By David

Swimming New Zealand is in the middle of an in-depth Review of its structure, its management and its sphere of operation. Everything about the organization is open to analysis; is the subject of critical examination. The CEO of SPARC, Peter Miskimmin pushed the Coalition of Regions into accepting the Review because he saw it as the only way left to inflict his socialist management model on yet another New Zealand sport. He’d already imposed centralized management structures on rowing, gymnastics and surf live-saving. All three are currently in various stages of being broke and broken. But Miskimmin does not care. The management of swimming was weak. The sport was completely dependent on Miskimmin for its financial survival. It was an ideal subject for the next SPARC invasion.

Swimwatch warned the Coalition of Regions not to trust SPARC. On a dark, wet night, lost on the top of Mount Whakapunaki, Miskimmin, Collins, Butler, Byrne and McDonald are not the first guys you’d chose as mates. In fact as far as captains of industry go they remind me of Captain Francesco Schettino. He was the Captain of that Italian cruise ship that sank close to the Italian coast a couple of weeks ago. Captain Schettino has been accused of leaving the sinking ship while hundreds of his passengers were fighting for their lives. You’d be excused for thinking that he may have learned that trick from Miskimmin and his friends. My warning to the Coalition of Regions was to never shake hands with those guys without carefully counting your fingers afterwards.

Well, the Coalition of Regions ignored that advice. They were conned by the smooth talking Miskimmin. They trusted SPARC. And now the Coalition of Regions and the sport of swimming will pay for that trust. The Mediation Agreement that set up the Review silenced the opposition. In the hiatus of silence; with their rivals gagged, the Board of Swimming New Zealand and SPARC have run riot.

During a period of management Review, good business practice demands that structural and management changes are put on hold. A time of Review is a time to call a holiday on even normal business initiatives. But that hasn’t happened here; not by a country mile. In a series of schemes, that must have been preplanned, Swimming New Zealand has embarked on a raft of conspiracies. While the rest of us have slept, Swimming New Zealand has been very busy indeed.

They have altered their rules to ban people like me from their National Championships. Because I dare to exercise the right to question the motives of the crooks that run this organization, Swimming New Zealand introduced a measure that denied me the right to coach my swimmers at the New Zealand Olympic Trials. My swimmers are not political pawns in my debate with Swimming New Zealand. It is none of their business. However there is a part of me that wants to see one or two of my swimmers swim really well so that main stream reporters in New Zealand can appreciate the hurt I feel at being denied the right to wish my swimmers well or congratulate them on a job well done. We have worked very hard for that moment and I do take it hard when Miskimmin and Butler and their friends deny me the right to enjoy it.

They have established a High Performance Unit in Wellington. The current Review needs to consider whether Swimming New Zealand has any right to be involved in the preparation of competitive swimmers. Certainly the evidence of sixteen years and sixteen million dollars suggests that they are very poor at the job. Recognizing that the dismal performance of the North Shore High Performance Unit might lead thinking members of the Review to the conclusion that private enterprise can prepare elite athletes better Miskimmin initiated two master strokes of deception. He appointed Gary Hurring to the Review Committee and then paid him to Head the Wellington High Performance Unit. Miskimmin just bought off a New Zealand Sportsman of the Year and his vote. There is no way Gary can vote to end his own source of income. And second, Miskimmin’s Wellington High Performance Unit has created a structure so expensive, so complex that any Review would be excused for reaching the conclusion that it was all too difficult to unravel. Game, set and match to the bad buggers.

And now Swimming New Zealand has circulated a document called, “Proposed changes to the SNZ Regulations and Events Information”. This masterpiece contains the next three moves in Swimming New Zealand’s campaign of dishonesty. The proposed changes are not good. However the method of their introduction during a period of Review positively stinks. The reputation of Miskimmin and Butler is in tatters – or it should be.

The first change proposes that, “After the successful staging of a combined open and age group short course championship in August last year it is proposed to maintain a combined event using a 5 day format going forward.” I believe that’s not a bad idea. However Swimming New Zealand has no right to make the change in the middle of a period of Review.

The second change proposes that, “the format that we currently have for the State 2012 New Zealand Open Championships makes it impossible to select relay team members for the London Olympics, as in a couple of cases the relay event occurs prior to the individual event. This will therefore require a change to the sessions that relays are held in.” Here again, not a bad suggestion but made at a most suspect moment in absolute violation of the agreement made between Swimming New Zealand, the Coalition of Regions and Peter Miskimmin.

The third change proposes that, “It is Swimming New Zealand’s goal to ensure that all events used to achieve qualifying times for New Zealand Championships and for use overseas are of an appropriate standard and swimmers are given the best possible opportunity to achieve their goal times. In an effort to ensure this we are proposing that an event ratification process is established.” The first two innocuous changes are simply to disguise the danger inherent in this classic piece of Swimming New Zealand treachery; to lull the reader into a sense that all this is boring house-keeping before sliding through a measure of seismic magnitude. It is a classic Swimming New Zealand ploy. It’s the way Miskimmin and his friends do just about everything. As we have said before the buggers would not know how to lie straight in bed. This move simply proposes that every swim meet should be subject to a Swimming New Zealand registration process. Recognize the deception? Within a year Comet and Aqua Hawks and West Auckland Aquatics and Wharanui and every other club in the country will be paying Swimming New Zealand a fortune to register meets those clubs have been staging for thirty years for free. This is simply another Miskimmin led, Swimming New Zealand rip off.

By David

“CONTRARY TO HOW IT MAY LOOK, I AM NOT ACTUALLY RECEIVING A HEFTY SALARY FROM WELLINGTON TO KEEP THE SWIMWATCH PUBLISHING CAPABILITIES OFFLINE :)”

Thus ended Jane’s most recent email to me. During the break, Jane and Edward have found it necessary to shift the website to another server and indulged in a heap of other technical stuff that I am not qualified to discuss. [Editorial note: I broke everything. Sorry everyone. We're back now.] Anyway, sorry for the break. While we’ve been away there has been a lot going on in the corridors of Swimming New Zealand power. We can’t wait to begin the discussion again.

But before we do that, there was one story about to be posted when we disappeared. Here is that story. I hope you enjoy.

Introducing Heidi

Jane’s reaction was to say, “Wow, worldwide there must be so much waste of people like that.” I think she’s right. Here are the events that prompted the comment. See if you agree with her conclusion. In this story, the names of almost everyone and everything have been changed to protect the innocent and the guilty.

About ten years ago I had a ten year old swimming in my Bronze Squad. I know this mainly because Heidi has told me. She is now twenty and has joined the WAQ Gold Squad. Vaguely, I do remember her ten years ago. Tall and skinny; a bit gangly in fact and not too keen on the Lydiard diet of 1000 meter medleys. I do remember thinking that she perfectly matched the build that Mike Regner, the East German National Coach who worked for me for several years, said that regime looked for in a potential champion swimmer.

Heidi and I went our separate ways when I left New Zealand to coach in the US Virgin Islands. She joined the biggest and best team in the district and for a few months was well coached. Her swimming made good progress. Her coach ordered her to swim a lot more butterfly than I had but he avoided the 1000 medleys – a quality that Heidi found endearing. Unfortunately for Heidi, another coach besides me was about to abandon her. Her good coach in Hawke’s Bay was offered a job in Auckland, and sensibly moved on to bigger and better things.

Heidi’s club appointed a new coach to lead the team. I don’t know his name so won’t need to lie to you about that. He was one of those Sergeant Major coaches. I can’t stand them. You must know what I mean; everyone in the pool on the stroke of five, no one allowed to miss an interval, twenty minutes of severe calisthenics before every swim, everything timed by two stop watches surgically attached to the owner’s neck.

