In 2015 Swimming New Zealand terminated the membership of one of its swimming clubs – West Auckland Aquatics. I was the coach at West Auckland Aquatics. I was told that the termination of the club was the first time in Swimming New Zealand’s 130 year history that a club had been expelled. It was a big event. West Auckland Aquatics was an important national club. Whenever something this important happens there are lessons to be learned. And so here is the full story of how West Auckland Aquatics went from a happy successful club to nothing.

The Sunday Star Times and Sunday News investigated the story and admitted to being too “scared” of Susan Turner to publish the story – a sad comment on the social responsibility of New Zealand’s fourth estate. So here is the full story – a Swimwatch exclusive.

WITNESS STATEMENT

1. I was employed by West Auckland Aquatics (“WAQ”) on 12 April 2010 on the basis of three-month trial.  In July 2010 my trial period ended and my employment was made permanent.  I was not provided with any communication of the permanent employment or a written employment agreement. 
2. I have a BA degree from Victoria University in Wellington and am an American Swim Coaches Association International Level 5 swimming coach. I have coached national swimming representatives from New Zealand, the United States Virgin Islands, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela and the United States of America. Most notable students include National Champions and/or US State Champions Toni Jeffs, Nichola Chellingworth, Jane Copland, Joseph Skuba, Rhi Jeffrey, Jane Ip, Lara van Egten, Eyad Massoud, Loai Tashkandi, John Foster and Oswaldo Quevedo. Notable events include the award of US Swimming’s Certificate of Excellence in 2007, appointment in 2003/2004 as National Coach for the US Virgin Islands, coach of Toni Jeffs at the Barcelona Olympic Games and the 1992 World Short Course Championships where she placed third and coach of Ozzie Quevedo in 2009 when he set two FINA Masters World records in the 50 meters butterfly (24.17) and 100 meters butterfly (54.98).In association with track coach Arthur Lydiard and New Zealand international swimmer Jane Copland published two books on swimming

   Swim to the Top (ISBN 1841260835), June 2002 and Swimming–A Training Program (ISBN 1841261424), April 2004. Prior to my career as a swimming coach, I coached track athletes including my wife Alison Wright, who represented New Zealand, Oceania and the United Kingdom over 800, 1500 and 3000 meters. I am one of very few coaches to have guided competitors in the two principal Olympic sports of track and swimming to participate at Olympic/World Championship level in both sports. 

3. In July 2012 and after repeated requests WAQ provided me with a draft employment agreement.  However, it was returned by me because the title, starting date, and hours of work were incorrect.  A revised employment agreement was never provided. 
4. On 24 January 2015 the WAQ President, Wayne Hay, reprimanded me at a swim meet for the alleged mistreatment of a swimmer.  However, the swimmer denied Hay’s accusation.  This began a trend of what I felt was antagonism towards my work and me. 
5. On 05 February 2015 the WAQ Committee held a meeting at which my employment was the main agenda item. 
6. On 06 February 2015 I received 16 text messages from a Committee member, Trish Murray, describing the content of the Committee’s discussion at the meeting. These included the statement, “Stephen said now we got membership admin back on track time to sort out poolside. We were then told under no uncertain terms not to let you know. But I have to live with my conscience and can’t sit there with you knowing they plan to do the dirty on you.”  This text plus the 15 others left little doubt that the President and Vice President’s plan was to remove me from my position. 
7. On 11 February 2015 I contacted Mr Max Whitehead and agreed to employ his services as an employment advocate.  On 12 February 2015 Mr Whitehead sent a letter to WAQ setting out problems associated with my employment, namely:-
   i. No written employment agreement; and
   ii. Unpaid Statutory Holiday Pay; and
   iii. Unpaid KiwiSaver contributions; and
   iv. WAQ demand for me to pay them a Holiday Pay loan; and
   v. Constructive Dismissal; and
   vi. Unavailable personal file, wage and time and holiday records.
8. On 24 February 2015 I received a response from WAQ denying all items in our letter of 12 February. 
9. On 27 February 2015 I lodged a Statement of Problem (File # 5545201) with the Employment Relations Authority (ERA) setting out my employment issues. 
10. A Mediation meeting was held on 29 April 2015 with WAQ. We did not reach a settlement.  Representing WAQ were the Deputy President, Stephen Pye, and the WAQ legal representative. The President, Wayne Hay, did not attend. The WAQ demand for me to convert $19,000 of my holiday pay into a donation to the club and my opinion that this demand was so outrageous that the President and Vice President should resign proved to be the principal points of disagreement and cause of the talks to break down. 
11. An amended Statement of Problem was submitted to the ERA on 13 May 2015 identifying the statutory holiday pay amount not paid to me as $10,071.63 and the WAQ holiday donation demand as $19,000.00. The WAQ demand for a $19,000 donation was first made by the Deputy President, Stephen Pye. He said the club could not afford the liability of my holiday pay entitlement. On 13 May 2015 I agreed to the donation being made subject to:
    
