This page provides some guidance regarding first & second claim club membership.

We welcome athletes who join our club for whatever reason… access to facilities, one-to-one or specialist coaching, social and mental welfare support and/or just being part of a club of likeminded individuals.

When an athlete joins us, providing we are their only club, then we are their first claim club. If they subsequently join another club, that will be their second claim club. Such athletes can compete as an individual in open events for any club they are a member of (first or second claim clubs, or no club at all).

However, for league and championship events and to count as part of a scoring team, the athlete must compete for their first claim club, unless it is not affiliated to UKA for that discipline, or is not participating in that league. This system is primarily designed to stop elite athletes swapping from club to club regularly.

In practice, we have a number of athletes who have joined as second claim members where they intend to compete for another club other than Brentwood Beagles.  This in essence is not an issue but their reason for joining is often cited as access to and availability of one-to-one and specialist event group coaching.  Whilst we are happy to provide this to second claim athletes, this will always be prioritised on a best endeavour basis to ensure that our own first claim athletes are not disadvantaged by lack of availability for one-to-one event group coaching.

This does not affect access to training nights, sessions and track and field coaching provided in group training scenarios.

If you do join the club as a second claim athlete, it is imperative that you tell us what additional training you are undertaking and on what nights.  It is of critical importance that we do not overload training intensity or load with young athletes and without this knowledge, your athletes could be overtraining which may lead to injury.  In addition, if you do also train at another club, and you’re a second claim member of Brentwood Beagles, we will also ask for a copy of your Training Plan/Mesocycle to ensure that we operate our work with you in concert with your other training to ensure that you get the best possible outcomes from our coaching input.  We actively encourage you to tell your first claim club that you are training with us to ensure they can act with the same duty of care.

More information on changing clubs and the process can be viewed here.

For more information, you can book a session to discuss your training plan and coaching needs here.