Insurance and Medical Provision

Insurance and Medical Provision

Jump to the medical provisions section.

Club Committee Insurance Fundamentals

There are four main types of insurance to consider for your taekwondo club:

1. Insurance for members attending BSTF competitions/ events
2. Insurance for your day-to-day Club Training activities
3. Insurance for your contracted Club Coach to coach
4. Insurance considerations if attending non-BSTF competitions/ events

What BSTF Members’ Insurance Includes:

This table outlines types of insurance automatically provided to BSTF members. Also listed are insurance types which may be activated/ purchased via BSTF, or purchased as part of a 3rd party’s membership, or independently purchased from an insurance broker.

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BSTF Insurance Policy Coverage

A more detailed breakdown of these four types of insurance are given below, including details of insurance provision included for BSTF members, dependent on BSTF membership pass level. BSTF membership and insurance policy T&Cs apply. The following sections detail what insurance is provided for BSTF members, and what considerations club committees must take into account when reviewing their membership and insurance options. All information provided is for guidance only and does not constitute legal advice.

(1) Insurance for club members attending BSTF competitions/ events

1. Your BSTF membership includes insurance for BSTF organised competitions/ events at all membership levels (excluding free membership types e.g., Affiliate)
   1. All participants in BSTF competitions – including athletes, coaches, trainee umpires and umpires – are members and insured by the BSTF’s specialist members’ martial arts association insurance policy

(2) Insurance for club members attending day-to-day club training

2. All Athlete, General, Club Coach and Umpire membership pass levels also include insurance for your official day-to-day club training activities, subject to terms and conditions, and if activated by your Club Committee.
   1. BSTF club insurance can fully replace more costly 3rd party memberships (also know as ‘licenses’, affiliations,  enrolments or policies) which may include martial arts training insurance.
      1. Be aware, if you no longer purchase insurance from a 3rd party you may pay more to access/ lose access to the services they provide.
   2. The BSTF Club Training Insurance service requires an activation request by the club management committee via the Club Committee Portal, who must confirm that 100% of your actively training club members hold one of the paid membership types, and accept the terms and conditions of BSTF Club Training Insurance on behalf of your club.
      1. An activated BSTF Club training policy insures your new starters, with a free Affiliate membership level, to take part in up to 3 taster sessions, after which new members must upgrade to an Athlete/ General pass or coverage will be invalidated.
   3. Club Committees should use the Club Committee Portal > TeamMember list to identify if they have any active club members who do not hold a paid membership type
   4. Individual club members may purchase the correct membership type themselves, or the Club Committee may purchase this for their team members using the Club Committee Portal > Bulk Membership Upgrades system.
   5. The Club Training Insurance policies do not include and are distinct from Club Coach insurance. See the Club Coach insurance page for more details.

(3) Insurance for coaching by Head coaches

3. Standard membership types do not include Professional Indemnity Insurance for Club Coaches (also known as a Contracted Coaches, Head Coaches, or Instructors) to coach taekwondo sessions. This vital class of insurance can be purchased by your Club Coach  from BSTF, or via a third party or independently by your Club Coach.
   1. You should not assume that your Students’ Union provides Professional Indemnity Insurance for Club Coaches by default, as this is rarely the case
   2. It is the responsibility of any Club Coach who does not purchase their Professional Indemnity Insurance via BSTF to upload:
      1. A copy of their externally sourced Professional Indemnity Insurance, as a PDF file, via the Club Coach Portal > ClubCoach Tab.
      2. A copy of their safeguarding training course record of attendance, as a PDF files, via the Club Coach Portal > ClubCoach Tab.

(4) Insurance for club members attending non-BSTF competitions/ events

4. Your BSTF membership does not provide insurance coverage for any 3rd parties’ competitions or other events.
   1. Be aware that some competition organisers use cheap single “tournament” insurance policies, rather than a membership organisation policy of the type BSTF employs. Be aware that external tournament policies: might not include the same types (e.g., both Group Personal Accident and Public and Products Liability) of coverage for all participants; might not include coverage for roles like umpires, might offer lower levels indemnity generally; and may not include Employers insurance.
   2. When attending any third party event all university club committees should obtain a copy of the insurance documentation and check: that the policy is specific for martial arts and combat sports; that it fully covers the event date(s); that Personal Accident coverage is provided; that Public and Products Liability coverage is provided; that the insurance applies to all participants in all roles; and that the limits of indemnity are sufficient.

