By David

I begin this story with a heavy heart. The New Zealand Swimming Championships have just ended. It was the most contemptible and depressing version of this meet I have ever attended. The meet now reflects perfectly the character and personality of the person who has led this sport in New Zealand for a decade; full of intrigue and deception, politics and graft. It was a most disheartening sight.

But before I address the concerns that have brought swimming to its knees, I am pleased to report that Swimwatch has hired a prominent firm of attorneys to investigate and report on the decision of the Swimming New Zealand Board to alter the published minutes of the 2010 Annual General Meeting. In particular, I have asked the attorneys to consider whether the SNZ Board’s decision to remove a properly passed remit from the minutes is in any way illegal or unconstitutional and what further action they would recommend. We will report to you in full on their findings. As you can well imagine this type of action is something Swimwatch can ill afford. However the sport of swimming can even less afford to have a group at its head who alter the course of history if it doesn’t suit them.

Jan Cameron’s ways are an abomination. They deny all the good this proud little country represents. I walked into the pool on the first day of competition to find that Cameron’s Millennium Institute swimmers were permanently located in privileged seats next to the New Zealand selectors while the rest of us were expected to shift around the pool to a new location every day. The Millennium swimmers arrived in their black and silver outfits already adorned with the silver fern. There is no need for any of them to win an international swimming race – they already have the finest seats in the building and have become heirs to a uniform their predecessors had to earn. I have the privilege of living in a home where my wife and my daughter represented New Zealand in track and swimming. I have also coached a dozen athletes who have represented four different nations. I know the effort it took them to earn and the value they put on their national uniform. New Zealand’s uniform is not for some Australian to give away to anybody that turns up at her Millennium Institute.

I have also been fortunate enough to attend swim meets with swimmers whose names you might recognize – Michael Phelps, Ryan Lochte, Dara Torres, Amanda Weir, Ian Thorp, Matt Biondi and several other similarly prominent names. Without exception these swimmers sat with their club mates. They mixed happily with those who would never progress past the heats. They displayed a humility that kept them in touch with reality; that kept them aware that they must perform. Even at this meet names like Danyon Loader, Rhi Jeffrey, Gary Hurring, Paul Kent and Jon Winter sat with the common herd. But with four Olympic medals and a dozen World Championship finals between them I guess they represent the sport the way it used to be. The way it was before Cameron.

I owe New Zealand’s Head Coach, Mark Regan, an apology. Here, at Swimwatch, we assumed Regan was a willing Cameron puppet. We were wrong. He was actually her pawn. He was employed as a temporary stand in, to fill in time before Cameron could complete her real mission of appointing her son to the position of New Zealand’s National Coach. At these National Championships Cameron took the next step towards assembling her family dynasty. The team of coaches selected to accompany New Zealand’s swimmers to the World Championships excluded the National Coach, Mark Regan. The three coaches that will travel with the team are Cameron’s son, Scott Talbot, Christchurch coach Leanne Speechley and Invercargill coach Jeremy Duncan. I would be surprised if Regan did not see this as the insult, Cameron certainly intended. He will resign and Cameron will announce that her son will reluctantly step in to save Swimming New Zealand in its hour of need; mission accomplished. But really, you would have to be pretty bloody stupid to believe it was any way to run a national sport. For four years Swimwatch has been pleading for the sport to stand-up to the Cameron dictatorship. This time perhaps someone is listening.

I watched Scott Talbot closely during the Woman’s 100 freestyle final. The race was a essentially a head to head contest between a swimmer from the Millennium Institute, Tash Hind, and a swimmer who left Scott Talbot ten weeks ago to be coached in the United States, Hayley Palmer. You can tell a lot about a person by the way they react in circumstances like that. Well, in this case Tash Hind won and Scott Talbot danced all over Hayley Palmer. He pumped the air and beat his chest. They say sport does not make character, but certainly reveals it. What was revealed in this instance was most unpleasant. Swimming New Zealand with Scott Talbot in charge will be a nasty place. Good manners, breeding and dignity will recede further into our past. Mark Regan has done a good job in exceptionally difficult circumstances. He should be going to the World Championships in China. We wish him better in the future than he has been dealt here.

