April 23, 2024 2:09 pm

A long-awaited UK first from, err, us

“The Well HQ’s Safer Sport posters almost act as a contract for both sides: conduct expectations are outlined in black and white, as are signposts to raise the alarm if and when necessary.”

~ Baz Moffat, CEO @ The Well HQ

Let’s play a game.

True or false: athletes and coaches / support staff may, at times, have conversation involving intimate body parts and functions.

True or false: there are detailed official safeguarding guidelines informing all parties in a coach-athlete relationship of what is and isn’t okay.

True or false: it’s 2024.

True. False. True.

That women’s sport is in a growth spurt is great news, and the push is on to demystify and demedicalise the female body.

On one hand it’s massively refreshing. Liberating. Conversations once locked away in GP surgeries can now take place in gyms, sports halls, locker rooms and athletic environments. The taboos around her body and what it does are being shattered left and right …

Sure. But with the female body going mainstream, intimate discussions now happen away from the legal and ethical safeties of the doctor’s surgery. Without guardrails, this is a potential minefield of misunderstanding, upset, controversy, scandal, trauma, indecency, litigation, embarrassment …

When you say it out loud it’s a real shocker we’re in 2024 and no such clarity or guidelines existed to safeguard non-medical spaces.

Safeguarding came into sharp focus when The Well HQ developed FootballHER content alongside The FA. Extensive due diligence showed no safeguarding materials or guidance existed to cover non-medical spaces.

Hence The Well HQ’s Safer Sport posters. From here we want to ensure girls and women know exactly what to expect when coaches, staff and third parties talk to them about things like breast support and pelvic health.

We want changing rooms, classrooms, public toilets and sport club walls to display a contract designed to keep all sides in-the-know and safe.

Posters outline who to consult and the benefits of health consultations. They also lay out in black and white what’s normal. What is and isn’t okay.

We think these posters are amazing, much-needed, and a huge step forward. We hope this information goes far and wide and that’s where you come in.

Please download, print, pin up and share The Well HQ’s Safer Sport posters.

Send your pics of the posters in situ and we’ll throw the weight of our social media behind you.

Female sport is ascending, but this is only progress if she’s comfortable and confident. It’s only progress if spaces are genuinely and accountably safe.

So help spread the word. Let’s say and do Safer Sport, starting now.

TWHQ offer four groundbreaking, evidence-based courses on the female body across her different lifestages.

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