    a) Receiving a receipt for the amount of the donation. My intention was to include the donation in my annual tax return.
    b) The funds being applied to club spending approved by me. At WAQ I had already personally paid for swimmers to compete in Australia, Singapore, Beijing and Tokyo. I had paid training fees and meet entry fees for swimmers who could not afford the cost and had bought a car for a swimmer who had shifted to Auckland and did not have transport. In the five years the personal cost of my assistance to club swimmers totalled $25,300. In agreeing to the holiday pay donation my intention was to apply my donation to future similar spending. 
12. On 27 May 2015 the WAQ Statement in Reply was received. WAQ contended that:
    i. Because I had worked for five years an employment agreement existed.
    ii. KiwiSaver – all knowledge and liability denied.
    iii. My holiday pay donation to WAQ claimed to be $11,682.54.
    iv. Intention to constructively dismiss was denied in spite of the 16 Murray texts. 
13. During the period 02 June to 10 July 2015 I attended European Swim Meets with a WAQ swimmer and also attended my daughter’s wedding in the UK.  This was all taken as annual leave. During this period I arranged coaching cover at WAQ by ex-national coach David Lyles and I paid him $3000.00 of my money to do this work. WAQ declined to pay the stand in coach. 
14. On 16 June 2015 a WAQ parent’s meeting was held and aborted after an argument about my absence overseas. 
15. On 02 July 2015 the WAQ AGM, which was constitutionally required prior to the end of May, was held on 02 July 2015.  Members voted not to proceed with the AGM or SGM as I was not present.  The Chairman, Wayne Hay, Deputy Chairman, Stephen Pye, and Secretary, Holly Taylor, resigned. Tony Hooper assumed the position of WAQ President. 
16. On 11 July 2015 I returned to NZ. From 11-24 July 2015 I was admitted to hospital for thirteen days with an infected foot. Whilst in hospital I was visited by Susan Turner and David Lyles on 15 July 2015.  During the visit Ms Turner and Mr Lyles proposed that a new club involving the three of us should be formed to take over the West Wave Aquatic Centre lane space currently used by WAQ.  I declined their proposal. 
17. The proposal was clearly a Ms Turner initiative. She said she had in mind forming a new club in which Mr Lyles and I would be joint Head Coaches. The existing three clubs (WAQ, Waitakere and Waterhole) using the West Wave Pool would have no lane space and would need to merge their members into the newly formed super club. I advised Ms Turner that I thought her suggestion was not in the best interests of swimming in west Auckland. The three existing clubs had very different areas of speciality and worked well together. I said I thought her proposal was dishonest, possibly illegal and a betrayal especially as Mr Lyles and I were currently working for WAQ. While the idea of using WAQ time, resources and opportunities to plot the end of WAQ appeared to be of no concern to Ms Turner it certainly made me most uncomfortable. Ms Turner was visibly annoyed that I had rejected her plan and effectively stopped communicating with me. 
18. On the same day (15 July) I was visited by the new Chairman of WAQ, Tony Hooper, to discuss my personal grievance currently before the ERA.  We agreed as follows:
    