The announcement of the World Championship team was a mystery wrapped up in an enigma. I was pleased to see “B” qualifiers, Hayley Palmer, Dylan Dunlop-Barrett and Matthew Stanley, selected. One thing I don’t understand though. While Hayley Palmer’s selection is a good one and well deserved, I’d have thought Cameron would have preferred to have her finger nails removed than select the swimmer who rejected her son’s coaching. I’d love to know what caused Cameron sufficient grief; what put her under enough pressure that she included New Zealand’s fastest female swimmer on the team. We will never know but there must have been something. It’s the only time I’ve seen her chicken out of anything. Perhaps she is afraid of the SPARC investigation. I hope so.

Cameron’s influence on the sport of swimming in New Zealand has been awful. The National Championships are not a patch on what they used to be. Ironically though it was Cameron who provided one of the event’s best moments. A swimmer who had been in Cameron’s office recently was telling me about the visit. In a voice positively complete with awe she said, “There is a name plate that goes all the way across Cameron’s desk.” With a title like “Swimming New Zealand General Manager of Performance and Pathways”, I guess it probably does. With an once of luck though, it won’t be there much longer.

From our Club, Jessica Marston performed best, improving her 100 freestyle by one second, her 200 by the same amount, her 400 by four seconds and her 800 by ten seconds; just reward for 664 kilometers she swam in this season’s eight weeks of build up aerobic conditioning.

By David

Writing a blog is occasionally all too much. The critics, tiredness and other pressing issues intervene to make the politics of Project Vanguard and Jan Cameron’s failings seem trivial and unimportant. And then events occur that lift the spirit and compel a return to normality.

Today the Auckland and Bay of Plenty Swimming Regions provided two such events. Swimming Auckland adapted their March Auckland Open Championships to allow participation by all swimmers 12 years of age and over. The new programme will be some compensation for swimmers affected by the Division Two National’s postponement, caused by the Christchurch earthquake. But more importantly, as a result of the support of the West Wave Aquatic Centre, Swim T3, Speedo and also CLM/Swim Magic, Auckland will donate 100% of the proceeds from this meet to a charity associated with the earthquake disaster relief.

Swimming Bay of Plenty has agreed to host a new meet at the Rotorua Aquatic Centre on 18th to 20th March. Their meet will offer an opportunity for those who were preparing to swim at the Division Two Nationals, the chance to swim in Rotorua. Swimming Bay of Plenty has drawn on the wide support of their community including the Rotorua Aquatic Centre, Swim T3 and Speedo. The same as Swimming Auckland, 100% of the proceeds from their meet will be donated to an earthquake charity.

This next comment is not playing politics with the pain of Christchurch. It’s not, because it’s important and it’s true. The sort of initiative you see coming from the Auckland and Bay of Plenty Regions will disappear if Project Vanguard is allowed to proceed. Canterbury is in the middle of a period of unimaginable distress. It is appropriate that fellow Regions, fellow swimming folk, people like Jill Vernon was, come to the aid of friends in need of help. That won’t happen in the Project Vanguard world. Cathy Hemsworth has told us that emotion and feeling and care will be replaced with efficiency. Instead of good, gentle swimming people, we will have University trained slickness; corporate speak money men. The reason Project Vanguard should fail is perfectly framed by the two swim meets planned in March; when swimming people will look after swimming people.

It would be improper to criticise any contribution to Canterbury’s need for help. However I have to say that SNZ’s offer of the gross margin on the sale of a few dozen Division Two t-shirt is painfully inadequate. If that’s the way Hemsworth’s “modern management” works I pray I never need their help in the bush on a dark night.

This point was further highlighted at a swim meet I was at in Manurewa this morning. The coach of a small rural club introduced himself and said he enjoyed reading Swimwatch. I was amazed at the depth of feeling contained in his expression of concern about Project Vanguard. If he is representative of swimming’s grass roots, they don’t want a bar of Universities and corporate speak. Shortly after this discussion a long term Club administrator sat beside me and said, “David, can you explain why you are against Project Vanguard?” She said she had been at Hemsworth’s Counties’ presentation. Hemsworth had sold her the Project Vanguard brave new world.