Club Committee Insurance Considerations

BSTF uniquely provides integrated competition program insurance, club day-to-day training insurance, contracted club coach insurance and gradings in both Kukkiwon (WT rules) and Chang-hon (ITF rules) syllabi for clubs that require these services. BSTF services are designed specifically for university taekwondo clubs and are available at extremely competitive price levels. Club committees can find more information via the Club Committee Portal. If your university club is happy with your existing membership, insurance and grading provider then we recommend you continue using them.

It is necessary for university club committees to ensure that all club members are collectively covered by an appropriate policy for their officially organised day-to-day training. This can be provided to clubs by BSTF (through individuals’ membership Passes), a third party, an independently sourced insurance policy, or is sometimes partially provided to your club’s members via their Students Union membership). Your universally held (by all club members) training policy can be held in addition to other supplemental 3rd party membership policies if and when any subsets of your club’s members might purchase a 3rd party membership to access that 3rd party’s events or services (e.g., where only the subset of your members want to access certain competitions or gradings provided by that third party); this is particularly common in university clubs because of their unique multi-syllabus grading demography. You may find it is far more cost effective for your club to manage separate memberships in this way.

Many BSTF members additionally hold one or more third party membership in order to access that third party’s taekwondo events. Taekwondo organisations/ groups/ bodies memberships are frequently coupled with an organisation specific insurance policy and made a requirement for participation in that specific organisations/ groups/ bodies events. A 3rd party may require this to ensure all participants within its events are insured by a suitable and authenticable policy. Be aware such policies may not provide universal member-to-member coverage for your day-to-day training activities and that BSTF recommends you hold at least one universal policy per club (in addition to any subsets holding 3rd party membership policies).

University taekwondo club members are free to purchase multiple individual organisation/ group/ body memberships if they want to access multiple third party events. However, in the circumstance that two different insurance policies you held applied to the same activity, be aware it is quite unlikely you would be permitted to make a claim on both policies related to the same claim raising incident, for example because of the insurance companies’ coordination of benefits clauses which restrict multiple claims.

We are aware of a small number of taekwondo organisations previously attempting to enforce restrictions stipulating “no simultaneous membership” or “no dual membership” with other taekwondo organisations/ groups/ bodies on their own members. Any such purported restriction raises grave concerns regarding its compatibility with UK competition law, specifically Chapters I and II of the Competition Act 1998, and with Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights. It is a fundamental principle that sports organisations must compete on the quality of their services in line with UK competition law. Consequently, any assertion that holding memberships, insurance policies, ‘licenses’, indemnifications, or similar arrangements with multiple taekwondo NGBs, organisations, groups, or bodies is prohibited, or that membership in a single UK organisation is mandatory for practicing taekwondo, is at best misinformed and should be treated with scepticism. If you see or hear of any such claim please contact BSTF, your Students’ Union, or the Financial Ombudsman Service directly for advice.

BSTF Insurance Provider

BSTF’s current insurance provider is Towergate Insurance Brokers, a trading name of Advisory Insurance Brokers Limited. Policies are underwritten by Allianz Insurance plc. Login the the Club Committee Portal for policy details.

Risk Management

Like any contact sport, taekwondo presents a risk of injury which must be managed. Our policies have been designed to meet the specific needs of taekwondo competition, iterated across three decades of BSTF tournament delivery, and developed in consultation with emergency physicians and specialist medical providers.

Research suggests taekwondo holds no greater average risk of injury than other popular sports [1,2], that the most common injury type is haematoma and that injuries occur predominantly to the lower limb [3]. Since matches are substantially shorter than that of most full contact team sport competition in length and lower in frequency, the total annual-injury-exposure risk is proportionally reduced. However, all weight segmented combat sports present specific risks, particularly that contact is an objective within the competition rules and potentially harmful weight making practices.