If you meet Heidi today it will not surprise you to hear that she was not at all impressed by this parade of military authority. Her free spirit was not going to be ordered about by some legend in his own life time, tin pot tyrant. She asked her parents if she could leave and join a small rural club closer to home. The club had a very different coach whose style of coaching was very different from his colleague up the road, a quality much more to Heidi’s liking. Heidi will not agree with my next observation but I think this relaxed period in her swimming development came at just the right time; fun, but never likely to produce an Olympic Champion. At sixteen years old, the Olympic Champion dream was best put on hold anyway.

And then another coach abandoned Heidi. Her third coach also left the area. However, his legacy was important. Heidi was hooked on swimming. But was there anyone around who could convert that passion into results? Not in this part of rural New Zealand there wasn’t. The committee appointed another new person to coach their club. We’ll call him Sam. A couple of years went by and in that time Sam’s contribution to Heidi’s swimming included the following coaching gems.

• I don’t think you should swim in out-of-district competitions. When you swim badly people know you are coached by me and it reflects badly on my reputation.
• I don’t need a reason for asking you to do this training. Just do it.
• At your age it’s probably about time you found something else to do.
• You are not fast enough nor a good enough trainer to swim in the club’s competitive group. From Monday next week you will swim in the oldies keep fit lane.

For Heidi the frustration was unbearable. She knew she was good. Bit by bit, this “coach” who knew less about the sport of swimming than she did was stealing it away from her. Just as certainly as if he surgically removed her arms and legs he was killing her dream. Swimming New Zealand won’t let me on the pool deck at their National Championships because I dare to criticise their ridiculous organization. And yet they gladly provide Sam with a pass. Swimming New Zealand want swimmers to be safe? Then do something about Sam and those others who cause real damage. Jane is 100% right. It is such a waste. And it must happen everywhere.

What could Heidi do?

Well, what she did was call West Auckland Aquatics and we just love her sort of story. Just keep telling us we are no good. Go on, make our day. Heidi lives in Auckland now and in the past seven weeks has swum 79, 73, 69, 47, 70, 70 and 65 kilometres a week. We included her in our Auckland Championship’s relay team with Rhi, Jess and Jane. They beat the North Shore Club in a provincial relay championship for the first time in about six years. This athlete that was not good enough for Sam’s competitive squad was an Auckland Open Champion. Last Wednesday in the middle of a 70 kilometre week she swam a set of 5x100s from a push start. Her fastest was 1.03 and she averaged 1.05. Best of all on Thursday she managed not one 1000 medley but 4×1000 medley without comment. Last night her set of 10×200 averaged 2.22. The 20 year old Heidi has changed.

For a few months, Heidi’s career hung by a thread. Could she escape Swimming New Zealand’s disastrous guidance? Could she survive? Or was she going to be part of the 90% drop out rate that characterizes this Mike Byrne-led sport. I honestly think Swimming New Zealand don’t care. If Heidi disappears then Heidi just wasn’t up to it. The truth however is that when a Heidi disappears usually it’s because the environment Swimming New Zealand created is rotten to the core.

By David

Today I received a reply from Peter Miskimmin. His letter is reproduced below. I am grateful that Miskimmin has taken the time to reply to my email. However, in my view, Miskimmin’s letter is full of the deception and guile that characterizes much of New Zealand sport. The most brilliant piece of trickery is in the third paragraph. Here is what the letter says, “SPARC did not direct the Board of Swimming NZ about any of its decisions. The terms of reference for the two nominee directors, as agreed between SPARC and Swimming NZ, state that “All decision making whatsoever including whether to accept or act on any input from the (nominee directors) is retained by Swimming NZ”.

Do you see the classic sting? Whatever Miskimmin’s hired guns on the Board of Swimming New Zealand say; whatever intimidation they exercise; whatever stand over tactics they employ, whatever financial destitution they threaten it can never be inappropriate because Miskimmin has a piece of paper that says, irrespective of the provocation, every decision is down to Swimming New Zealand.

What a sick joke. Does Miskimmin really expect swimming people to swallow the line that anything Miskimmin does is lawful because he has a piece of paper signed by Swimming New Zealand that says anything he does is lawful. The last people to use a defence like that were found guilty in Nuremberg in 1946.

