Just a reminder about the Club rules:

1) To train at Pendle AC you need to be a Club member and have paid your subs for the current year.  At present £5 of the subs for everyone aged over 11 goes directly to England Athletics and the rest is used for coach training, to purchase equipment and on insurance above that provided by England Athletics

2) To train at Seedhill Track you have to pay a track fee in reception every time.  This money goes to Pendle Leisure who operate the track, and is nothing to do with the Club.  The money is used for ongoing maintenance of the track, changing rooms and toilets plus flood lighting.

New members are allowed to train for two weeks before deciding whether to join the Club.  Membership fees are kept as low as possible, and are significantly lower than many other local sports clubs.  No Club officials are paid.  If you have real trouble paying please talk to Christine in confidence.

A number of athletes are currently training without being paid up members.  Club officials are in the process of speaking to them and their parents, and they will not be allowed to continue training.  This is embarrassing for the Club officials, children and parents; please pay up.

If you train regularly at the Club you will be recorded on the England Athletics database by Pendle AC.  This ensures that we have insurance cover, which is vitally important for all parties.  It also allows Pendle AC to enter you in competitions and count towards team prizes.  Only one Club can have you recorded as a first claim member by England Athletics.  Most competitions, such as the Mid Lancs Leagues, only allow athletes to compete for their first claim club; you cannot chose which Club you wish to compete for at an event.  These are EA rules, and checks are often made against the database.

Junior athletes are normally expected to be a member of only one club.  At Pendle you must advise Christine if you are a member of another Club, and committee approval must be given if you wish to be a member of Pendle but compete for another club.  This approval is normally only given in special cases including: being away at University and belonging to a University (or local Club) and Pendle, an athlete of a high standard who is also a second claim member of a Club that competes in higher standards of competitions in different leagues.

To change Clubs you have to go through a formal process with England Athletics, which includes checks that you have paid your club subs.

Apart from the EA regulations it is important that one coach is in “charge” of an athlete, even if some work is undertaken by other coaches including at school.  This lead coach would normally be your Pendle AC coach.  This ensures that young athletes in particular do not undertake too much training, or competition, which could cause them harm.

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