One week in. What a week!

We have had some genuinely good conversations with children’s sports clubs who want to improve how clearly they show safeguarding, qualifications, and coach standards to parents. We are also proud to say our first club has signed up, which we will share more about in the coming weeks.

One conversation stood out.

A club overseeing roughly 300 to 500 children each week got in touch to understand what CoachGuard was trying to do. We talked through transparency, visibility, and why parents being able to see basic safeguarding information matters. The response was unexpected.

A senior figure argued that it is unrealistic to expect session leaders to be fully qualified, and suggested that platforms like CoachGuard are destined to fail because clubs cannot supply qualified staff. This was not about volunteers or assistants, but about those leading sessions involving physical activity with children.

That view should give people pause.

Governing bodies do set standards and expectations, but the volume of clubs and activities means enforcement often relies on trust and self-regulation. That gap is exactly where inconsistency creeps in.

As a parent, it made me stop and think. In a world where DBS checks are rightly discussed, why is it still uncomfortable to ask whether the people leading sessions are actually qualified for the role they are doing?

This is not about blame. It is about standards, visibility, and normalising reasonable questions.

Worth a wider conversation.