of the way in which our inclusive ethos is embedded in everything we do so that all Huskies can develop and thrive together."

Hartlepool Huskies