Well, SPARC I don’t give a damn what your agreement with Swimming New Zealand says. It is of no concern to me that you have conned Swimming New Zealand into signing a permanent get out of jail card. When your hired guns go into a Swimming New Zealand Board Meeting and threaten ruin; when they use the financial might of SPARC to change the vote of the Swimming New Zealand Board – then that is wrong beyond belief. Miskimmin, you can hide behind semantics. You can use linguistic deception in an attempt to justify the unjustifiable. But your representatives, and therefore you, acted like school yard bullies. You deserve to be taken down and we will work for as long as it takes to see that happen.

The rest of the letter is pretty much empty words. With arrogance unique to public servants Miskimmin attempts to insult me by asking me not to bother him any further because I am merely a “member of the public who was not present at the meeting.” Well, Peter Miskimmin, members of the public are not second class flotsam for you to ignore. You are employed by us. Your Minister is elected by us. The Ombudsman’s Office was established to protect us. I will not be palmed off to your puppets that sit on the Swimming New Zealand Board. I will deal directly with you whether you like it or not. Because you are the problem. And beware the reply you have given in this letter is weak and will not work with the members of the public that read Swimwatch.

I will now write to the Minister of Sport complaining that SPARC’s representatives misused their position on the Swimming New Zealand Board and improperly forced three members to alter their vote to decline the nomination of Butler and Wrightson.

Here is a copy of Miskimmin’s reply.

By David

I have tonight written to the CEO of SPARC, Peter Miskimmin. The letter is copied below and is fairly self explanatory. We will publish Miskimmin’s reply when it is received – if it is received.

Dear Peter,

You may be aware of the concern felt by many involved in the sport of swimming by the events reported by Andrew Alderson in the Herald on Sunday on Sunday November 20 2011. I refer to the following extract.

“The SNZ board consists of six directors elected at the AGM. They can appoint two further directors – commonly referred to as independents – to the board. Butler and Jane Wrightson put forward their names for further terms on the board as independents until next year’s AGM. Their re-appointments were rejected by a 4:3 vote.

At that point McDonald and Cull joined the three who voted for the return of Butler and Wrightson and exited the meeting. It left the board incapable of continuing without the requisite quorum of 60 per cent. Cull is alleged to have returned later. He told the remaining four board members they needed to change their vote or the Sparc advisors would leave and the sport would be reduced to further dysfunctional depths. The Sparc advisors were apparently concerned consequences of the previous vote could result in further media criticism of the sport. Consequently three of those who voted against the return of Butler and Wrightson reverted their decision; one board member remained against. The decision to repeal the initial vote underlines how much influence Sparc has over swimming’s sovereignty. McDonald and Cull have a brief to maintain the status quo where possible. This precedent suggests they have the power to continue doing it.”

Further investigation has revealed the detail of what transpired. I understand that the meeting voted on the reappointment of Wrightson and Butler and on the appointment of Butler as Chairman/President. All the appointment remits were lost by four votes to three. The four elected members voting against the motions to reappoint Wrightson and Butler as the two independent Directors were Speer, Sutton, Pullon and Fitch. The three Board members voting for the appointments were Berge, Clarke and Wrightson. It needs to be noted that Butler was absent from this meeting. Once the vote of reappointment to the Board and appointment to the position of Chairman/President was lost, the three members who had voted for the appointments and the two SPARC Board observers (Kerry McDonald and Nelson Cull) left the meeting. I understand they left after expressing their disgust at the appointments being rejected by the Board. Fifteen minutes later the three directors and the two SPARC observers returned to the meeting. I understand that Nelson Cole proceeded to lecture and harangue the four negative voters and ordered them to change their vote. I understand there was a clear threat made that SPARC’s funding was at risk if the votes of the dissenting Board Members were not changed and the appointments proposed in these remits were not confirmed by the Board in a revote. The discussion took twenty minutes and was clearly a case of governmental/political interference in the management of a sporting organization. Cole called the Board dysfunctional and said he would report to SPARC that it was not capable of managing the sport. He would recommend that the current Review of the sport be discontinued. These were all clear threats to the Board of Swimming New Zealand by a New Zealand government agency; a clear case of intimidation using the power of the state. A second vote was ordered. Three of the four dissenting Directors folded and changed their vote to approve the appointments. Only Suzanne Speer continued to vote against the appointments.

