English table tennis tightens background checks for child-facing volunteers: A lesson for Vietnamese sport

Starting September 1, 2026, the Crime and Policing Act 2026 removes the supervision exemption from the legal definition of regulated activity in England. Table Tennis England, the national governing body, will host a webinar on September 29, 2026, from 6 to 7 p.m. London time, led by Kyhl Daly, its Designated Safeguarding Officer. The session is intended for club welfare officers, club and league officials, and volunteers who regularly work with children. Under the new law, people in supervised roles are treated the same as those in unsupervised roles, meaning far more volunteers need a background check through the Disclosure and Barring Service. Previously, volunteers working under the direct supervision of a checked adult were exempt. The rule change closes a loophole and shifts the culture towards proactive child protection. For Vietnam, the announcement is a reminder that the country lacks a comparable centralized check for table tennis coaches and volunteers. Background checks exist, but they are rarely required by sports clubs. The article presents lessons: safeguarding, like football data, has multiple layers; a clean record does not prove future behavior; absence of checks is itself a risk. The writer, a sports data analyst with three decades of experience, compares the new DBS requirement to reading underlying numbers instead of headlines. The question remains whether Vietnamese table tennis will adopt a similar safeguarding system before a crisis forces it.