Policies and guidelines
Support your members and promote a safe, respectful culture with the right policies.
Club constitution
Your club's constitution is the most important document you have and guides you to safe and legal practices under your state/territory’s regulations. All clubs, except the most informal, should set out their basic structure and methods of operating in their constitution.
Your constitution should:
- outline the club’s purpose
- list all rules of operation
- set out the members’ rights and responsibilities.
Most club constitutions are based on the Model Rules for Incorporated Associations which is administered by your state/territory's Consumer Affairs. They serve as a template constitution for newly forming associations.
Use the Model Rules for:
- Convenience: No need to draft your own rules from scratch.
- Compliance: Automatically aligns with legislative requirements.
- Simplicity: Regulators often process applications faster when model rules are used.
An association that starts with Model Rules can choose to amend them – subject to the approval of the relevant regulator.
Member protection policies
Create a safe, welcoming club environment with strong member protection policies. By adopting Tennis Australia’s national standards, you’ll ensure everyone feels supported and included.
Tennis Australia’s national policies
Member Protection Information Officer (MPIO)
As part of our Member Protection Policy, you are required to appoint a Member Protection Information Officer (MPIO) to fulfil the functions set out.
An MPIO plays an important role in the sport of tennis. They are appointed to act as the first point of contact at a club for any enquiries, concerns or complaints of harassment, abuse and other inappropriate behaviour.
As part of their role, the MPIO provides information and moral support to the person with the concern.
The basic functions of an MPIO are to:
- be accessible and approachable to all members
- maintain confidentiality for all members
- ensure the safety and welfare of members
- monitor and record both complaints and concerns from members
- understand and follow club policies and procedures in relation to Member Protection
- understand the Tennis Australia Member Protection Policy and Safeguarding Children Code of Conduct
- identify options for resolution of conflicts
- provide relevant persons with the appropriate reports/documentation resulting from mediation.
To become a certified MPIO, the nominated person should complete the national MPIO online training course via Play By The Rules to help them in their new role.
The course includes the following modules:
- Introduction
- The MPIO Role
- Complaint resolution procedures
- Member Protection and the Law
- Child Protection
- Harassment and Discrimination
- Ethical and Practical Considerations.
Reducing risk
Clubs have a responsibility to the sport and to their members to make sure they operate in a way that reduces the risk of injury, damage or loss to people, facilities and finances.
There is a constant need for administrators to identify risks, deal with them and then evaluate whether the strategies that are subsequently implemented are effective in dealing with the risk.
Club help
Use the below Club Help resource to analyse and classify risks for your club:
Healthy clubs
Smoke-free
The organisation Quit provides some invaluable resources for sporting clubs to use to ensure your club is a smoke-free environment.
Resources available through Quit include:
- how to introduce a smokefree policy
- sample club members survey
- smoke-free policy template
- how to approach non-compliance of your policy
- how to provide support to smokers
- sample media release
- sample posters.
Download Quit’s Going Smokefree – Guide for Sporting Clubs (PDF) or visit their Sporting Club Resources page to get started.
SunSmart
The SunSmart organisation helps sporting groups across Australia create and promote a sun-smart club environment.
They offer practical templates and step-by-step guidelines to help you develop your club’s own SunSmart protection policy.
Visit SunSmart’s Advice for Sports Groups page for more information.
Alcohol Management
Many clubs around the country sell alcohol as a revenue source to support their social activities. Therefore, it’s important that a responsible alcohol management policy is in place.
Below are some organisations that offer guidance to make sure you can manage alcohol at your club safely and responsibly:
