Swim England South East Region is preparing a new Strategy to provide structure and direction for our activities for the next five years to 2025. The new Strategy will replace the current Strategy that was adopted in 2017.
As the Strategy is developed we will publish information on this pageto keep everyone informed.
Where we are now
The structure of swimming is changing as a result of the prolonged COVID-19 lockdown:
- Swim England has significantly fewer staff and has asked regions to consider taking on some of the responsibilities of staff no longer in post.
- The primary source of funding for our Region comes from the Regional element of the annual Swim England membership fee.
- The Region will no longer receive any other funding from Swim England.
- We have the equivalent of 2.5 full time employees to support the needs of just under 200 clubs spread over a large area.
To provide clubs with the best support possible the Region must make the best uses of its limited resources.
Officials survey
The Regional Officials Survey closed in April and we wanna to thank everyone who took the time to provide essential information that will help every club in the Region plan for a return to competition.
More than 660 officials from every county in the Region took part in then survey and included every level of technical official and age group. Of those who responded 23% were not currently licensed and less than 4% said they would not be renewing.
Note: The survey results have been edited to remove all personal information.
Club survey
In February 2021 we invited every club in the Region to tell us where there wanted us to focus investment for the duration of the Strategy and to get a feel for the state of clubs as they prepare to return to the pool and to understand what clubs need and expect from the Region.
What you told us
- The number of members that clubs have lost is significant, but not catastrophic.
- If these numbers turn out to be about right, the sport is in a position to recover
- The clubs who have lost more than 50% of their members are all small clubs
Loss of officials and other volunteers:
- Even before the pandemic, clubs struggled to get sufficient officials for meets; the loss of 15-20% of our officials will exacerbate that problem as many clubs want to run meets to rebuild finances
- The loss of other volunteers means that some clubs will lack the skilled resources needed to operate effectively; that is reflected in comments about training needs and the role of the Region.
There were some significant repeated comments in open responses:
- Clubs wanted support for as they rebuild after lockdown
- Competition at all levels need to restart as soon as possible
- The costs for course and membership need to be kept as low as is practicable. Keep costs down
- Highest priority: Teachers & coaches, Officials
- Lower priority: Safe operation of clubs, Club management skills
- Swimming, Open Water, Masters; This is not surprising because it reflects the higher number of members in these disciplines, compared to the other disciplines
- Primary: Competitions, Workforce training
- Secondary: Talent development
