Scottish Swimming Corporate Plan 2015–2021

Scottish Swimming is the Governing Body for Swimming, Diving, Masters Swimming, Open Water Swimming, Synchronised Swimming and Water Polo. Swimming is a sport for everyone and we are committed to developing the sport in an inclusive, equitable and fair way.

Our Strategic ObjectivesTo increase the number of people of all ages and abilities participating in swimming for health, fitness and fun.

To support and develop stronger, more sustainable clubs that will provide increased and quality opportunities for people to participate at all levels.

To enhance the aquatic pathway, ensuring high performance results through effective athlete development and quality coaching.

Scottish Swimming works with, and for our members. Everything we want to achieve happens in partnership with local and national organisations supporting and working with us.

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Our MissionTo inspire our members and partners in the development of aquatics, providing leadership and expert support, resulting in more people taking part and reaching their full potential.

Our Vision

Everyone can swim

Swimming Is ...

Inclusive A sport for everyone. We are committed to developing the sport in an inclusive, equitable, drug free, safe and fair way.

Unique The support from the water means people of all ages and abilities can enjoy the health, fitness and fun benefits.

LocalA network of fantastic clubs, facilities and activities across Scotland offers experiences from participation to performance.

Inspirational Great Scottish performances on the world stage inspire our members and attract new participants.

Our Record The past six years have been quite a journey for Scottish Swimming, culminating in the London Olympic and Paralympic Games and the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. These milestones have helped inspire and encourage strong growth across all aspects of Scottish Swimming. From our work in participation and health to supporting clubs and ultimately the success of our athletes on the world stage. Scottish Swimming, our members and partners have a great deal to be proud of!

Scottish Swimming would like to recognise the coaches, teachers and volunteers who deliver our sport on a day-to-day basis. We have worked hard to create education and development opportunities to meet their needs. This includes over 1,200 people taking formal education courses and in addition 300 people attending Continuing Professional Development (CPD) courses each year.

Over the past six years Scottish Swimming has supported me in achieving numerous qualifications as well as presenting me with some fantastic coaching opportunities that have enhanced my experience and knowledge in the world of competitive swimming.

Ben Higson, Performance Coach

Health, Fitness & Fun We have increased the opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to participate in swimming.

The establishment of Triple S (Scotland Safe Swimmer), the Top Up programme and Start to Swim has brought us closer to ensuring that every child in Scotland can swim.

Our work with partners on projects such as Swim4Change and Early Years swimming has demonstrated that swimming can help achieve wider health and social benefits.

Through our Active Adults programme we have developed innovative training, working with Leisure Trusts to engage more adults in aquatic activities. We will take advantage of the opportunities that adult recreational swimming offers as a growth market.

As a head teacher I have to say I’m truly passionate about the children swimming. In my 20 years here it’s the one sport that children have been involved in that I can truthfully say I have seen them grow and blossom in confidence in front of my eyes.

Mary Ryan-Gillespie, Head Teacher, Pirniehall Primary School

Clubs Together

Our clubs are the foundation upon which swimming is developed in Scotland. The Regional Swimming Development Managers have become an established support for our club network, providing help with governance, planning, volunteer and coach recruitment and retention.

Club membership is growing with clubs continuing to provide vast benefits to the community and excellent development for our athletes, as well as a great opportunity for thousands of people to take part, teach, volunteer and coach.

Our vision is to continue to develop and improve as a strong and sustainable club, providing a quality service to all our members. The regional support through Scottish Swimming has encouraged us to create an enjoyable environment that allows all our swimmers, coaches and volunteers to fulfil their potential.

Livingston & District Dolphins ASC

Switched OnThe fantastic growth and results are underpinned by continuous improvement in the governance and management of Scottish Swimming, along with innovative work in our approach to digital communications.

KPMG undertook a governance review of Scottish Swimming in February 2013 as part of the sportscotland Development Programme. Recommendations were made to support Scottish Swimming in improving its governance and procedures on its journey towards becoming a ‘World Class’ organisation. Management have stated their desire to address these recommendations and their commitment to continuous improvement.

KPMG

Scottish Swimming has taken a proactive and progressive approach to marketing and is continuously pushing the boundaries in that field. This approach signals a significant channel shift in terms of where sport will get the greatest return on investment with marketing spend and has delivered real and measurable value to members.

David Hamilton, Owner, Dog Digital

Beijing Olympic & Paralympic Games 2008Ten Scots were selected for the Beijing Olympics and five for the Paralympics, with Jim Anderson winning two silver and two bronze medals and Sean Fraser winning a bronze medal.

Delhi Commonwealth Games 2010The aquatics team won seven medals, including two gold medals for Robbie Renwick and Hannah Miley.

London Olympic & Paralympic Games 2012Six Scots were selected for the London Olympics with Michael Jamieson winning a silver medal. Five Scots were selected for the Paralympic Games with James Clegg winning a bronze medal.

A Winning Team Since we published our previous corporate plan, Scottish athletes have enjoyed significant success at two Olympic and Paralympic Games and two Commonwealth Games. In addition Scottish athletes have ranked highly at European and World Championships.

Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014

The aquatics team won ten medals with gold medals for Hannah Miley, Ross Murdoch and Dan Wallace.

