Archive for December, 2013

Ring-A-Ring O’ Roses

Thursday, December 12th, 2013

By David

Most readers will be aware of this line from the old English nursery rhyme. Watching a news item on TV3 reminded me of its last two lines. You know the ones, “A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down.” I wonder how many young New Zealanders are going to fall down before the flaws of Miskimmin’s centralist policy are identified and the whole thing is scrapped. Certainly the mortality rate will be high. Swimming has been committed to the Miskimmin socialist ideal for over a decade. Jan Cameron was a Miskimmin disciple. She built a centralist swimming empire at the Millennium Institute in Auckland and stocked it with New Zealand’s best swimmers.

Really good swimmers, capable of winning Olympic medals were persuaded that elite sport was best delivered by Miskimmin’s socialist model. One after another they lined up, committed to the jargon of the “best training with the best”. One after another they failed to realize their potential. One after another A-tishoo! A-tishoo! They all fell down.

I have no difficulty believing that many of the men and women who committed themselves to Miskimmin’s central training empire at the Millennium Institute were capable of Olympic medals; men and women like Hayley Palmer, Moss Burmester, Helen Norfolk, Hannah McLean, Alison Fitch, Jolie Workman, Melissa Ingram, Corney Swanepoel, Emily Thomas and Daniel Bell. But, as we know, it never happened. All those lives, all that talent, all that effort, so much pain, so much commitment, so many dreams and not one Olympic medal, nothing, nada, nil.

Whose fault was that? Please don’t tell me the athletes just weren’t up to the task. Those ten men and women gave Sport New Zealand and Swimming New Zealand their all; their swimming lives. They had what it took to be Olympic medallists. They were let down by the system. They were sold a method of centralised preparation and it let them down. Their only error was believing the state’s propaganda. For that they paid with their sporting lives.

Of course the bureaucrats who promote centralised training facilities are not about to admit that their policy is wrong. In the case of New Zealand swimming there had to be a scapegoat. There had to be someone to blame. Sport New Zealand’s Millennium Institute was perfect. It’s just that the buggers working it didn’t know what they were doing. And so the system discarded, Jan Cameron, her son Scot, Mark Regan, Murray Coulter and Mike Byrne; those clearly guilty of mismanaging Sport New Zealand’s flawless medal winning concept.

In their place Sport New Zealand organized the appointment of Brent Layton, Christian Renford, Luis Villanueva, David Lyles and Gary Hurring. And that’s where we are today. Same vehicle – new drivers. And Miskimmin expects a different result. Miskimmin doesn’t realize or refuses to accept that the drivers are not the problem. Miskimmins car, the Millennium Institute, does not bloody well work; never has, never will. In elite sport the initiative of private enterprise will always out perform a socialist, centralized empire. Just ask Valerie Adams and Rafael Nadal.

It will take time but eventually government ministers will understand that truth; will recognize the bottomless, futile pit into which they have poured millions. Miskimmin will be no more. Until then though he will continue to spread his flawed ideology.

Which brings me back to the TV3 news item. In it TV3 reports that Triathlon New Zealand has swallowed the socialist dream. They have relocated triathlon’s training and administration to a cycling velodrome built just outside Hamilton in the village of Cambridge.

It is just plain scary how “swimming like” the triathlon people sound in their admiration for Miskimmin’s wisdom – and his money. Here is what I mean.

Ryan Sissons, Triathlete, “One of the things that came out of it – I needed a good group of people to train with.”

TV3, Kimberlee Downs, “It’s hoped having the elite team together will see improved results.”

Graeme Maw, Tri NZ High Performance Director, “We were 0.28% really off our targets.”

Graeme Maw, Tri NZ High Performance Director, “Things like centralization, getting athletes and coaches concentrated together really bringing that intensity of expertise, is probably our step forward.”

TV3, Kimberlee Downs, “This room is Triathlon New Zealand’s High Performance office. The athletes themselves will be based just downstairs.”

TV3, Kimberlee Downs, “Much of the focus is on the 2020 Olympics with the Development Team all in Cambridge full time.”

TV3, Kimberlee Downs, “With speed rather than endurance playing an increasingly important role.”

TV3, Kimberlee Downs, “Triathlon New Zealand’s High Performance sport funding is only guaranteed until the end of next year.”