    i. The $10,071.63 statutory holiday pay would be paid within the next seven days’; and
    ii. In return the 22 July PG hearing would be put on conditional hold; and
    iii. In return my KiwiSaver claim would be put on conditional hold; and
    iv. I would donate $11,682.54 of my normal holiday pay entitlement to WAQ; and
    v. WAQ would provide a written employment agreement. 
19. On 16 July 2015 WAQ and I requested, and were granted, an adjournment of the scheduled ERA hearing on basis of the potential settlement. 
20. On 24 July 2015 the Chairman of WAQ, Tony Hooper, received an emailed letter said to be from the WAQ Assistant Coach Bridget Maher, proposing that I be replaced as the WAQ coach by Mr Lyles.  One of the signatories, Jessica Marston, told me she had not seen the letter. She said she was in Australia when it was written and sent. She said she understood Ms Turner had written the letter.  The Chairman did not act on the letter. 
21. On 28 July 2015 Ms Turner met with Alex Calwell, the CEO of the West Wave Aquatic Centre, and proposed replacing WAQ with a “new super club” with Mr Lyles being the sole coach.  I was now excluded from the plan. West Wave Aquatic Centre declined the approach and advised Ms Turner that the Auckland Swimming Association would be consulted as to which clubs operated out of the West Wave facility. The reaction Ms Turner received from the West Wave Aquatic Centre was the same as that given by me during the hospital meeting. 
22. On 03 August 2015 a document accepting the settlement reached in my hospital meeting with Tony Hooper was finally approved by WAQ.   The terms were:
    i. Costs to lie where they stand; and
    ii. No disparaging comments; and
    iii. My donation of $11,682.54 to WAQ was agreed; and
    iv. Form of receipt of donation; and
    v. Public holiday pay of $10,071.63 to be paid; and
    vi. KiwiSaver amount to be waived; and
    vii.Employment agreement to be provided. 
23. On 04 August 2015 Ms Turner met the CEO of the Auckland Swimming Association, Brett Green, and put the same “Mr Lyles coached super club”, including all WAQ lane space, proposal to him.  The Auckland Swimming Association declined the Ms Turner plan and made it clear that WAQ had priority rights to lane space at the West Wave Aquatic Centre. For a third time Ms Turner’s super club proposal was rejected. 
24. On 05 August 2015 WAQ and I signed the settlement agreement and it was forwarded to the ERA on 07 August 2015.  On 12 August 2015 an ERA mediator refused to ratify settlement as he was not legally permitted to waive my holiday pay as was proposed in the settlement agreement. 
25. On 19 August 2015 a revised settlement agreement was prepared and I signed it with no mention of a holiday pay donation, and setting a second seven-day time limit on the payment of $10,071.63 public holiday pay, and reinstating my KiwiSaver claim. 
26. After a 12-day delay, the revised settlement was signed by WAQ on 31 August 2015.  On 04 September 2015 the revised settlement was signed by the ERA. 
27. On 14 September 2015 the WAQ AGM was held and Ms Turner was appointed unopposed as President. I was appointed a Committee member.  The Committee was compromised of eight members. (Turner, Mankin, Maher, van Egten, Wright, Hooper, Tahuri, Davenport) 
28. On 15 September 2015 Mr Max Whitehead filed a Compliance Order (5581605) filed in respect of $10,071.63 public holiday pay due on 11 September, which had not been paid.   The Compliance Order also stated that at the 14 September AGM reports were received from the outgoing President and Vice President that breached confidentiality and spoke disparagingly about me. 
29. On or about 17 September 2015 I filed a complaint about two inappropriate videos filmed in Ms Turner’s home and posted on social media. Auckland Swimming investigated my complaint under their Child Protection Policy and reprimanded the participants. One video showed a female swimmer pretending to suckle on another swimmer’s breasts with the comment “Milk me, milk me.” The other video showed a swimmer in a bikini in the shower having chocolate washed off her. 
30. On 24 September 2015 I finally received my Public Holiday pay, some two weeks late. 
31. On 27 September 2015 West Auckland Aquatics apologised for comments recorded in the President and Vice President reports tabled at the 14 September 2015 AGM. Of course the damage had been done. The apology said, “West Auckland Aquatics apologises for comments recorded in the   President   and   Vice   President   Reports   tabled   at   the   14 September 2015 AGM.” 
32. On 15 October 2015 Ms Turner proposed the Committee employ Mr Lyles as Co-Head Coach. Having been unable to form a super club coached by Mr Lyles she appeared to be intent on converting WAQ into a Mr Lyles coached organization from the inside. 
33. Turner made the proposal to employ Mr Lyles (who had told me he expected to be paid at a rate of $100,000 per annum), in spite of at the same meeting claiming the club was facing potential financial ruin. She said “The current financial performance is not returning a sufficient source of revenue to meet its commitments. Furthermore, The Club will be unable to sustain itself with the estimated cash reserves during any unplanned expenditure. Any of these events could potentially lead to the insolvency of the Club.” The Committee deferred any discussion on appointing Mr Lyles. 
34. On 22 October 2015 a SGM to consider a motion of no confidence in Ms Turner as President was called for by ten club members as per the Constitution.  This request for a SGM was ignored by Ms Turner. The meeting was never held and the motions were never considered. 
35. Ms Turner’s decision to ignore the member’s constitutional request for a SGM was a significant event. Ms Turner had been operating the organization well outside the provisions of its constitution. The Committee membership numbers were unconstitutional. Ms Turner had done nothing to exercise the Committee appointment provisions of the constitution intended to protect the organization from Committee resignations. Ms Turner had made important spending and management decisions without the required Committee constitutional oversight. Ms Turner had refused to provide the Committee with requested financial and management information. And now when a Constitutional number of the membership realized there was a problem and called upon Ms Turner to hold a SGM to consider the club’s position and management Ms Turner chose to ignore the properly called for demand of the membership. At that point effectively WAQ did not exist. WAQ was Ms Turner. 
36. On 24 October 2015 a WAQ swimmer and a west Auckland swimming club filed a complaint with West Wave Pool management regarding threatening behaviour of Ms Turner’s husband. His behaviour included verbal threats, following our cars around Henderson, and photographing us in the pool, in restaurants, and at petrol stations.  This behaviour was also reported to Police as File number 151203-7437. 
37. At this stage the WAQ Committee had reduced further by the resignations of Mankin and Davenport and was now an unconstitutional four members. 
38. On 01 November 2015 the WAQ Committee was dysfunctional and on the point of collapse. Turner was incurring expenditure outside her authority. She withheld information from the committee concerning the amounts she was spending and refused on three occasions to provide the committee with information on expenditure she had incurred. This occurred at meetings held on Wednesday 30 September and Wednesday 7 October 2015. 
39. On 05 November 2015 Swimming New Zealand intervened and called a meeting with the SNZ Chairman (Cotterill), the CEO (Renford), and myself to discuss the breakdown of WAQ management. The meeting discussed the mismanagement of the WAQ club. I explained that the Turner family had been asked to leave or refused entry to four previous clubs (Sundevils in Hastings, Aquahawks in Napier, Greendale in Taradale and the Paul Kent training group in Auckland). A member at a fifth club the Turner family joined in Christchurch described the family to me as “evil.” A well-established pattern was continuing at WAQ. SNZ said they would consider the position and advise me of what action they proposed to take. 
40. On 16 November 2015 SNZ called a second meeting, this time with all four remaining WAQ Committee members.  At the meeting Cotterill and Renford proposed a form of SNZ statutory management of WAQ for six months on the condition that all four current Committee members resign and do not stand for the WAQ Committee again for five years.  Ms Turner and Ms Maher declined the SNZ offer. This effectively sealed the fate of WAQ as a member club of SNZ. 
41. On 19 November 2015 West Wave Pool suspended WAQ lane space effective from 22 November 2015 because of Ms Turner’s mismanagement and behavioural problems.  The initial notice was for two weeks but lane space was never reinstated.  On 19 November 2015 SNZ suspended WAQ membership for bringing the sport into disrepute. 
42. On 19 November 2015 I was abruptly suspended by Ms Turner on full pay.  Ms Turner’s email stated the reason for my suspension was allowing Waterhole Club to use WAQ lanes. Also on 19 November 2015 the Committee was reduced to three members. 
43. On 20 November 2015 Ms Turner called me to a disciplinary meeting, but the meeting never took place.  I disputed her authority to act in this way. 
44. On 26 November 2015 Ms Turner’s letter sets out the basis for her disciplinary action. None of the accusation were true and were deliberate distortions of fact:-

