Victoria Brown spent 13 years in the police and it is the skills she learned during that time that she has brought to her role as the safeguarding manager of Badminton England.
Having previously worked for England Golf and British Cycling, Brown joined Badminton England in August 2022, with the challenge of developing and delivering a safeguarding strategy for badminton in England.
And it was her background in the police that has been instrumental in what she has tried to put in place.
Brown explained: “My professional background was in policing. I came out of the police about seven years ago, I worked in a safeguarding and investigative role in the police. I left there, worked in Nottingham to join the sport sector.
“I saw the opportunity to move into sport in a role I could use the skills I picked up as a police officer over 13 years. It was an opportunity to go into something that was just safeguarding focused, which was something I was really passionate about in the police. It was using those skills to take them into the sport sector.
“It’s very different but the last five years of my career in the police were focused around safeguarding and how other agencies can have an impact on that, supporting families and vulnerable people.
“Seeing it at that level, working in the police. Everybody has a touchpoint in life, there are people with vulnerabilities in sport and there are things you can do there. If you do it well in sport, you can have an impact on someone’s life.”
Under Brown’s leadership, Badminton England were nominated for an award at the Lime Light Awards for Outstanding Service for a Safeguarding Team.
The nomination came after the safeguarding team had made huge strides, shifting from a focus on case management to a greater emphasis on education and training and recognition of the wider value of focusing on welfare.
Among the strategies implemented, Brown came up with the idea of Safeguarding and Wellbeing Week, which was held for the first time in July.
It is part of a desire to create a positive culture around safeguarding.
Brown added: “My role was brought in to be more proactive than reactive, showing we’re a sport that cares for everybody, we have no threshold, we want to support where we can, it’s not just about safeguarding and abuse in its strictest sense.
“We understand we can support and have a positive impact on people’s lives outside sport. Fifty per cent of the things that come in have no relation to the sport at all, it’s concerns about people’s lives outside of badminton.
“They come to us because the people are involved in badminton. It could be a child going to a club but something’s not going well at school, but they disclose something in badminton. We can get in touch, provide support and help them where we can. It’s about keeping people safe in the sport but also providing support for things happening outside in badminton, which we are made aware of because of their involvement in badminton.
“You are the eyes and ears, the friends, officials, people within the club notice changes or pick up on people’s behaviours. You ask them how they’re feeling, what’s wrong, and if we can do anything to support, we will do – if they want it.”