And there you have it. New Zealand’s best male triathlete has been brainwashed into thinking he can’t train on his own. The High Performance Director talks in mathematical riddles so loved in Wellington but that Lydiard, Jelley and Schubert would never understand. The High Performance Director has rehearsed his centralization speech to perfection. Peter will be pleased. The boys are singing his song. The sport’s administration is located right alongside the athletes, watching, controlling and monitoring any rebellious young souls. There will be no John McEnroe antics in the Cambridge animal farm. And the sport’s dream is not in Rio any more. Miskimmin does not want to be judged in three years. Jam in seven years is a much better deal. Oh, and at a modern facility such as this they don’t believe all that distance training rubbish promoted by Lydiard, Jelley, Schubert, Salazar, Bowman and Pellerin. Today it’s all about training smarter. It’s all about speed. And finally, the Miskimmin standard threat of no more money. All you guys in Cambridge had better make Miskimmin’s sporting socialism work. If you want the good life to continue, remember what happened to swimming’s Byrne and Cameron, you need to make the boss of Sport New Zealand look good.

Just as private enterprise in swimming gave us five Olympic medals and four world records from Moss, Simcic, Kingsman and Loader, triathlon is a young sport that has already nurtured independent, private enterprise champions such as Hamish Carter, Bevan Docherty and Erin Baker.

But now swimming people will find the Cambridge plans of Triathlon New Zealand eerily familiar. Because it is familiar. Miskimmin has in all probability just committed Triathlon to the same future as swimming’s recent past. It’s called failure.

 

 

The Paradox Of Being Christian

Monday, December 9th, 2013

By David

Not all the feedback received in response to Swimwatch stories is posted on the site’s comment’s page. Quite frequently I receive emails discussing the blog’s shortcomings. Occasionally I receive messages supporting a story. Two emails arrived recently that I think merit further discussion; one from Vancouver, Canada and the other from Wellington, New Zealand.

The Canadian one was interesting. It provided an alternative point of view to the discussion about whether Alex Baumann, the Canadian who runs High Performance Sport New Zealand, should have arranged for his daughter to swim in the Swimming New Zealand High Performance program, especially when his daughter has represented Canada and the New Zealand program is funded by the New Zealand tax payer.

I am told that when Baumann is asked about the subject he defends his daughter’s presence on the Swimming New Zealand High Performance program with the following argument. Tabitha, his daughter , is only swimming at the Millennium Institute on a trial basis. She is paying the going rate in swimming fees and she is considering changing her allegiance to swim for New Zealand. As I say, that’s what I have been told. It certainly sounds like the sort of defence a father would use in this circumstance.

But let’s look at what Baumann is reported to have said. Tabitha is only at the New Zealand funded Institute program on a trial basis. I don’t know exactly how long Tabitha has been swimming in New Zealand’s national program, but it must be in the order of three weeks. Please tell me – how long does a trial take? Three or four days? Possibly. Three, four, five or six weeks is not a trial. No matter what Alex Baumann or anyone else calls it, in my opinion, that’s membership.

And then Tabitha’s dad is reported as saying he is paying training fees. I’d love to know what that involves. The Millennium program costs $1.6 million for twelve swimmers in Wellington and eight in Auckland; twenty in total. That means the New Zealand tax payer is stumping up with $80,000 per swimmer per year; $1,500 per swimmer per week. So tell me Alex Baumann how much is Tabitha paying – $1,500 per week? Is she meeting the full cost of her training or is the New Zealand tax payer partially funding her involvement.

And finally, I am told, Tabitha is considering swimming for New Zealand. That is good news. However if she is being subsidized by New Zealand to swim she needs to make a commitment to our country first. “Considering” is not good enough. Making the commitment comes first, or at least it should.

Alex Baumann has done his best to defend his daughter’s presence in our national government’s swim program. However, his arguments sound pretty hollow to me; “a tale full of sound and fury signifying nothing.”

The Wellington email discussed Philip Rush’s conviction for driving a car in the Wellington suburb of Mirimar with more than twice legal limit of alcohol. Under normal circumstance that would have been bad enough. Except for Philip Rush it was his fourth appearance as a defendant in a drink driving case. Four cases, four criminal convictions. That’s not a good record at all. Especially when Rush’s job involves mentoring young New Zealanders involved in open water swimming. I would have thought his behaviour deserved a dishonourable discharge.