• Allowing non-WAQ Waterhole swimmers to use WAQ lanes;

This false allegation refers to three years of cooperation between the Waterhole Club and WAQ. The Waterhole Club is a fellow west Auckland club and also uses lane space at the West Wave Aquatic Centre. On occasions, when WAQ had more lane space than needed and Waterhole needed an extra lane, I made a WAQ lane available to swimmers from the other club. This cooperation was enabled by approving selected senior Waterhole swimmers as associate members of the WAQ Club.

Ms Turner sought to terminate this cooperation. On the 29 October 2015 she issued me with an instruction to no longer provide Waterhole Club members with space in WAQ lanes. Ms Turner alleges that on a number of days Waterhole swimmers continued to use WAQ lanes. This is a fabrication by Ms Turner.

Two emails received from the Waterhole Club make it clear that all lanes used by the Waterhole Club after the Ms Turner instruction were booked in the name of the Waterhole Club. Relevant extracts from two Waterhole emails are as follow:

 

 

• “Waterhole did not use any West Auckland Aquatics lane space after notification received”.

 

 

 

• “On the morning of the 10th November Waterhole Swim Club members were asked to move into an empty lane 1 at the request of the senior lifeguard after paying public entry”.

 

 

 

• “On the morning of the 17th November Waterhole Swim Club paid public entry for the 2 swimmers ages 16/over. At the request of the senior lifeguard these swimmers were moved into an empty lane (lane 2) alongside the other empty lane 1”.