Andrew Mullen

4 gold medals at the 2014 IPC European Championships

Hannah Miley World and European Short Course Champion in 2012 and European Long Course Champion in 2010

Scottish Swimming has played a key role in my swimming career. They discovered my potential at a young age and helped me to develop this through the talent programmes they have in place. They continue to support me by helping provide support via the sportscotland Institute of Sport; this has been an essential part of my high performance training regime.

Andrew Mullen

European & World ChampionshipsWe also had some great European and World Championship results to celebrate including:

Kris Gilchrist World Short Course Champion in 2008

everyonecan swim

The Lane AheadAs we plan for the next six years we must consider the changing landscape and environment that we live in.

Key Factors Are:Swimming is the sport for all – the sport for life. Swimming brings significant health and well-being benefits, enabling us to lead longer, happier, healthier lives. These benefits can be realised on a national level if we start by ensuring that every child can swim.

Along with a fantastic club network we have an army of excellent volunteers who provide opportunities for people to take part in swimming – we must continue to support these volunteers and maintain our efforts to encourage and sustain membership.

Teachers and coaches are the foundation of our sport, critical to the development of swimming – we must continue to provide training and support to allow them to deliver to the highest level.

Performance sport is increasingly competitive – we must stay innovative, creative and maximise all our resources to build on our success.

Our partners who own and manage swimming pools continue to face significant financial challenges – we must support, innovate and help them if we are to realise our vision.

Scottish Swimming must build on the success of the past and strive for continual improvement in all areas in the future.

Scotland – The Perfect Arena For Aquatics

Competition is an important part of our sport, from introductory, fun swimming galas to hosting major events in Scotland. It is essential that participants have a great experience and that where possible we build on event publicity, inspiring others to get involved and stay active.

Scotland now has a blend of world-class facilities that can host international events, regional facilities and local community pools. We have clear ideas about where the gaps remain and how we can support and work with partners to maximise the usage of all pools. With the IPC World Championships in 2015 and the European Championships in 2018 in Glasgow we have a great opportunity to build on the profile and developments generated by the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

To increase the number of people of all ages and abilities participating in swimming for health, fitness and fun.

Scottish Swimming will focus on:• Ensuring every child can swim • Getting more adults physically active • Quality swimming teaching environments

To support and develop stronger, sustainable clubs that will provide increased and quality opportunities for people to participate at all levels.

Scottish Swimming will focus on:• Quality coaching environments• Membership recruitment and retention• Volunteer support and development

To enhance the aquatic pathway, ensuring high performance results through effective athlete development and quality coaching.

Scottish Swimming will focus on:• Quality coaching • Technical excellence• Performance and performance development environments• Effective athlete development

Strategic Objectives Critical For Success

To deliver our strategic objectives we must continue to focus on: • Quality teacher and coach education and development programmes

• Effective water management programming

• A competitive pathway which develops our athletes and showcases our sport

• A creative and innovative marketing and communications strategy

• Strong engagement with our members

• Effective relationships with our partners

• A continual drive to ensure Scottish Swimming operates as a leading organisation

Key Performance Indicators

Development By 2021 we will:

• Increase swimming membership to 19,000• Increase non-swimming membership to 7,000, including teachers, coaches, technical officials and volunteers • Have 120 strong, sustainable clubs with swiMark Plus• Have 32 Local Authorities/Trusts delivering a National Swimming Framework underpinned by an aquatics plan• Increase the number of children learning to swim• Establish an adult recreational membership with over 1,000 members

Services We will:

• Maintain our Fit for Purpose status• Achieve Advanced Equality Standard• Ensure adequate financial resource is available to support our long term plans • Deliver innovative and effective communication with all stakeholders

Finance

Revenue Costs

PerformanceSwimming:

• 6—8 Swimmers attaining top 16 in the world ranking (2 per nation)

Diving:

• Scottish divers ranking in the top 18 in the world measured by achieving the average degree of difficulty on dives for 1m/3m/10m (individual or synchro) derived from the Olympic Games and World Championships 2004—2012

Para Swimming:

• 5 para swimmers attaining top 8 in the world (absolute and IPC Championship Events)

Scottish Swimming will look to maximise revenue from our main income streams which are sportscotland, membership, sponsorship and other sources. The executives are committed to actively managing our finances and are aware of the main risks to the organisation from a financial position.

Scottish Swimming will continue to strive to improve sources of finance and controlling spend between our Development, Performance and Services work to ensure that there is sufficient resources available to support the key objectives highlighted throughout this plan.

£3.2m £3.2m £3.2m£3.2m£3.3m £3.3m

£3.2m £3.2m £3.2m£3.2m£3.3m £3.3m

2014–15 2016–17 2018–192015–16 2017–18 2019–202014–15 2016–17 2018–192015–16 2017–18 2019–20

membership sportscotland british swimming

sponsorship part / edu misc income

development performance services

£3,000,000

£2,500,000

£2,000,000

£1,500,000

£1,000,000

£500,000

£0

Scottish Swimming looks forward to working with our members and partners during the delivery of this plan.

Registered Name and Office:

Scottish Amateur Swimming Association LimitedNational Swimming Academy | University of StirlingStirling | FK9 4LA

Scottish Swimming is the trading name for the Scottish Amateur Swimming Association Limited. Registered in Scotland. Company Number SC246645

scottishswimming.com

Our Corporate Plan is underpinned by more detailed development and performance plans. You can download a digital version of all plans at scottishswimming.com/about-us

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