But apparently not. Rush is still employed. More than that Swimming New Zealand provided the court with a glowing testimonial detailing Rush’s personal achievements in swimming and his contribution to Swimming New Zealand. The court was told Rush was a member of the SNZ coaching staff, manager of the National Youth and Age programme and that included establishing the Outward Bound leadership camp. Outside of the formal scope of his employment Swimming New Zealand said that Rush had mentored several young swimmers.

It probably surprises no one to learn that the position of Swimming New Zealand did not meet with universal approval. I am told, Christian Renford, the new CEO of Swimming New Zealand, was asked why Rush wasn’t sacked for this, his fourth conviction. I am told Renford defended Swimming New Zealand’s support of Rush with the following arguments.

The Rush employment contract was prepared by the previous administration. It was so poorly worded, so devoid of standards and expectations that dismissing Rush was simply not possible. My correspondent was left with the impression that Renford was trying to make the case that he could not manage the business as he would have wanted because of the failures committed in the Byrne and Cameron era.

Let’s look at what has been reported to be Renford’s defence. I find it extremely difficult to believe that the wording of an employment contract can protect a serial drink driving record. However there is also merit in the argument that even repeat offenders deserve an employer who treats them in a fair and reasonable manner. It seems Philip Rush certainly got the benefit of fair and reasonable treatment.

From this you can probably detect that while I would have preferred to see Rush kicked out of swimming, I am prepared to accept there may be grounds for believing Swimming New Zealand acted properly in continuing to employ Philip Rush.

However what none of that explains is why Swimming New Zealand burst into print with a glowing testimonial. Surely the Byrne and Cameron era Employment Contracts do not require the organization defend every employee’s criminal behaviour. Swimming New Zealand did way, way more than continue to employ Philip Rush. Swimming New Zealand wrote to a District Court judge telling her what a fine employee she had in her courtroom. That’s the behaviour I find objectionable. Continuing to employ Philip Rush is one thing – taking his side in a New Zealand court case is another thing altogether. In my view that is a step way too far. Perhaps it is an error of judgement that should raise the question of whether Christian Renford has the qualities required for his job at Swimming New Zealand.

Swimileaks

Thursday, December 5th, 2013

By David

Back in the days of Coulter and Byrne the Swimming New Zealand Board meetings leaked a torrent of information. Nothing was secret. Actually, the sieve-like nature of that Board wasn’t all that important. Within a few days the old Swimming New Zealand Board posted their minutes on the organization’s website. Unofficial chit-chat plus the official record gave a pretty clear picture of the Board’s deliberations.

I thought those days had gone. Certainly the new Board stopped publishing their minutes. It is sad when any sport’s organization feels it must hide information from its membership. I wonder what they have to hide. I have little time for directors of public organizations who feel their decisions are above the scrutiny of the membership. The danger is that the arrogance of secrecy can quickly get out of hand, can quickly lead to an abuse of power. Good governance requires that public sporting Boards have their decisions examined.

I also thought that the people Swimming New Zealand now have on their Board would be leak-proof. The new “Institute of Director” sorts have accumulated power by doing deals, almost always behind closed doors. They are people who understand the power of information, who appreciate the value of secrecy, who live by mushroom-managing the membership – feed them shit and keep them in the dark. Or as a friend of mine said today, “goldfish never question the bowl”.

But I was wrong. The Swimming New Zealand Board Room does leak – probably more than the old Board. I confess this only to tell you that my source tells me I featured on the Agenda of their most recent meeting. I’m told the item was listed under the heading, “David Wright – Legal”. For a Board determined to conduct their affairs in secret this Board is not very good. They talk way too much.

I was told the David Wright item was on the Board Agenda for two reasons. First because, after the young girl from Raumati lost her teeth diving into the Wellington Pool, I filed papers with the Disputes Tribunal asking for my 2011 Protest Fee to be returned. It is a pity when, it seems that, the only way to get this new Board to address the safety of its members is to threaten them with the loss of $50.00. Charles Dickens wrote a Christmas story about that sort of behaviour. Certainly if I was ever in any doubt about the value of filing the Tribunal papers, the fact that the tragedy of this young swimmer’s misfortune made it onto the Agenda of Swimming New Zealand’s precious Board Meeting dispelled my concern. It is a pity, but not unexpected, that their Agenda referred to the incident by my name rather than the person who could be considered a victim in all this. I hope we have not reached a point where a young girl’s teeth are of little consequence when there is $50.00 at stake.