I’ve met the Counties type of long term swimming administrator before. Beth Meade, my old coach from Gisborne, was just like her. These people are the foundation on which the sport in New Zealand was founded. They built the sport that produced Anna Simcic, Toni Jeffs, Phillippa Langrell, Antony Mosse, Paul Kingsman, Paul Kent, Jon Winter, Trent Bray, Anna Wilson and Danyon Loader. Swimmers that won world event medals before Cameron got hold of the sport and taught us all what a decade of losing looked like. They are the salt of this swimming world; they matter enormously.

However, of course the Manurewa lady was impressed with Hemsworth. She has devoted her life to swimming. She has nothing but its best interests at heart. She is fertile ground for anything that sounds like progress. Her good intentions are being exploited. In Biblical terms, Hemsworth is a false prophet in sheep’s clothing. Good people need to hear that there is another point of view.

They need to realize their own importance. Right now this sport is democratic. It is owned and managed by the Regions. The Manurewa lady and Counties’ coach have genuine power. Through the Counties Region the sport is owned by them; not some sporting carpetbagger or part time bank teller. For many years the Regions have done a good job of running swimming. And they still do. Recent events have confirmed that the Regions work well together when one of them has a problem. Byrne, Hemsworth, Coulter and Cameron don’t want this. They want to run things their way – lock, stock and barrel. They want a dictatorship. I have even heard executives on the SNZ and FINA gravy-train argue that because SNZ is the national organ of FINA, it is “essential” that SNZ have sole ownership of their affairs. They cannot be owned by anyone. Well that is just the twisted logic of an autocrat. There is no reason why the FINA representative in New Zealand cannot be democratically controlled. Our Government is; why shouldn’t SNZ?

Isn’t it interesting that the Auckland and Bay of Plenty initiative has not even been mentioned on Swimming New Zealand’s website. How pathetically churlish and small minded is that. Mind you it’s impossible to believe a word their website prints. Weeks after Swimwatch told SNZ that Hayley Palmer and Lauren Boyle were not swimming at the Millennium Institute; they still have both swimmers listed as members. The error is now deliberate which makes it a lie.

So, well done Auckland and Bay of Plenty Swimming and thank you to the Counties’ coach and administrator for an interesting morning. It is my real hope that the New Zealand you represent will prevail and that you will continue to exercise your version of this nation’s sense of fairness over the affairs of swimming in New Zealand.

PS – Further information on the Auckland and Bay of Plenty earthquake initiatives can be found in this PDF file.

By David

I was delighted to read a very special report written by Chris Rattue in the New Zealand Herald early this week. His article was primarily about the spat going on in Canoeing New Zealand over the position of Ben Fouhy and his eligibility for state funding. The report is reproduced on the New Zealand Herald website. It is worth a read in its entirety. Swimwatch will only quote the portions we think could just as easily be written about the perilous state of Swimming New Zealand. The place is falling apart and the comedy duo at the top doesn’t have a clue what to do about it.

Blanket regimes may have brought home medals under communist dictatorships. They worked a treat when ruthless coaches could frogmarch all the best young talent into gymnasiums, where they drilled the youngsters to exhaustion, drilled drugs into them, then spat the failures back into their bleak societies.

There is no serious evidence however that a government-funded system has done much for New Zealand sport, in encouraging growth or success on the world stage. Since Sparc – the latest funding conduit – arrived in 2003, things have only got worse. Tennis, golf, athletics, cricket, motor racing, speedway, swimming, triathlons, yachting, equestrian, canoeing … all of these and probably many more have seen far better days, and usually in the era when those who dreamed the dream did so without the government’s help and guidance.

The successors to Bruce McLaren, Denny Hulme, Chris Amon, John Walker, Peter Snell, Yvette Williams, Ivan Mauger, Russell Coutts, Onny Parun, Belinda Caldwell, Richard Hadlee, Mark Todd, Danyon Loader, Erin Baker and many, many more – where have they all gone?