 

 

 

• “On the afternoon of the 17th November Waterhole Swim Club booked a lane with Cecilia. Lane 3 was allocated but as there was an empty lane 2 Waterhole was asked to move their swimmers into lane 2”.

 

 

 

• “Waterhole had lanes booked in their own name on Wednesday 11th, Thursday 12th, Wednesday 18th and Thursday 19th pm”.

 

 

 

• “Waterhole did not train at West Wave on the mornings of 12th and 13th November”. 

 

• Coaching or allowing to be coached a member of WAQ who is no longer a financial member;

The allegation has no merit. For the following reasons:

I was accused of coaching from 20 July 2015. I was in Waitakere Hospital for thirteen days from 11 July to 24 July 2015. Clearly I was not coaching on the 20-24 July 2015.

The accusation of “allowing to be trained” refers to a week of training, with the stand-in coach Mr Lyles. I was in England on holiday at the time and had no influence over who swam in the WAQ training sessions.

• Communicating with WAQ members in breach of an instruction not to do so; and Coaching WAQ members in breach of an instruction not to do so;

I have never coached a West Auckland Aquatics member at the Waterhole Pool.

Following the WAQ suspension from the West Wave Aquatic Centre, the Waterhole Club offered me coaching time at their pool for only Waterhole members. I only ever coached Waterhole swimmers at the Waterhole Pool – never WAQ swimmers.

Having a WAQ coach coaching Waterhole members was not unusual. Bridget Maher (a Ms Turner supporter and last remaining member of the WAQ Committee) had done the same thing during school holidays.

45. On 30 November 2015 the WAQ SGM was held at which Ms Turner convinced the majority of members to back her plan to submit to SNZ a club rescue plan.  SNZ attended the SGM. Ms Turner refused to allow me to attend the member’s meeting claiming I was not a member when in fact I was and was recorded on the Auckland Swimming Association register as a coach member. At the meeting Ms Turner never mentioned my potential dismissal to the members as she was aware it would be defeated.

46. On or around 02-03 December 2015 I was dismissed without membership or Committee consent.  Ms Turner was asked to pay $18,688.00 holiday pay within 48 hours.  Ms Turner responded with three emails denying any liability for holiday pay.

Email One “There is no outstanding payment to be made for either holiday pay or annual leave. In fact I understand that David Wright is repaying amounts that he owes for the excess leave he has taken.”

Email Two “I refer you back to my email. I reference the settlement agreement for the public holiday pay and make further reference that in our system there are no outstanding holiday pay or annual leave payments owing. David has used these all up; and in fact owes an amount.”

Email Three “I confirm that David has now been paid his final pay.”

47. On 03 December 2015 as was expected David Lyles was appointed by Ms Turner to coach WAQ club swimmers in the Massey High School pool. It took Ms Turner less than twelve hours after dismissing me to complete the purpose of my termination. My dismissal had nothing to do with my performance or the fabricated excuses made in the letter of dismissal. My dismissal was simply a necessary step in the Ms Turner plan to control and monopolize swimming in West Auckland and appoint Mr Lyles as head coach.  

48. During my five years coaching WAQ, the club had

1. Paid all its bills and had turned around an annual loss of $26,808 in 2010 to a small profit of $735 in 2014. The club’s cash reserves had increased in the period from $51,814 to $70,340.
2. Produced six National Championship medal winners.
3. Produced two New Zealand representative swimmers at World Cup, Oceania and Mare Nostrum international competitions.
4. Improved its club ranking in New Zealand from 37th when I arrived to 14th.  
5. Had coached the swimming skills of an estimated 500 separate West Auckland young people.

49. On 03 December 2015 I made an application to ERA requesting compliance order in respect of holiday pay (5599767).

50. On 09 and 14 December 2015 Ms Turner’s “rescue” plan was rejected by SNZ and WAQ members were advised that WAQ membership was permanently terminated. The following people and organisations had terminated their association with WAQ and Ms Turner.

• The management of Swimming New Zealand
• The management of the Auckland Swimming Association
• The management of Auckland City and the West Wave Aquatic Centre
• Seven of nine WAQ Committee members including me.

51. On 16 December 2015 Ms Turner agreed that I was owed $16,029.33 in holiday pay and advised it would be paid immediately.

52. On 21 December 2015 holiday pay of $16,029.33 was paid some 19 days late.

 

 

By David

Swimwatch has been discussing swimming issues for about eleven years. My friend Edward helped me set the site up in 2003 when we both lived in the Napier suburb of Greenmeadows. Edward now lives and works in Washington DC – his help in setting this up and sending me period reminders about its upkeep are invaluable.

