Open-water swimming: hyphen debatable, qualifications available
Edition number 70; dateline 4 March 2013
Open-water swimming qualification launched
The UK’s first nationally accredited open-water swimming coaching qualification has been launched by the Swimming Teacher’s Association (STA) in association with the National Open Water Coaching Association (NOWCA). The qualification, which is recognised by the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) at Level 2, aims to give swimming teachers, and aquatic and triathlon professionals, the specialist skills needed to coach swimmers in an open-water setting. David Candler, STA’s president and a keen open-water swimmer himself, commented: “Open-water swimming is the second fastest growing mass sport in the UK, yet until now there has not been an accredited qualification available to coaches wanting to teach open-water swimming in an open-water setting. Over the years, many swimming teachers and triathlon coaches have relied on teaching open-water skills and techniques in the warmth of a swimming pool but I know from personal experience that this is not as effective as coaching in outside water.” To support the introduction of the Level 2 qualification STA and NOWCA have also developed the STA Level 1 Award for Pool to Open Water Swimming Coaching.
Swimming, innit
David Sparkes’ ASA has declared itself “delighted that the government continues to see the value of learning to swim as a life saving skill” following the news that swimming will remain on the national curriculum for Key Stage 2 for the foreseeable future. The Loughborough-based body then suggested that their 2012 school swimming census and manifesto, titled ‘Save School Swimming, Save Lives’, had been instrumental in the decision. Chief executive Sparkes also made the ambitious claim that “swimming is a vital skill for any child and is the only sport a child will learn in school that could save their life”.
Record numbers for coaching week
Herts Coach Education Week, which ran during February half-term, attracted over 1,300 delegates – a record attendance – for what organisers are describing as, “The usual eclectic mix of coaching basics and award courses for new coaches running alongside more specialised sessions on nutrition, disability sport and the rugby scrum.” More than 50 coaches attended a lecture on tennis coach Brad Gilbert, a popular coaching breakfast focused on how to cope with pressure and local student Dan Tipper had the onerous task of showcasing the use of humour in coaching, which was, apparently, no laughing matter. “All in all, it was a great week,” said Rob Hardwick from Herts Sports Partnership. “It generated a real buzz around the county about coaching. There were 14 different venues and coaches came from as far away as Greece to be with us during the week.” The partnership is now busy collecting feedback because even an event of this size has to bow to the dual mantra of ‘impact’ and ‘value for money’.
University sport: why it matters
The organisers of this year’s British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) conference have chosen the theme ‘University sport – why it matters’ and are now looking for speakers to come up with some ideas. BUCS argue that “as the combined effect of the current economic climate and increased level of competition means that prospective students and parents are looking at other services that offer added value” sport in higher education institutions (HEIs) will become a more important part of the HEI offer. Sports development officers from across the British Isles will be hastily cobbling together presentations on “successful strategies, programmes and developments” in order to take advantage of the chance to “increase their professional profile and that of their institution or organisation” and spend 9 to 12 July in Edinburgh, albeit at Heriot Watt University, not the proper one.
Official: Nottingham now dead
The National Sports Development Seminar, known to many simply as ‘Nottingham’ is now officially dead. When NASD, which took over the ownership of the event after its voluntary organising group came under unendurable financial pressure, merged with ILAM to form ISPAL (keep up) the new body went to some lengths, including the threat of legal action, to ensure they remained the guardian of the seminar. ISPAL, of course, then merged into ISRM and that new body called itself IMSPA, now CIMSPA, who have recently confirmed to The Leisure Review that the much-loved and highly valued event “has been superseded by a new generation of sports development-led events”, in particular by something called the County Sports Partnership Convention. However, although the door marked ‘Nottingham’ has been closed and bolted, it seems that it has not yet been bricked up. The
CIMSPA missive suggests that it could yet be persuaded, stating: “With the evolving landscape of partnership approaches we would look to continue working in partnership with sports development-led bodies in the future. If members believed that there was some benefit in reinstating a stand-alone event then it would be something that the CIMSPA board could consider.” We look forward to hearing from any sports development managers in current membership of CIMSPA who might like a resurrectional challenge.