The bottom line is that Sparc, and the environment it has encouraged, is hardly a roaring success. New Zealand sport reeks of problems brought about by an obsession with central control. Sparc is a political animal in charge of sport. This does not bode well. Backyard improvisation can no longer take on the world, but rugged individualism still can.

In 230 words Rattue has put his finger on the kernel of the problem. Jan Cameron marches along in the socialist state funded camp called the Millennium Institute. And the whole thing is not relevant. Olympic champions don’t come from that sort of environment any more. It’s a relic of the communist era, it’s out of date and it’s as effective as using a bucket to drain the Atlantic Ocean.

Michael Phelps trains away in his Baltimore Aquatics Swim Club. Ryan Lochte swims at his father’s club in Daytona Beach. Darra Torres prepared for Beijing in a pool just down the road from the one I coached at in Florida. Rebecca Soni uses the USC pool in Los Angeles, California. In every case their circumstances could be called “rugged individualism”. In every case they returned successfully from their Olympics. Something Cameron will never do from the Millennium Institute. And John Key’s promise to pour further millions into that bottomless Millennium pit is a classic case of good money after bad. A finance man like John Key should know better. Government assistance is appreciated. The socialist hand out way it is being spent is a serious problem.

I’ve been to Lochte’s home pool. It is a very modest affair. I’ve seen him helping out with his father’s learn to swim program. I’ve discussed the 100 kilometers a week he swims under his father’s tuition. It’s simple, it’s basic. It is “rugged individualism”. It does not have the hoards of doctors, physiotherapists, psychologists and spin doctors the Cameron empire requires. It also avoids the confusion those hangers on bring with them. But Lochte wins Olympic gold medals. He breaks world records. He is successful.

There was a wonderful program on New Zealand’s Television One recently. It covered a trip along the Nile by the British actress Joanna Lumley. Part of the Nile flows through Ethiopia. During this portion of her journey Lumley met a group of runners that included Meseret Defar. For those who may not recognize the name, Defar is the Athen’s Olympic and Osaka World 5000 meters champion. She holds the world indoor 3000 and 5000 meter records. This is how the Washington Post described what Defar and her friends did.

So that’s what the spunky girl with matchstick legs and a ponytail did. She ran along the rutted dirt roads of the Ethiopian highlands, barefoot or in torn sneakers, trying to improve her endurance. She ran up the wide, cracked steps to Meskel Square in the capital, while goats wandered by and clouds of pollution turned the air charcoal gray. And once she felt she was fast enough, she ran around the country’s only track, a rough ring of patched and potholed rubber inside Addis Ababa Stadium, hoping to be spotted by a running club and win a tiny sponsorship known as “calorie money.”

Like Rattue, I’d call what Phelps, Lochte and Defar do “rugged individualism”. I’d also call it successful.

There are pockets of that spirit still alive in New Zealand. Today I went to a swim meet that was arranged only yesterday. The purpose of the meet was to help a group of young Korean swimmers who were visiting New Zealand and wanted some “official” times while they were here. The CEO of Auckland Swimming, Brian Palmer, hired four lanes of a local high school pool and circulated an appeal for officials to help. The number and quality of officials that turned up was stunning. They could and frequently have run the finals session of Open National Championships. It was an example of all that’s good about sport in New Zealand. The fastest young Korean probably swam 100 meters freestyle in about 1.20. Our club had three swimmers join in as some competition, but that was not the point. Good New Zealanders were doing a good thing for all the right reasons. Today’s meet was the way New Zealand used to win. And if you don’t believe that read Rattue’s list of world champions again.

It’s not the way the Millennium Institute and Cameron do things though. They are above all that. The grassroots is not for them. I have been in my new coaching job at West Auckland Aquatics for 39 weeks. In that time I have attended 26 swim meets at New Zealand’s main competition pool, the West Wave Pool in Henderson. That’s in the City of Auckland, Jan Cameron’s home town. In that time I’ve seen her at just two of the 26 meets and I’ve seen her Millennium swimmers at three of those meets. Needless to say Cameron was nowhere to be seen today; nowhere to be seen when real swimming people were making this sport successful.

