Youth Policy

Policy Statement

The BGA Board will create the BGA Youth Committee. It will nominate the Committee Chairman, and may nominate other members. The BGA's Child Protection Officer will be a member of the Youth Committee. The Committee itself has the power to co-opt additional members.

The Youth Committee will have the following responsibilities:
  1. To keep the BGA's Safeguarding policy under review, and to recommend amendments where appropriate.
    2. This policy is intended to ensure that young players (under 18) are kept safe and are dealt with appropriately.
  2. To organise BGA Tournaments and events specifically aimed at young players.
    3. These include (but are not limited to ):
    • British Youth Go Championships, normally held over one day in the Autumn conveniently located for the majority of Youth members. In practice this generally means within 30 miles of Birmingham.
    • The Youth Go Camp, normally held over 3 days at a residential outdoor activity centre.
    • The UK Go Challenge Finals, generally held over 1 day at a location convenient for a large number of young players. As this consists of 13x13 games it can be combined with the British Small Board Championships.
    • Selecting and monitoring teams to play in online international team events.
    The Committee is also responsible for facilitating Youth entries to European and World events, especially the European Youth Go Congress.

    3. To agree an annual budget with the Treasurer within 60 days of the AGM.

    It is recognised that it is not always feasible for Youth events to run on a break even basis, and sometimes they will be deliberately run on a loss-making basis. Nevertheless the following principles to running and financing events shall apply:
    • Events shall rarely be “free” (unless there is actually a zero cost, such as the Internet team championships) – the principle being that people appreciate things more if they have some “skin in the game”
    • Players are generally expected to pay for their own travel, subsistence and accommodation
    • Other costs – prizes, organisers’ expenses, room hire, etc. will be treated on a case-by-case basis.
    4. To provide support for School Clubs

    It is recognised that school budgets are often very stretched, and that there can be significant bureaucracy involved in Schools purchasing equipment. The Youth Committee shall therefore be reasonably liberal in providing cheap equipment, particularly for start-ups (“Durham” sets and “Take away Go sets”.

    Sometimes BGA members help out at school clubs, entailing travelling expenses. The Youth Committee will consider covering these expenses, but only in the event that the school is unable (or unwilling) to.
How it is Implemented

The Youth Committee will meet regularly, normally online.

The Youth Committee will provide regular reports to the BGA Board.
Supporting Information

The Youth Committee will be responsible for liaison with the Youth Go Trust

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Last updated Sun Mar 31 2024.
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