I have worked hard to avoid using its popularity to promote the clubs at which I have worked. The purpose of the site is to discuss swimming issues not to pursue a personal agenda. However all that is about to change. This post will discuss recent events at West Auckland Aquatics. I hope you find them of interest.

A couple of weeks ago I heard the Roskill Swim Club was looking for a new coach. That seemed unusual. The last I knew, one of New Zealand’s most senior and well respected coaches, Paul Kent, was the Roskill Swim Club coach. I decided to investigate and gave Paul a call. An hour later we were sitting in a Henderson coffee shop discussing swimming club politics.

Indeed Paul had resigned. As so often happens, a few Roskill parents were unhappy with Paul and he was equally concerned that the support he needed was not forthcoming. There is not a swim coach alive, especially the good ones who have not fallen foul of the same parental interference, parents of young swimmers who believe their elite coach spends too much time with the club’s national representatives and not enough caring for their son’s Level Three ambitions or the parents of elite swimmers who believe the opposite. They say there are two types of swim coach: those who have just been fired and those who are about to be fired. It’s true, in my coaching life, I’ve been in Paul’s position two or three times; most of us have.

Certainly this sort of event is no measure of a coach’s ability. Most of the world’s best coaches have fallen foul of parental politics, of some self-made Bill Gates welding power. Paul may have half a dozen Roskill parents who know best how he should be doing his job, but Paul Kent knows as much about swimming as anyone in the country. He was a very good swimmer and is an even better coach, no matter what some suburban autocrat might believe.

My reaction to the news was to ask, “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Well,” said Paul, “There are some Roskill swimmers who want me to stay as their coach. My swimmers will continue to use the Mt Albert pool. That’s not a problem. But I need to find a vehicle to facilitate their transfer and new club registration.”

“That’s not a problem, Paul. If you’d like to come back to West Auckland Aquatics I am sure the committee would love to help.” I said. My mention to “coming back” was a reference to the fact that Paul had been a swimming member at West Auckland Aquatics during the Ross Anderson coaching era.

Two weeks later and the details have been sorted and resolved. Paul and his team have access to West Auckland Aquatics. We see it as a move of huge importance to New Zealand swimming. Why is that, you are entitled to ask?

Well for years Peter Miskimmin and Swimming New Zealand have spent many millions promoting the idea that the best form of elite sport coaching is a centralized sole delivery model. Miskimmin and his mates promoted a series of coaching messiahs; Jan Cameron, Scott Talbot, Thomas Ansorg, an English coach whose name escapes me, Mark Regan and now David Lyles. It never worked. Miskimmin’s sole-operator model was too limited too narrow in its focus. As the French and the Americans have demonstrated, coaching strength lies in diversity. Swimmers who need a sprint based program (Amanda Beard, Aaron Peirsol, Jason Lezak, Lenny Krayzelburg, Jessica Hardy, Rebecca Soni and Oussama Mellouli) can find a home with Dave Salo in Los Angeles. Swimmers who need a distance based program can go to Bowman in Baltimore (Phelps) or Schubert in San Fransisco (Shirley Babashoff, Brian Goodell, Mike O’Brien, Janet Evans, Cynthia Woodhead, Lindsay Benko, Dara Torres and Kaitlin Sandeno).

In New Zealand swimmers have only the philosophy of Miskimmin’s chosen one at the Millennium Institute or nothing at all. You don’t have to know much about swimming or coaching to understand that success in Miskimmin’s environment is a matter of Lotto odds luck. That’s what I dislike. It’s the same as Olympic Champion Rebecca Soni having to swim with Bob Bowman when she knows Dave Salo’s program is the one for her. It’s Miskimmin doctrinal idiocy gone wild.

So how is this relevant to recent events at West Auckland Aquatics? Well, you see Paul is probably New Zealand’s purest example of Salo style coaching. Paul is what is commonly referred to as a “sprint-based” coach. I’m no expert at how this sort of program works. What I do know is that Salo and Paul Kent have demonstrated it does work. It successfully produces champions. Some swimmers prosper and thrive in a sprint based program.

My coaching on the other hand is a pure Lydiard “distance-based” program. Obviously I do know how this works. I spent months and years learning at the feet of two masters, Lydiard and Jelley. I equally know that “distance-based” programs work. Some swimmers prosper and thrive in a distance based program.