Like Rattue I’d call her way “problems brought about by an obsession with central control”; a socialist system that breeds sloth; a system that does not win. It’s also called having ideas way above your station. Good coaches never make that mistake. Good coaches never scorn the base degrees. Take Arch Jelley for example; coach of John Walker, the first man to break 3.50 for a mile and Olympic 1500 champion, but also coach of the Sunnybray Normal Primary School swimming team. He never scorns the grass roots. Take Steve Lochte; coach of his son Ryan, winner of numerous World and Olympic medals, but also the coach of the Daytona Beach bronze squad swimmers. He never scorns the grass roots.

Right or wrong, it’s my impression that Cameron looks on New Zealand as some sort of swimming incubator whose role in life is to breed swimmers for her and her son to inherit. The rest of New Zealand is a junior program whose role is to deliver swimmers to her and her off spring at the Millennium Institute. Well, that system has failed New Zealand for years. We are not involved in swimming to service Jan Cameron or her son. New Zealand coaches, including me, have coached fast swimmers in the past and when we do again I pray to God none of them go anywhere near that Millennium poisonous challis.

The Cameron version of socialist centralized control is well suited for looking after the nation’s weaker members; those requiring health care and those who are unemployed. It is not at all useful in world class sport. For that you need a program of “rugged individualism”. That’s where the next generation of New Zealand international champions will be found.

By David

I suppose Christmas is always a quiet time. There doesn’t seem to be anything major in the swimming world to discuss. I didn’t want to go on again about the stunning stupidity of Project Vanguard or Jan Cameron’s desperate and barren efforts to win any sort of international swimming race. Swimwatch has rightly spent some time discussing these two follies. Swimwatch editor, Jane, tells me it’s perfectly alright to not post anything new. “If there is nothing new to say,” she says, “you shouldn’t say anything.”

However, because it’s the end of 2010 I thought it might be interesting to look back at the Swimwatch readership statistics. In the last six months Swimwatch has focused on two New Zealand swimming issues. Do the readership numbers suggest that has been a popular choice or has the blog’s narrow focus been one giant turn off?

Here is a graph of the changes that have taken place in the Swimwatch readership numbers between 2009 and 2010. On an annual basis this looks like a pretty healthy rate of growth. Hits, the number of pages visitors read, have increased by 56%. Unique visitors have improved by a very similar 55%. Return visitors have increased by a slightly lower but still good 42%. And so we know that readers found something in 2010 more interesting than in 2009. But Swimwatch began 2010 by discussing topics of interest in the United States. It wasn’t until the last four months of 2010 that we turned our attention to Cameron’s television misbehavior or Byrne’s corporate manipulation. We really need to look more closely at the 2010 figures to determine just when the growth in readership occurred.

The table below shows how Swimwatch readership numbers changed during 2010. Even Cameron and Byrne would have to admit that something has attracted more interest. They should be pleased – it must have been them. Between the first quarter of 2010 and the last quarter hits went up by 49%. Unique readers went up by 52%. And return visitors rose by 44%.

So we do know that the Swimwatch position on Cameron and Byrne was of interest. I bet SNZ would love to have had the readership of their website increase by half these amounts. What we don’t know is whether the increased readership was primarily people that supported the Swimwatch position on Cameron and Byrne or was it readers who were really pissed off at our criticism of two outstanding administrators.

Liz Strauss is one of America’s leading tutors in the art of writing a blog. She published a list of ten reasons people read a blog. Here is her list.

1. It contains ideas, not just information.
2. It has thoughts, not just ideas.
3. It is based on experience.
4. It does no instruct by force.
5. It is interesting.
6. It makes me feel welcome
7. It does not apologize for its opinions.
8. It is easy to comment.
9. It is unique.
10. It does not try to be someone else.

All these are pretty positive features. I have no idea how many of them Swimwatch observe or how many we contravene. It is probably fair however to conclude that Swimwatch must have satisfied at least some of her rules. Fortunately no one is forced to turn on their computer. Perhaps the discussion of Cameron and Byrne’s job performance has struck a popular nerve. Perhaps the “ideas” and “thoughts” and “experiences” expressed here have been “interesting” and “unique”. Here at Swimwatch we do hope these are the reasons for the increase in the readership of this blog. You see, we really do believe that the chances of some very good people about to swim in London in 2012 and the future health of this sport are in the balance. We also hope that the 50% increase in Swimwatch readers will help tip that balance away from the status quo.

