Under BG and ECGA rules, any club entering members into regional competition must adhere to strict registration requirements before they are entered. These requirements are summarised below:
Who must be registered with BG?
Any club wishing to affiliate to ECGA must first affiliate all members of the club to British Gymnastics whether they compete or not. NDP6 competitors upwards require Silver membership; NDP5 and below members require Bronze membership. (Ref BG guidance: Silver Club Competitive Membership 2014-2015).
Clarification to avoid doubt: where a club is part of a group structure, i.e. separated into a multi tiered club/company splitting recreational gymnasts from competitive gymnasts, all members of all sections must be registered with British Gymnastics and the ECGA. It is not enough to only register the competition club and not the recreational squads/sessions gymnasts.
Who must be registered with ECGA?
Regional affiliation is payable by all members who will be 6 years old or above during the affiliation year which runs 1st October to 30th September – with the following exceptions :-
- Anyone over the age of 18 years at 1st October,
- Level 1 or above coaches,
- Active judges,
- Club officials (welfare officer, secretary, volunteer),
- Those participating under the Block Registration Scheme (BRS) who are deemed non-members and are ineligible for membership benefits and competition,
- Temporary members (13-week membership option) unless they wish to compete in which case ECGA affiliation is required, and
- Those already affiliated through another club, if you are unsure on this contact Jenni Morgan of ECGA [antibot mailto=”[email protected]”], Jenni can also check BG membership status for you in particular whether the gymnast is attached to your club as a secondary club if not primary (although your club membership secretary should have this access also).
How much and when should they be registered?
British Gymnastics membership fees and benefits are as shown on the BG website.
Regional Affiliation is £2.50 per member per annum or part (last year ECGA agreed that anyone starting at a club from June onwards and being registered with BG under a temporary membership did not need to pay ECGA membership as long as they were not going to compete before the end of the BG year). This fee is payable on 1st October.
For any new members accepted after the initial affiliation fees on 1st October the name and date of birth of the new members must be sent to the regional secretary together with a remittance on a monthly or termly basis or before a member’s entry to a competition.