And, I was told, the second motive for putting me on their Agenda was to consider whether they could put a stop to the publication of Swimwatch. Achieving that would actually be very simple. Just reverse the current obsession with central power and national uniformity, privatize the Auckland and Wellington high performance programs, start promoting swimming around the regions, restore and increase Regional decentralized power and change swimming from a state run socialist empire to a private and free enterprise dynamic sporting market – do that and Swimwatch will either disappear or will be stacked full of feel good niceness.

Like all extreme socialist movements this New Zealand swimming version will eventually fail. However that will take time. Until then Swimwatch is here to stay. Oh, SNZ can try and close us down, they can knock themselves out with legal fees and Board Room debate but we ‘aint going nowhere.

Of course Swimming New Zealand may feel there is a case for libel. And they may be right. If Chris Moller did not use a Special General Meeting to call for the resignation of Brian Palmer, if Alex Baumann’s children did not train with Millennium High Performance swimmers, if Philip Rush did not get stopped in Mirimar with twice an illegal amount of alcohol on his breath, if Valerie Adams did not meet with the Minister of Sport to “arm wrestle” herself out of the system, if a young swimmer did not lose her teeth diving into a pool I warned Swimming New Zealand about a year earlier, if Swimming New Zealand didn’t call two candidates for two vacancies an election, if Swimming New Zealand did not initially schedule their 2013 AGM at the same time and on the same day as heats were being swum at the National Swimming Championships, if Swimming New Zealand didn’t provide the national press with false information about the performance of New Zealand swimmers at the World Championships and if someone at a National Camp did not ask one of my swimmers to swim 100×25 meter sprints in the middle of distance conditioning, then a case for libel could well succeed. But if all of those things did happen, the merits of a case for libel seem slim.

However the following data may help Swimming New Zealand’s legal team decide in which jurisdiction to file libel proceedings. I write most of the articles published in Swimwatch and I live in Auckland New Zealand. The blog however is published in London. The server hosting the website is in Brea, California. And the blog’s lawyer lives in Tampa, Florida. If SNZ need the physical address or email details of any of the above just leave a message in the comments section. We will get them to you straight away.

Sadly I suspect the lesson that will be debated at the next Swimming New Zealand Board Meeting is where are the leaks coming from? Who is talking to the wrong people? How can the Board tighten security? Who is the Swimming New Zealand mole? Does Swimming New Zealand have a “Deep Throat” in its midst?

That will be a shame. The moral of this story should highlight the benefits of an open, honest and inclusive relationship between the Board and the membership. It should not be seen as an excuse to increase secrecy and concealment. But in the new Swimming New Zealand I’m guessing that’s exactly what’s going to happen.

Philip Rush Sentenced

Monday, December 2nd, 2013

By David

The NZ Transport Agency tells me that their “role in improving New Zealand’s land transport system extends to ensuring the people and vehicles that use our system are safe to do so.” Their website goes on to explain that, “Alcohol and drug affected driving are serious offences and carry tough penalties, especially for repeat offenders. If you are convicted of a third or subsequent offence, you will be disqualified from driving for more than 1 year and either fined up to $6000 or imprisoned for up to 2 years.”

But can any of that be believed? The Chairman of the NZ Transport Agency is Chris Moller. That’s right the same Chris Moller responsible for the Swimming New Zealand Moller Report; the same Chris Moller that called for Swimming New Zealand’s best administrator, Brian Palmer, to resign. When Moller’s transport organization says, “If you are convicted of a third or subsequent offence, you will be disqualified from driving for more than 1 year and either fined up to $6000 or imprisoned for up to 2 years” does it mean it. When Moller says “you will be” does that mean the same as “you will be” to the rest of us?

Apparently not; or not if you work for Swimming New Zealand it seems. The in-group at Swimming New Zealand give every impression of being above the rules.

Because Swimming New Zealand’s Open Water Manager, Philip Rush, was sentenced last week after he was caught in the Wellington suburb of Miramar on August 13, behind the wheel at more than twice the legal alcohol limit. He returned a breath alcohol reading of 829 micrograms per litre – more than twice the legal limit of 400mcg/l.

Rush has three previous drink-driving convictions in 1989, 1996 and 1998. This was conviction number four. And Chris Moller’s organization tells me that’s a serious offence and carries tough penalties.

