A Sham Of A Plan

 Recommendation Ten of the 2012 Moller Report required Swimming New Zealand to prepare a “Whole of Sport Plan”. The Plan must include:

1.    Targets for the growth of the sport including at club level.

2.    A multiyear facilities strategy

3.    A coach development plan

4.    A High Performance Strategy to support performance

5.    A key stakeholder’s relationship plan.

6.    A funding plan

Five years ago Swimming New Zealand prepared the required “Whole of Sport Plan”. It contained 22 items that Swimming New Zealand pompously called “Strategic Goals”. I thought it would be interesting to do a five year report on how well the current Board of Swimming New Zealand has performed against their plan; they prepared it, but have they done it? Have they been good boys and girls or have they earned a homework detention? I would love to report that the sport is bounding along from one successful peak to another. But facts are facts. How has Cotterill’s organisation done in comparison to its own goals?

Strategic Goal One: “Increase the number of Kiwis actively participating in swimming programs.”

The table below shows what has actually happened:

2011 2017 Change
Total Swimming Members 25,467 19,118 Down By 24.9%
Competitive Members 6,161 5,660 Down By 8.1%

So that’s not good. Sadly population changes make the numbers even worse. In 2011 New Zealand’s population was 4,384.000. By 2017 it had increased by 322,000 (7%) to 4,706,000. And so in a period when the population went up, swimming’s share of the population went down by 29.3%.

Strategic Goal Two: An aligned National & regional competition structure that supports the development, conditioning and medalling of NZ swimmers.

The reality of this goal is stunningly inexplicable. The table below shows the competition structure that used to apply in New Zealand and what it has become today.   

2011 Competition Structure 2018 Reality
January Region Championships January Region Championships
February Division 2 March Division 2
March Age Groups April Age Groups
March Opens July Opens

In 2011 it was possible for a swimmer to begin racing at a Regional Championship and progress to Age Groups and Opens in the same “peak” period. That is no longer possible. The meets are way too far apart. The program has been decided by someone who has no idea of what they are doing. When the Commonwealth Games are added, the schedule becomes even worse. World swimming has known for years that National Championships or Trials are best scheduled very close to an international commitment. Just check the USA and Australia. In New Zealand the Federation runs the Open Championships three months after the Games have ended. Why?

Strategic Goal Three: To have a NZ coaching system that is internationally recognised.

I have been fortunate enough to coach in the United Kingdom, the United States, the Virgin Islands, Saudi Arabia and New Zealand. That experience has left me with some appreciation of the coaching qualifications that are recognized around the world. I imagine it will surprise no one to hear that Swimming New Zealand’s bronze, silver and gold coaching certificates are of almost no value outside New Zealand. Because of this I decided to use the American Swim Coaches Association (ASCA) training program. I have followed their program all the way to their International Level Five qualification. With that certificate I can go anywhere and have my qualifications understood and accepted.

If I was advising Swimming New Zealand I would have recommended that they arrange for all New Zealand coaches to be trained by ASCA. That would provide New Zealand coaches with the world’s premiere training and with certificates that have international currency. ASCA can provide coaching benefits that, no matter how hard they try, Swimming New Zealand will never be able to achieve.

Strategic Goal Four: To attract, develop, retain and reward a talented and committed base of volunteers.  

The volunteer base has declined by 46 (2.5%) since 2011. This data is shown in the table below.

2011 2018 Change
Officials 1,856 1,810 Down By 2.5%

Strategic Goal Five: The AquaBlacks have a reputation as a (sic) solid performers on the international stage.

Only the masters of fake news at Antares Place would claim Swimming New Zealand has run a successful international program. Sport New Zealand has punished the poor performance by reducing its financial support. Cotterill said he doesn’t understand the reason. That’s sad because the rest of the world knows it’s because the program he manages can’t win a swimming race. For some time Boyle and Snyders masked the program’s intrinsic problems. But eventually even they fled to the United States and Australia. The following tables give some idea of the international mess created by Cotterill and his Board.