A martial art or combat sport tournament’s health and safety protocols, and the fidelity of their implementation, are critical to risk management. Inadequate provision of trained medical staff and equipment may endanger athletes’ health and well-being. Institutions’ sport managers and club captains should be aware that the policies and provision of third party tournament organisers in the UK (including, but not limited to individuals and small associations) may vary significantly. The protocols described here cannot be taken for granted outside of BSTF events, hence, we recommend that university sport officers and club captains implement a process to review and confirm an event’s protocols satisfy your institution’s requirements whenever student-athletes enter any martial art or combat sport tournament. A checklist of essential provisions is included in the last section here for reference.

BSTF Tournament Medical Provision

Provisions for the safety of participants are paramount to the organisation of combat sport and martial art competition. Typical coverage at a BSTF tournament includes Paramedic and other senior medical staff (FPoS-i/ Advanced Emergency Aid and Trauma Management in Sport qualified), supported by multiple additional medical staff (Emergency Medical Technicians/ Emergency Care Assistants/ Emergency First Aiders in Sport qualified) court-side, and with a dedicated treatment area and trauma equipment available.

Our summary policy requirements are listed in more detail in the next section, including requirements for: rules and regulations; risk assessments; medical and first aid staffing; head injury assessment protocols; medical equipment; tournament safety equipment; weight divisions; and athlete experience level divisions.

Taekwondo Tournament Health and Safety Provision Checklist

Outside of BSTF’s Student National Taekwondo Championships Series events there exist a variety of third party taekwondo events large and small which a university club’s members might also attend during the year. If your club plans to attend any taekwondo competition we recommend that sport department staff and club captains always discuss whether the following checklist of provisions are in place, which are indicative of responsible health and safety policy by an organiser.

All of the provisions described in the following checklist are in place at BSTF Student National Taekwondo Championships Series tournaments:

