Table Tennis England removes supervision exemption: Volunteers and coaches need DBS checks from September 1, 2026

At a small table tennis club on the outskirts of London, there is a familiar volunteer: every Tuesday afternoon, he arrives to pick up balls, arrange equipment and sit at the end of the table watching young children play. He never thought he would need a criminal record check, because the head coach was always present. Everything seemed fine, until a new regulation in England changed the understanding of supervision in youth sport. Table Tennis England, the governing body for table tennis in England, has announced an online webinar about changes to DBS checking requirements. The webinar will take place on Tuesday, September 29, 2026, from 6pm to 7pm UK time. It will be presented by Kyhl Daly, Designated Safeguarding Officer at the Federation. The event is open to everyone who runs table tennis activities for children. Who should attend? According to the announcement, the programme is designed for Club Welfare Officers, committee members of clubs or leagues, and volunteers who regularly work with children. During the webinar, participants will learn about the regulatory change, how it affects them and the volunteers they work with, and Table Tennis England's DBS process. The central theme is a big question: how can a background check become the first line of defence for children playing table tennis? For those unfamiliar, DBS stands for Disclosure and Barring Service, the agency responsible for criminal record checks on individuals who want to work with children or vulnerable groups in England. A DBS result lets a club know whether someone has a criminal history related to abuse. For years, English table tennis has required DBS checks for certain formal roles. There was still a loophole: people working with children in supervised conditions could be exempt. The new regulation, effective September 1, 2026, closes that loophole. Specifically, the Crime and Policing Act 2026 removed the supervision exemption from the legal definition of Regulated Activity. Previously, some volunteers and coaches who worked with children under supervision did not need a DBS check. That no longer applies. Supervised roles are treated the same as unsupervised ones. If a person regularly has contact with children within table tennis activity, that person must undergo a DBS check, whether or not a head coach is standing nearby. Details of the process have been updated on the official Table Tennis England DBS page. From a sports governance perspective, this change is not simply paperwork. It shifts the burden from control by sight to control at the root. Previously, a club could believe that having an adult in the room was enough. Now, the DBS requirement forces clubs to verify each person's background before allowing them into the training hall. To me, this is a tactical lesson: every tactical plan is an organised lie before the chaos of the match; it only has value when executed by real people. What stands out is that the new rule does not target coaches who already have DBS checks. It targets the informal volunteer group: helping parents, interns, ball pickers, warm-up assistants. These roles are easy to miss because they are not on the official training roster. The Table Tennis England webinar is designed to help clubs review every role, identify who works with children, and place them in the vetting process before the new regulation is fully enforced. I have followed many youth tournaments and worked with several community table tennis clubs over more than four decades. I have noticed a paradox: small clubs often have the fewest resources, yet the most dedicated volunteers. If we turn DBS checks into a hiring barrier, we may lose the best people simply because they fear procedures. If we communicate well, DBS can become a mark of professionalism, giving parents more confidence to send their children to a club. This has special relevance for Vietnamese table tennis. Although the regulation belongs to the British legal system, the story behind it is universal. In many places, youth table tennis clubs still operate on trust, with no background-check mechanism for coaches or volunteers. The safety of children is often mentioned only after an incident. But in sport, as in farming, when people replace the grass, they often forget to replace what feeds the roots. A fresh lawn cannot save a system whose roots have been neglected. There will be concerns. Some clubs argue that the new DBS requirement adds cost, paperwork and time, making it harder to recruit volunteers. That is an understandable reaction. But the question is: how much risk are we willing to trade for streamlined procedures? One case of child abuse can destroy not just an individual, but the reputation of an entire sport. Removing the supervision exemption, from a governance standpoint, is a cheap and deliberate way to insure against an extremely expensive risk. It should also be said clearly: DBS is not a miracle. It cannot detect someone who has never been convicted, nor can it replace a proper culture of behaviour in a club. DBS is only a filter. What truly creates a safe environment is transparent recruitment, regular training, and the commitment of every adult. But without this filter, every promise to protect children is only theory. The September 29 webinar is where those promises can be turned into concrete action. Back to the webinar. Table Tennis England aims not only to announce a rule, but to build capacity among welfare officers. Those who attend will leave with a to-do list: review volunteer lists, compare them with the new rule, identify who needs to apply for DBS, and update club records. This is quiet work, invisible on the scoreboard, but it determines whether a club deserves to be called a safe place for children. Not controlling the ball is a philosophy, not a compromise. In tactics, a team sometimes must give up possession to control space and reduce risk. In child protection, we need a similar philosophy: accept more procedures to manage hidden risks. Removing the supervision exemption may slow volunteer recruitment slightly, but it makes table tennis more trustworthy. To me, that is a reasonable trade-off. This webinar is an opportunity for everyone involved in table tennis – whether in England or Vietnam – to sit down and face a difficult question: what have we prepared to protect the youngest players before they first touch a racket? The regulations may differ from country to country, but the principle does not. If a club cannot clearly answer who is standing beside children in the training hall, then every tactic at the table becomes meaningless.