I am sure you appreciate the concern swimming people feel at the events described above. I am resolved to take every step possible to ensure your organization does not continue to manipulate the management of the sport. This was a properly taken vote of the Swimming New Zealand Board that SPARC had no authority to change. Our legal advice is that SPARC has acted unlawfully?

SPARC can only act in keeping with the functions available to SPARC under the Sport and Recreation New Zealand Act 2002 or any functions given SPARC by the Minister responsible for sport.

The only provision in the Act with any possible connection with SPARC’s role in using Nelson Cull / Kerry McDonald to obtain a reversal of the SNZ’s board’s intentions is Clause (i) that says SPARC can, “facilitate the resolution of disputes between persons or organizations involved in physical recreation and sport” But SPARC’s power under (i) above relates to dispute resolution only; creating an environment for discussion and conciliation; acting in a mediation role for example. SPARC isn’t permitted to meddle inside a sport’s organization or intimidate or take control of that organization’s governing body.

So, there is a case that SPARC has acted illegally. Is there any right of legal redress? Before going down that path those involved with me in this action have resolved to follow the following course of action.

1. Write to you as the CEO of SPARC requesting an apology from SPARC be published on the Swimming New Zealand website and that the original vote to reject the appointment of Butler and Wrightson to the Swimming New Zealand Board be reinstated and stand as the decision of the Board.
2. If that approach is rejected to write to the Minister of Sport setting out the circumstances of SPARC’s actions and asking the Minister to order a SPARC apology and the reinstatement of the initial vote of the Board.
3. If the approach to the Minister is rejected to file a complaint with the Ombudsman asking his office to order a SPARC apology and the reinstatement of the initial vote of the Board.
4. If the ruling of the Ombudsman is negative we will consider asking the Court to rule on SPARC’s involvement in this Board meeting in a civil action.

I hope you can appreciate the depth of our concern at the illegitimate power your organization has exercised over the affairs of swimming in New Zealand. It would be preferable to avoid the steps detailed above. With this in mind we would ask and sincerely hope SPARC will be able to apologize on Swimming New Zealand’s website and reinstate the Board’s vote to reject the appointment of Wrightson and Butler.

I look forward to your reply to this email within seven days. If we fail to hear from you or the terms of this email are rejected in this time we will proceed to the next step of contacting your Minister.

Regards

David Wright

Swim Coach

By David

West Auckland Aquatics’ fastest swimmers are working their way through 70 to 100 kilometres a week. The kilometres are ticking by at a healthy four kilometres an hour. With a self motivated group like this there is time for the coach to ponder the condition of swimming in New Zealand. So much of what goes on these days is done behind closed doors; in secret. Inevitably that leads to a succession of conspiracy theories – each one more bizarre than the next. But are they bizarre? Perhaps not. Here is what I think has happened since the Regions agreed to a wholesale review of swimming a few weeks ago.

The first sign of SPARC’s unacceptable appetite for power came when the CEO of SPARC, Peter Miskimmin, ordered a properly taken vote of the Swimming New Zealand Board to be overturned. By a vote of 4 to 3 the Board of Swimming New Zealand voted to reject the appointment of Wrightson and Butler to the Board. Democracy, meeting procedure, the rule of law – none of that concerned Miskimmin. He ordered the vote to be overturned and that’s what happened. It stinks, it’s wrong, it’s inexcusable. I have no doubt that Miskimmin will claim that the interests of stability justified his intervention. Every tin-pot dictator in history has made the same claim. Caligula said it was “disloyalty to the state” that justified his bad behaviour. Lincoln brushed aside the Bill of Rights to “Save the Union”. Germany used “lebensraum or living space” as justification for war. Papa Doc claimed that “saving his poor Negro Republic” justified unspeakable atrocities. They were wrong and so is Miskimmin.