Other news that just scraped in as we went to what we fondly think of as a press:
The European regional president of the Special Olympics movement, Mary Davis, has welcomed the resignation of Collin Brewer from his position as councillor with Cornwall Council. “The comments made by Cllr Collin Brewer displayed an ignorance on an unimaginable scale and the only course of action open to him was to step down. It is disappointing he did not tender his resignation earlier,” stated Ms Davis.
Phil Collins, former chief executive of Hertsmere Leisure and a Quest champion, has joined the Sport, Leisure and Culture Consultancy as an associate.
The Lee Valley White Water Centre, the celebrated London 2012 venue, has opened its new season and is expecting the busiest period ever as a result of the Games’ legacy. A £6.3 million investment project will see a new pavilion, additional changing rooms, more car parking as well as support facilities for elite athletes. Since its initial opening in 2011 more than 45,000 people have been rafting at the centre and more than 16,000 participants have tried canoeing or kayaking. The venue has also attracted a total of 185,000 visitors who come to watch the white water activities or eat at the licensed terrace café.
News in brief
Staccato reports from the cultural typeface
Thursday 14 February
The Church of the Immaculate Conception, Farm Street in Mayfair will open its doors to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Catholic worshippers later this month, some 116 years after it refused Oscar Wilde’s request for a six-month retreat after his release from Reading gaol. In Scotland there is a new campaign to explain that King Macbeth was not quite the monster Shakespeare painted him to be. Around the world marches and demonstrations take place to celebrate One Billion Rising, a campaign to focus attention on violence against women. Snooker player Stephen Lee is told he has a case to answer in relation to allegations of match-fixing, while in South Africa some tough questions for Oscar Pistorius as his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, is shot dead at Pistorius’s house.
Friday 15 February
London fashion week kicks off, bringing glitz, glamour and very small catering budgets to venues across the capital. A sizeable meteor lands in Russia, bringing spectacular footage of bright lights and big bangs, and in Rwanda it seems cricket is taking a significant hold among young people. Chris Froome wraps up the Tour of Oman, the British Cycling rider’s first stage race title.
Saturday/Sunday 16/17 February
Now Donald Trump wants to build another golf course in Scotland, his other one having been such an uncontroversial success. Saracens play on their new artificial pitch and it all seems to go well. Topshop takes its London fashion week catwalk show to Tate Modern.
Monday 18 February
The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges say that the UK’s obesity crisis is becoming ‘unresolvable’. The PM displays a passable forward defensive on the playing fields of Mumbai, while back in London a Banksy mural has been removed from the wall of a Poundland shop in Wood Green and shipped out of the country for sale; cue outraged locals. The International Association for the Study of Obesity says that the government is not doing enough to combat the food and drink industry’s impact on the health of the nation, while the National Obesity Forum says that the government “just isn’t interested”. Run for the shelves: the BBC is to screen a six-part adaptation of War and Peace. Richard Briers, venerable and celebrated actor, dies aged 79.
Tuesday 19 February
The prime minister responds to contrived outrage over a speech by author Hilary Mantel and demonstrates that he has either not read or not understood the text he describes as “misguided and wrong”. Elton John is trying to arrange for his musical mates to play in-store gigs as part of a campaign to preserve HMV. The bequest by the late Sir Denis Mahon of works of art worth £100 million to the Art Fund is dependent upon the works being displayed with free public access. Some 1,700 ‘skivers and scroungers’ (copyright HM Government) apply for eight job vacancies at a new branch of Costa in Nottingham, while in Australia the national governing body for swimming publishes an excoriating report on the team’s failings in the London Olympics.
Wednesday 20 February
In London the Brits celebrate the financial successes of the British music industry and in Edinburgh it seems their pandas may be getting fruity, or at least thinking about it. Official NHS figures show that the number of people hospitalised on the grounds of their obesity has increased three-fold in five years. In Minsk the revamped GB Cycling team open their campaign at the world track championships with some medals.