Well it beats me how Moller can paint that version of reality when the Wellington District Court judge, Susan Thomas, at Rush’s sentencing hearing tells me that Philip Rush has been an exceptionally positive contributor to society and notes his achievements in swimming and in the community, as well as his work as a firefighter. That sounds more like a glowing testimonial to me. For his fourth drink driving conviction Philip Rush was slapped on the wrist with a wet bus pass; disqualified from driving for a year and a day and given 140 hours of community work. According to this judge mentoring swimmers satisfied the definition of community work.

What on earth, who on earth, could have convinced Judge Thomas to stray so far from Chris Moller’s description of the sentencing guide lines? Well, we can now reveal who convinced this judge of the District Court to cock a snoop at, to arrogantly ignore “tough penalties” for a “serious offender”. Swimming New Zealand – that’s who.

Swimming New Zealand provided Rush with a glowing letter of support. The letter outlined his work mentoring young swimmers, managing teams going to world championships, and coaching. Judge Susan Thomas said she had received a, “letter from Swimming New Zealand that talks about not only your own personal achievements in swimming, but what you contribute to Swimming New Zealand. You are a member of the coaching staff. You are a manager of the National Youth and Age programme and that includes establishing the Outward Bound leadership camp. You have coached and managed the last four New Zealand open water teams attending world championships and managed several New Zealand development teams. Outside of the formal scope of your employment you mentor several young swimmers.”

Would you believe it? Philip Rush appears to breach at least three Swimming New Zealand Code of Conduct Rules and Christian Renford tells the court the guy is actually their Mother Teresa. Well Christian Renford please explain to Swimming New Zealand members just how Philip Rush’s four drunk driving convictions match up with the rules you were employed to protect and enforce.

When he drove through Mirimar at 11 o’clock on the night of August 13 was Philip Rush “aware of, and (did he) maintain an uncompromising adhesion to, standards, rules, regulations and policies”? Was Philip Rush being “a positive role model”? Is there any possibility that the actions of Philip Rush “may bring disrepute or disgrace to SNZ members, its stakeholders and/or its sponsors, potential sponsors and/or partners”? Because if any of those events happened then Christian Renford should never have approved that letter.

However all that completely ignores the child protection aspect of the Rush convictions. Some lunatic judge in Wellington says a four times convicted drunk driver should spend his community service “mentoring” young swimmers. Christian Renford adds to the lunacy by pointing out the benefit of placing New Zealand’s young swimmers in Philip Rush’s care.

I received a call today from a young swimmer who attended the 2012 Outward Bound Course on the Swimming New Zealand program. I was told that, while they waited for other course members to arrive at Wellington Airport, Philip Rush took two male swimmers to the pub for a drink. Is that true? Remember Swimming New Zealand have a “no alcohol” clause in their swimmer’s contracts. I was told Rush then drove all the swimmers to their accommodation. As they arrived at the hotel Rush was interviewed by Wellington Police. Is that true? Clearly it needs to be investigated and made public.

Obviously Philip Rush is not Mother Teresa. Philip Rush has a problem.

And while he has anything to do with Swimming New Zealand – no swimmer of mine is going anywhere with Philip Rush, no swimmer of mine is going to be mentored about anything by anyone who has been drinking and driving for twenty four years, since 1989 and no swimmer of mine will ever get into a motor car driven by Philip Rush – not even to visit the corner dairy.

For their unashamed disregard of the standards and responsibilities of this sport Renford and Rush should leave or be dismissed.

However there is another point that really interests me. And that’s the position of Chris Moller in all this. Here we have a guy who is the Chairman of an organization implacably opposed to drinking and driving; who calls for repeat offenders to be “disqualified from driving for more than 1 year and either fined up to $6000 or imprisoned for up to 2 years.”

And here we have the same guy, Chris Moller, who is Chairman of the Appointments Panel for a sport whose CEO approves glowing references for a four times convicted drunk driver; who continues to employ the offender and who has no problem promoting the repetitive offender as a mentor of young children.

Where does Chris Moller stand, with the Land Transport Authority or with Renford and Rush from Swimming New Zealand? The behaviour of the two organizations cannot be reconciled. In the case of Rush the differences are just too great.

So who is right? Chris Moller has to either tacitly accept a multiple drink driving offender and his Swimming New Zealand supporters or he has to send a message that the behaviour of Rush, supported by Renford will not be tolerated in the new Swimming New Zealand. In my view Moller has little option but to ask his two swimming employees pack their cardboard cartons and leave the building.