Code of conduct
paduno only works if everybody who walks on court feels welcome. These are the standards every player, captain and member of the team agrees to. This is a draft and will be reviewed before launch.
The code
- Welcome people. Most players arrive alone. Introduce yourself, and include whoever is on your court.
- Respect everyone. No harassment, discrimination or abuse — on court, in group chats or online — based on gender, race, religion, disability, sexuality, age, background or level.
- Respect boundaries. Don't make unwanted contact, comments or advances. Don't keep messaging someone who hasn't replied.
- Respect women-only and privacy-conscious sessions. They exist for a reason. Don't attempt to watch, photograph or enter them.
- Turn up, or tell us. Three other people are relying on you to make a court.
On court
- Call the ball on your own side honestly. If you're not sure, the point goes to your opponents.
- Play to your level. Don't smash at a beginner at the net.
- Follow the format and the captain's calls on the night. Disagree with a decision afterwards, not mid-rally.
- Record scores accurately. Deliberately misreporting a result to change a rating is cheating and is treated as a serious breach.
Photography and consent
We'd love to share pictures of paduno, but nobody should end up online without choosing to.
- Consent first. We will only publish photos or video of people who have said yes. Consent is asked for per person, and you can say no without giving a reason.
- Off by default in women-only and privacy-conscious sessions. No photography or filming at all, unless every player on court agrees in advance. In privacy-conscious sessions, there is no photography, full stop.
- Players taking photos. Don't photograph or film other players without asking them first.
- Changing your mind. Email [email protected] and we will remove any image of you that we control, as quickly as we can.
- Our own photography. When we photograph a session, the captain will say so at the start and tell anyone who doesn't want to be photographed how we'll avoid it.
Safeguarding
paduno sessions are for adults aged 18 and over. Even among adults, some people may be at risk of harm, and everyone has the right to play without being made to feel unsafe.
- Before launch we will appoint a named safeguarding lead, publish their contact details here, and put a written safeguarding policy in place with professional advice.
- Every captain will be trained in recognising and reporting concerns, and will pass any concern to paduno the same day.
- Captains of sessions that include adults at risk will need an appropriate background check.
- If anyone is in immediate danger, call 999 first.
Raising a concern
You can tell your captain on the night, or email [email protected] — including if your concern is about a captain. Concerns are handled confidentially, shared only with the people who need to know to deal with them, and you won't be penalised for raising one in good faith.
If the code is broken
Depending on how serious it is, we may give a warning, cancel bookings, suspend or end a membership, remove results, or report it to the venue or the police. Where we can, we'll tell the person what happened and give them a chance to respond.