And that’s the exciting bit about all this. West Auckland Aquatics are about to offer something beyond Miskimmin’s comprehension. In the one organization, swimmers can choose between a successful coach in the mould of Dave Salo and another coach who employs a distance-based program. Gone is the unthinking bigotry of Miskimmin and Swimming New Zealand’s one path only approach. West Auckland Aquatics and Paul Kent have replaced monotony with diversity, based on a shared, sincere admiration for two methods of coaching that successfully produce swimming champions.

And so, Paul welcome back to West Auckland Aquatics. Welcome also to your swimmers. It will be a real treat to witness first-hand your progress. We will provide you with all the support possible. It will certainly be an awful lot of fun practicing diversity. After all we’ve been preaching it for long enough.

 

Many readers will have heard how Swimming New Zealand decided to terminate the membership of the West Auckland Aquatics club. No one, even at Swimming New Zealand, blamed me for the club’s problems. In fact I voted for the Swimming New Zealand rescue plan. Two committee members decided they did not want the Federation’s help. The club paid dearly for that decision.

I moved on and spent a year coaching swimmers in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah. Three of the swimmers in my Saudi team were refugees from war ravaged Syria. Life is not easy for Syrians in Saudi Arabia. Because of their nationality they are excluded from government swimming pools. They are not allowed to take part in Saudi Federation competitions and are, of course, excluded from national teams. They are not allowed to own property or open a bank account. It is a life of unimaginable deprivation. I was only allowed to include them in my training squad after arguing that their presence would benefit the team’s Saudi nationals.

One of the Syrians, Eyad, was the team’s best swimmer. He swims 50m and 100m freestyle in 23 and 52 seconds. When I left Saudi I made sure he was in good coaching hands. I also kept in touch with his coach offering any help that I could. Because Eyad was unable to compete in Saudi and because of the Syrian travel restrictions that made it impossible for him to compete in most of the world’s countries I agreed to talk to Immigration New Zealand about Eyad visiting New Zealand to compete in the 2017 Winter Short Course Championships.

Immigration New Zealand was very positive and approved a visitor’s visa. No reader can appreciate the gratitude Eyad has for Immigration New Zealand’s generosity. From his world where everyone says no, where powerful countries destroy the place he calls home and where the opportunities we take for granted simply do not exist, someone in New Zealand had said, “Yes, Eyad you can visit and you can swim in the national championships. We will not exclude you simply because your passport says Syria.” On Skype Eyad openly wept as he showed me the New Zealand visitor’s visa in his passport.

And a week ago Eyad arrived in New Zealand. But before he boarded the airplane Saudi authorities demanded to know how a Syrian had obtained a New Zealand visa. Was it a forgery he was asked. I have agreed to look after Eyad while he is in New Zealand and supervise his training. I am not his coach and am not being paid for my assistance. I am only too pleased to help, to maybe address slightly the hurt that had affected most of Eyad’s life. I am delighted to report that the Millennium Pool staff and the Waterhole Club have been wonderful. Eyad has trained in their pools through the first week. Millennium Pool and Waterhole Club – thank you. We have received fantastic support that has made me proud of my country and the generosity of its people and its welcome.

That is until today.

You see this morning we needed to get Eyad’s training done quickly and so instead of driving across to the Millennium Pool we went to the West Wave Pool in Henderson. We paid for a swimmer and a spectator and Eyad got started on his training. I was not involved and so apart from timing four lengths I spent my time reading the Guardian newspaper on my IPhone.

Eyad was close to finishing when someone called the pool “Program Manager” sat down beside me. She demanded that Eyad and I leave the pool and ordered us not to return. I obviously asked why? It has been two years since I last attended the West Wave Pool. The only information I could get was that the Pool Manager, Alex, “felt uncomfortable” with us being in the pool. The Program Manager could not tell us of any event or episode that caused us to be evicted. There was no sin, just an “uncomfortable” Pool Manager. No crime it seems but certainly a conviction and punishment. We packed our bags and left.

I think the thing that annoys me most about the behavior of Alex today has been explaining his decision to a Syrian refugee. Because you see no matter how strong my assurances, as far as Eyad is concerned, his Syrian citizenship has caused yet another foreigner to deny him a chance in life. I am sad that the behavior of a rogue pool manager has besmirched and damaged the reputation of my country and this city as a welcoming and warm place to visit. I am sad that a rogue pool manager did not have the courage or integrity to come to the pool himself, but cowered in his office, while a subordinate was sent to do his dirty work.