By David

Two notable events occurred this week. In Auckland our swim team is about to complete their spring aerobic build up. Yesterday’s main set was 10,000 meters swum either as 100×100 or as a 10 kilometer straight swim. Jessica, Abigail and Sarah completed the set. Sarah did it as 100×100. Jessica and Abigail did the straight swim. They were good efforts; Abigail because she’s only 14 and Jessica because she got through the swim in 2hrs 11min 48sec, an average of 1.19 for each 100. With Nikki having done 100×100 last build up we now have a core of four swimmers who can swim respectable distances during the aerobic period of their training. After fifteen weeks that’s progress.

On the other side of the Pacific the draft heat sheets for the 2010 Pan Pacific Championships were published. So who is going to win and lose? How is the New Zealand team going to fare? The table below shows our picks for the medalists in each event.

Our guess is that the USA will miss out in the men’s freestyle. We expect Cielo from Brazil, Park from Korea and Mellouli from Tunisia to dominate this stroke. Peirsol will come right, as he usually does, and take control of the men’s backstroke. Kitajima will shrug off a quiet patch of form and win the breaststroke sprints. The men’s fly and IMs will be a Phelps’ benefit. In the IMs Lochte will keep Phelps honest, but when the roll is called the Olympic Champion will be too good for the man from Florida. The women’s events will be more fragmented. The Americans will do well in freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke and the Australians will control the women’s butterfly and IM. We are picking the Americans to dominate both the men’s and women’s relays; but then it hardly took a genius to work that out.

The format of the meet favors smaller nations like New Zealand. Only two swimmers per country can swim in a final. The limited number of countries attending gives most countries a real shot at placing someone in the top eight. And, as they say, once you’re in the final anything can happen. In 1991 Toni Jeffs, Anna Simcic and Phillipa Langrell came home with Championship medals. Two years later John Steel, Trent Bray, Danyon Loader and the men’s relay were placed at the Kobe Games. Danyon Loader and the men’s relay teams won medals again in Atlanta in 1995. And finally Trent Bray and the relays won medals in the 1997 Pan Pacific Games in Fukuoka, Japan.

I was coaching Toni in 1991 when she won the Edmonton Pan Pacs bronze medal in the 50 freestyle. New Zealand track coach, Arch Jelley, helped me put together her final six weeks of training. It seemed to work. Toni was behind two good Americans, Jenny Thompson and Angel Martino in a time of 26.21 which, I think, was a New Zealand record.

We say Trent Bray’s 1997 bronze medal in the 200 freestyle was final because after 1997 New Zealand entered the “modern era” of performance pathways, state funding and imported foreign coaches and in the three Pan Pacific Games since then New Zealand has won nothing; not a medal of any description. Even with the advantage of only two swimmers from each nation in a final, at Sydney in 1999, Yokohama in 2002 and Victoria in 2006 the New Zealand’s National Coach hasn’t been able to coach a medalist of any sort. That’s thirteen years of funding and swimming talent for nothing. I see the coach’s son is now telling the country’s largest newspaper, the New Zealand Herald, that he wants to be the National Coach, coach an Olympic Champion and see swimming become New Zealand’s most successful sport. Time will tell but, if as we suspect, New Zealand does not win a race in Irvine, California there is a very long way to go. It’s difficult to climb Mt. Everest when the slope on Auckland’s Harbor Bridge is causing you problems. New Zealand is certainly starting well behind where it was in the early 1990s. We have centralized ourselves to death. Certainly the PR media access of the current North Shore regime is far in advance of their aquatic’s performance.

Let there be no mistake. The talent on this New Zealand team is huge. Bell, Palmer, Ingram, Burmester, and Snyders are potentially as good as any swimmers in the world. Culpability for the absence of a Pan Pac gold medal, if that is indeed what happens, will not lie at their door.