1. That an event’s risk assessment is available on request.
2. That a competition’s rules and regulations are published in advance, are readily available and comprehensive.
3. That matches are run according on the rules of an established international federation to ensure that the health and safety role of referees is clearly defined, and that legal scoring techniques and penalties and are applied consistently.
4. That all participants are insured by a bespoke martial arts policy for any tournament open to all university clubs, and that the policy details are available on request.
5. That qualified and equipped medic(s) staff sparring tournaments. The BSTF require as standard for sparring tournaments one or more Paramedic or other advanced qualifications holders oversee the event.
6. That qualified and equipped emergency medical technicians/ emergency care assistants staff our sparring tournaments, supporting other medical staff in sufficient number.
7. BSTF’s operating procedures require engaging for sparring tournaments a minimum of 0.7x qualified and equipped medical staff, including paramedic/ emergency medical technicians/ first-aiders plus qualified and equipped medics – referred to as the medical team – rounded up to the next whole number, per concurrently active sparring competition court, for example:
   1. any competition running 5 concurrent sparring courts must have a medical team of >=4 medical staff
   2. any competition running 6 concurrent sparring courts must have a medical team of >=5 medical staff
   3. any competition running 8 concurrent sparring courts must have a medical team of >=6 medical staff
   4. any competition running 10 concurrent sparring courts must have a medical team of >=7 medical staff
8. Event umpires and/ or a venue’s general staff (regardless of their first aid qualifications) may not be counted towards a combat sport sparring competition’s dedicated medical staffing provision. Only medical staff engaged solely in event medic roles during a sparring tournament may be counted towards an event’s medical staffing provision. A reduction in staffing levels below these ratios may necessitate an acute risk assessment and court closures and or other mitigations until the staffing level is recovered.
9. That the necessary equipment for trauma treatment is available, including but not limited to: O2, Entonox, airway management kit, automated external defibrillator, spinal board and full set of emergency drugs.
10. An event ambulance be contracted, available to assist transferring to an accident and emergency department any injured participant of high concern to the medical team. If an event ambulance is temporarily dispatched to transfer an injured participant, the event may only proceed if one or more paramedics remain present at the event with access to a full compliment of necessary equipment for trauma treatment.
11. That a dedicated treatment area is available court-side.
12. That a Head Injury Assessment (HIA) protocol is in place, such that:
    1. There exists a multi-layered approach to HIAs:
       1. Where a player displays obvious on-court signs of concussion they are immediately and permanently removed from the competition, and a court-side HIA assessment may be replaced with immediate treatment for their concussion symptoms (HIA Assessment Category 1).
       2. Where the medical team determines a player has sustained an impact event with the potential for a concussion, with or without clear on-court symptoms or signs, their match will be paused and they will undergo a court-side assessment by the medical team (HIA Assessment Category 2). Based on the this assessment (which is based on the Sports Concussion Assessment Tool (SCAT 5)), the player may have their accreditation withdrawn by the medical team at that point and the match will be immediately ended by the centre referee.
       3. Where players present with delayed symptoms or signs suspicious for concussion, but who are not identified with an impact event with the potential for a concussion during a match, can enter the HIA protocol at a later stage, at the discretion of the medical team (HIA Assessment Category 3) at any time.
       4. See the concussion guidelines section below for the latest UK Government concussion guidelines, hosted and updated on the Sport and Recreation Alliance website.
    2. Members of the medical team hold the independent authority to assess and withdraw an athlete’s accreditation at their discretion based on any category of HIA assessment (HIA Assessment Category 1, 2 or 3), or, any other type or kind assessment made by the medical team where concussion is recorded on an athlete’s medical record at the event.
    3. The medical team provide advice to athletes and their coaches, as appropriate, for event day and post-event monitoring of an athlete’s condition after a HIA and accreditation withdrawal.
    4. The lead medic may initiate a follow-up assessment, prior to any accreditation reinstatement decision, only where they have clear evidence that an error had been made during an earlier HIA.
    5. Athletes have no right or ability to appeal a HIA related withdrawal of their accreditation made by a member of the medical team under any circumstances.
    6. Within the competition rules coaches may ‘throw in the towel’ and withdraw their player from a match at any stage, for example, if they believe their player is outmatched, or that their player may be struggling with an injury which is not immediately noticeable by members of the medical team.
13. That jigsaw matting including boundary area of a minimum of 9×9 m per court is utilised for all competition areas to reduce the risk of injury from falls.
14. That no ungraded (“10th kup”) students are permitted to take part in sparring disciplines.
15. That suitable weight and grade (experience) divisions are in place.
16. That trained umpires referee matches.
17. That competition areas and spectator areas are separated, and that entry and exit between the areas is managed.
18. That athletes, coaches, officials, trainee umpires and all other competition participants receive an accreditation (ID card/ eAccreditation) on registration which determines their access to the competition area(s).
19. That processes are in place to check athlete and coach accreditation, both on entry to a competition area and prior to the start of each match.
20. That sports department and club captains must nominate their head coach and coach assistants during the entry process, and that only those accredited individuals may coach athletes at the event.

We also recommend that coaches attend the Strength and Conditioning for Taekwondo Athletes course which includes information about anti-doping and random testing, nutrition and weight management, and the health risks associated with rapid weight loss and dehydration.

[1] Boxing, Wrestling, and Martial Arts Related Injuries Treated in Emergency Departments in the United States, 2002-2005, J Sports Sci Med. 2007 Oct; 6(CSSI-2): 58–61. [2] Australian sports injury hospitalisations 2011-12 (full publication; 21 oct 2014 edition) (AIHW). [3] Lystad, Reidar. (2015). Epidemiology of injuries in full-contact combat sports. Australasian Epidemiologist. 22. 14-18.

Concussion Assessment Protocols

The BSTF implements a head injury assessment protocol for the safety of student-athletes. This protocol is complemented by comprehensive accreditation mechanisms, allowing us to track student-athletes between matches, and ensure they have been reviewed and either cleared to compete or withdrawn on advice of the medical team.

The BSTF also deliver athlete and coach development courses to raise standards in other aspects of athlete health and safety including: strength and conditioning training; nutrition and weight management; the dangers associated with weight cutting and dehydration; anti-doping and testing; and other topics.

All coaches and coach assistants should familiarise themselves with the latest government advice on concussion management, in particular to support your athletes once they have left the care of the event medical team and may require further observation or other recommended follow-up actions.

Government Concussion Guidelines

For ease of reference, a live version of the latest UK Government concussion guidelines concussion guidelines page may be displayed, via the Sport and Recreation Alliance website, below if you are using a PC/ laptop screen. If you are using a mobile device please visit the Sport and Recreation Alliance website directly.