Up close and personal it is easy to see why young Syrian men become disaffected and angry. When the behaviour of people like Alex is repeated day after day, week after week, year after year it is not surprising that the occasional victim cracks and lashes out. When the opportunity to progress in life is unreasonably denied, through no personal fault, bitter hurt is understandable. I hoped we were showing Eyad there was a generous side to the world: there are caring and helpful people that take pride in giving their fellow human beings a chance.

Today the West Wave Pool Manager and his Program Manager destroyed that hope. I know that in Eyad’s mind the Russians bombed his family out of their home and today the Auckland Council bombed him out of their pool. Worse they were prepared to lay waste to his swimming dreams. For Eyad dreams are just about all he has left. And even they came under attack today. Both Council employees should be asked to explain how their “uncomfortable feelings” justified that destruction.

 

         

By David

The heavens themselves, the planets and this centre

Observe degree, priority and place,

Insisture, course, proportion, season, form,

Office and custom, in all line of order.

Shakespeare knew what was right. I suppose he would not have known that his reference to “centre” would one day be taken to mean the West Wave Aquatic Centre in New Zealand. However he was clearly a man who understood that the universe had a natural order that was best not tampered with. For this reason, regular Swimwatch readers may recall my dismay when I returned to New Zealand and discovered that at Auckland Swimming events our club had been moved from its traditional prime location to some far corner of our home pool. Not much respect for degree, priority and place in all that, I thought. However, today at the Auckland Junior Championships natural order was restored and West Auckland Aquatics assumed its rightful premier position. I am told that in the future we may have to share this spot. But for today all is well; “office and custom, in line of order.”

After the first day’s competition I stayed on to witness the Grand Final of the Auckland Swimming League. What was this new form of swimming like? Did it have something to add to the sport in New Zealand?

But before I consider the League I should discuss a story told to me by two independent competitors and a parent at the Swimming League event. Is it true that the relationship between the New Zealand Head Coach Mark Regan and the General Manager Performance and Pathways, Jan Cameron has deteriorated to such an extent that Regan has already handed in his notice or is about to resign? Were relations between the pair so poor in New Delhi that they could barely communicate? Is Regan going home to Australia for Christmas and not coming back? Is there a possibility that a rift between Regan and Cameron is being covered up while SNZ conclude discussions with SPARC on future funding? Does SNZ consider Regan disposable as it grooms the Millennium Institute for Cameron’s son, Scott Cameron, to assume the top job? If none of these things are true it would do SNZ well to specifically deny and refute each point. It is not good to have that sort of tittle-tattle running around an Auckland swimming pool. Swimming New Zealand cannot possibly want the “Herald on Sunday” to start digging into all this sort of stuff.

If any or all of these tales are true the Board of Swimming New Zealand needs to consider how the affair has been handled. Certainly the suggestion that SPARC is being misled would be most serious for the future of every swimmer involved in the sport. If Regan has resigned it will have a serious effect on the prospects of New Zealand swimmers at the London Olympic Games. Time is short. Two years and another four million dollars will go by very quickly. The position of Swimwatch is only to convey what is being said around the pool in order to allow those responsible to clarify exactly what is going on in the New Zealand High Performance Program. SNZ would do well to remember who is paying for this program.

And so, what did I think of the final of the Auckland Swimming League? There was a huge amount to admire. The atmosphere was great. There was a good crowd. The music was good and loud and exciting. The event attracted a large cross section of new and retired swimmers. The commentary was well informed. The meet was clearly fun. It came very close to merging the excitement of a Don King boxing promotion into a swimming pool setting. A couple of cheer leaders and I’d have felt right back at home in Florida watching the Dolphins and the Jets. The final of the Auckland Swimming League was unquestionably good for swimming.

For the purist however the League Final needed something extra to make it an unqualified success. It had all the hype of a Don King promotion; hype that Don King would have understood. It had an undercard of performance that was probably better than some of the undercards on a King promotion. What the League Final did not have and King always did, was an Ali and a Foreman, two of the world’s best, beating the hell out of each other. The core of a King event was world class. At its heart the core of the Auckland League was mediocre swimming. To be really successful that amount of excitement needs a quality, quality core. A few old Olympians and some out of shape Commonwealth swimmers did not provide enough substance. If the icing is that elaborate, the cake has to taste good as well.

Perhaps the money on offer ($20,000) will improve the quality of future events. However in the League format I think there needs to be a real championship at stake. That would give the new glamour and excitement and participation, the legitimacy of tradition and “real” competition.

It was an interesting evening. And tomorrow we go back to day two of the Auckland Junior Championships and yes our chairs will still be in their rightful spot; observing degree, priority and place.