Then I made an Official Information Act request for a copy of the Agreement reached between the Regions and SPARC at their Wellington meeting. Miskimmin wrote to me claiming that the Agreement was commercially sensitive and would sour relationships between SPARC, Swimming New Zealand and the Regions if a copy was given to a West Auckland swimming coach. That was clearly rubbish and so I filed a complaint with the Ombudsman. With an ounce of luck the Ombudsman will see through Miskimmin’s deception and will order him to provide a copy of the Agreement. The whole process reflects badly on Miskimmin and his organization. The management of sport should not be about secret deals hidden from those who commit their lives to achieving athletic success. I can only hope the Ombudsman appreciates the importance of my request. There is no reason for this Agreement to be hidden from the membership of the sport. It is only kept secret because that’s the way Miskimmin does business – in dark alleys, behind closed doors.

And then I wrote to FINA with a formal complaint. Peter Miskimmins organization is in clear breech of FINA Rule 13 which prohibits government organizations interfering in the management of national swimming bodies. Not a day goes by that SPARC does not breech that rule. Their involvement in Swimming New Zealand goes way beyond interference. Peter Miskimmin and SPARC run the show. They decide who will be on the Board, what structural changes will be made and who will be appointed to senior staff positions. One of the most delightful moments in my life occurred recently when I read a letter from Chris Moller, the Chairman of the Swimming Review Working Group. In it Moller said, “This group will formulate recommendations separately and independently of SPARC.” How outrageously funny is that? Nothing, not a damn thing in swimming these days is done “separately and independently of SPARC.” Miskimmin’s fingerprints are all over everything that goes on down there. New Zealand’s swimming results in London, the conclusions of the Working Group, Ross Butlers and Mike Byrne’s next cup of coffee belong lock, stock and barrel to Peter Miskimmin. He appointed himself to the Steering Committee that runs the Working Group remember. He made the phone call to appoint Chris Moller. How separate is that? There is no “separately and independently” in the Peter Miskimmin world. Oh and I have not heard back from FINA in response to my complaint. I do hope they take it seriously. Their sport is in deep trouble down here in New Zealand.

Most recently, we have the decision to set up a High Performance Centre in Wellington. This decision fascinates me. Clearly the intention was to make such a significant change and enter into such important financial commitments that, along with the Millennium Institute in Auckland, would compel the Review Working Group to leave intact Swimming New Zealand’s control of elite swimming. The level of involvement is already so great that the Working Group have no option but to leave things as they are. Miskimmin has outsmarted the Regions just as I said he would. But how do we know this sleight of hand was down to Miskimmin. Well, I’ve met Butler – as smooth as silk, full of charm and “hail fellow well met”, but without much in the way of substance. I just don’t think Butler has the balls to set up a Wellington High Performance Centre knowing that the Working Group is about to begin its Review. A decision like that takes better than the likes of Butler. No, my guess is that Miskimmin has told McDonald and Cull to order the Swimming New Zealand Board to approve the Wellington initiative. The “dead of night” secrecy and the lack of any formal announcement are classic Miskimmin. He has a clear goal of what he wants the Review Working Group to decide and he’s putting structures in place that ensure he gets it.

The real problem with SPARC’s invasive interference in the affairs of Swimming New Zealand is that Miskimmin, McDonald and Cull know nothing about the product. They have no idea what it takes to win a swimming race and in every decision they make it shows. Twice I have been in meetings where Miskimmin has told me he will never intervene in the internal management structure of a national sport. I hope the content of this report prove that twice Miskimmin has lied to me. His finger prints are all over the affairs of swimming in New Zealand. He is as guilty as all hell. For the health of swimming, I hope FINA and the Ombudsman help Swimwatch nail the scoundrel.