Government Performance Funding

2011  2017 Change
Sport New Zealand Funding 1,962,838 1,413,148 Down By 28.0%

Commonwealth Games Individual Qualifiers

Glasgow 2014 Gold Coast 2018 Change
Individual Games Qualifiers 12 2 Down By 83.3%

Commonwealth Games Results

Gender Medals Finals Semi-Finals Heats Only
Glasgow 2014 2 8 3 14
Delhi 2010 5 9 10 5

World Championship Results

  2017 2015 2013 2011
Number of Medals 0 2 3 0
Number of Finals 1 2 6 4
Number of Semi-Finals 2 1 5 5
Average Place over all team members 26 23 19 19
NZ Position on Medal table Nil 20 27 Nil

Strategic Goal Six: Performances of New Zealand swimmers improve consistently at all levels.

Cotterill told us recently that, “An astonishing 49 New Zealand swimming records were broken between July 2016 – June 2017, including six open records and forty three age group records.” The truth is that, after going back as far as I can, I was unable to find a year in which fewer national records “at all levels” were broken.

Strategic Goal Seven: All athletes, coaches and performance staff aspire to become part of the SNZs High Performance Team environment.

The Millennium High Performance Program.has been steadily falling apart. Even Swimming New Zealand has given up. An email from Gary Francis announced the change. He said, “Swimming New Zealand are not looking to seek a replacement for Jerry, or anyone in a similar role for the present time. The HP centre at AUT Millennium will now become the National Training Centre.”

Strategic Goal Eight: The Swimming New Zealand Team is respected for its clarity, leadership and strong direction.

The decision to appoint a Targeted Athlete and Coach Manager gave hope that things at Swimming New Zealand were about to take a new and better management direction. Sadly recent events indicate that instead of Gary Francis changing Swimming New Zealand, the organisation has changed Gary Francis. The hope for strong leadership died.

Strategic Goal Nine: Commercial partners receiving value, feel part of swimming and willing to maintain and increase their investment in swimming.

Since State Insurance ended its Swimming New Zealand sponsorship Cotterill and Johns have been unable to find a main sponsor for the sport. The table below shows a comparison of Swimming New Zealand’s income from grants and sponsorship since the Whole of Sport Plan said the organisation intended to see partners increase their investment.

2011  2017 Change
Grants and Sponsorship 1,290,498 754,211 Down By 41.6%

Strategic Goal Ten: To grow our revenue to provide a secure future for swimming. Reduced level of organisational risk.

There are two parts to this goal. The first is to grow Swimming New Zealand’s income. That hasn’t happened. The table below shows that income has collapsed by 14.7%.

2011 2017 Change
Swimming Income 4,158,493 3,546,861 Down By 14.7%

And the second part is to reduce the organisations risk by making it more financially independent. The table below shows what has actually happened.

Grants and Sponsors Business Generated % Self-Generated
2011 3,253,336 905,157 21.8%
2017 2,208,972 1,337,889 37.7%

The good news is the business has gone from being 21.8% self-sufficient in 2011 to 37.7% in 2017. That improved self-sufficiency has been achieved by a million dollars decrease in grants and sponsorship and massive increases in user pays contributions (up by 60%) and meet entry fees (up by 207%).

Strategic Goal Eleven: To attract, develop and retain quality people.

Retaining staff has not been a Swimming New Zealand strong point. In ten years the sport has had three CEOs and nine Head Coaches. Even Cotterill acknowledged the chaos of staff turnover. In his 2017 Annual Report he said:

The 2016/17 year can be best described as a year of disruption. We have had a number of changes in our executive and management team including a new National Head Coach and CEO. We have also suffered a significant reduction in funding from High Performance Sport NZ which in turn led to the disestablishment of two senior roles within the High Performance team.

Strategic Goal Thirteen: Work with Regions and RST’s to develop a 30 year blueprint for infrastructure requirements for swimming.

I have no idea whether anything has been done about preparing an infrastructure plan. I doubt it. It’s hard to drain the swamp when you are up to your armpits in alligators.

Strategic Goal Fourteen: To have in place standard policies,  processes and systems.

This Swimming New Zealand certainly has done. There are more procedures now for entering a meet or being selected for a team or running a club than in any country I have worked. Swimming New Zealand has become a bureaucrat’s dream. It’s easier to escape from North Korea than it is to get into a New Zealand swim team.

Conclusion:

This post is not a negative criticism of Swimming New Zealand. It is not fake news or spin. It is simply an account of the organisation’s performance compared to the goals Cotterill set for himself. It only becomes negative when we see that in the pragmatic measures of participation, performance and finance Swimming New Zealand is in a terrifying downward spiral.

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