I think it is important to discuss more deeply a danger to swimming in New Zealand mentioned in a previous Swimwatch post. Here is what the previous post said.

But beware, there is danger in the Owen Glenn waters. As swimming improves, and it will, Sport NZ will come knocking again with a carpetbag stuffed with money. They will be offering to buy their way back into the sport. The price will be a return to centralised training. Do not sell them the sport again. Sport NZ’s thirty pieces of silver cost swimming dearly. SNZ was Judas Iscariot once. Do not make the same mistake a second time.

The recent National Championships have shown how important those 80 words are to New Zealand swimming’s future. Swimming New Zealand (SNZ) went through a period where it was the poster child of Sport NZ’s policy of centralised training. Money was thrown around like confetti and a succession of foreign coaches and administrators were imported. The only way to get a job in SNZ’s centralised programme was through international arrivals at Auckland airport.

The problem was, at an Olympic Games, New Zealand swimmers couldn’t win anything. The idea that one perfect foreign coach could be found to nurture the talent of every good swimmer was clearly absurd. Someone perfect for coaching Lauren Boyle might not work for Daniel Hunter or Glenn Snyders. Even New Zealand’s best swimmer in recent years, Lauren Boyle, honed her trade in an American University. Centralised coaching is fundamentally flawed.

But worse than the failure of swimmers in SNZ’s centralised program was the destruction it caused coaches and clubs in the rest of the country. A SNZ CEO, Australian Christian Renford, went around New Zealand and announced that coaches were well behind international standard. Coaches and clubs in New Zealand were ignored while SNZ poured $25million into the Millennium Pool. Private, independent, club coaching became a wasteland.

However, Sport NZ hates losing. SNZ was making Sport NZ’s centralised policy look bad. And there is no loyalty when Sport NZ looks bad. Make Raylene Castle look good, or the money will stop. And sure enough it did. In 2014 Sport NZ paid SNZ for the centralised training program, $2,207,375. By 2021 that funding had fallen off a cliff to $829,500 – a drop of 62%. Seems like Raelene Castle’s ego is worth about $1.4million a year. I sure wouldn’t want to be lost in the bush on a dark, wet night with Sport NZ. When the tough get going Sport NZ are out of there. They walk away from everything that’s good about sport. They are an example to no one.  

SNZ had no option but to close its centralised programme and turn over responsibility for coaching to those it had ignored for 20 years, clubs and their coaches. And in 2 years, this week’s national championships have shown clubs and their coaches have responded in heaps. A corner has been turned. Spring is on its way.

The table below shows where the champions were coached. And this ignores the fine swimmers who swam in finals but did not win. There are other champions to come. However, even now 10 clubs from Coast in the north to Neptune in the south have produced national champions. New Zealand hasn’t seen depth like that in 20 years. The times are fast as well. Three men under 23sec in the 50m free. When was the last time that was done? Two men under 50sec in the 100m. Fairweather 4.04 and 1.57 – wow. And all coached by New Zealand coaches in New Zealand club programmes. And it all cost $1.4million a year less than when the results were not nearly as good.

EVENT	WINNER	CLUB	TIME
1500 Free M	Clarke	NSS	15.37.70
50 Back M	Gray	NSS	25.27
200 Back M	Follows	NSS	1.58.80
50 Fly M	Gray	NSS	23.77
800 Free M	Clark	NSS	8.06.49
50 Free M	Gray	NSS	22.42
TOTAL NSS		6
400 IM M	Clareburt	Capital	4.14.36
400 Free M	Clareburt	Capital	3.52.05
200 Free M	Clareburt	Capital	1.48.38
100 Fly M	O’Connor	Capital	53.63
200 IM M	Clareburt	Capital	1.59.42
100 Free M	Clareburt	Capital	49.63
200 Fly M	Clareburt	Capital	1.57.42
TOTAL CAPITAL		7
800 Free W	Thomas	Coast	2.28.65
200 IM W	Gasson	Coast	2.12.13
100 Back W	Gasson	Coast	1.01.57
100 Fly W	Gasson	Coast	58.91
200 Breast W	Gasson	Coast	2.31.67
200 Fly W	Gasson	Coast	2.12.03
50 Breast W	Gasson	Coast	31.91
TOTAL COAST		7
50 Fly W	Ouwehand	Phoenix	27.00
50 Back W	Ouwehand	Phoenix	28.44
TOTAL PHOENIX		2
100 Back M	Dell	Pukekohe	54.11
TOTAL PUKEKOHE		1
100 Breast M	Gilbert	Evolution	1.02.86
200 Breast M	Gilbert	Evolution	2.17.02
50 Breast M	Gilbert	Evolution	28.93
TOTAL EVOLUTION		3
400 Free W	Fairweather	Neptune	4.04.37
200 Free W	Fairweather	Neptune	1.57.80
1500 Free W	Deans	Neptune	16.27.34
TOTAL NEPTUNE		3
100 Breast W	McCarthy	Hamilton	1.10.74
400 IM W	McCarthy	Hamilton	4.45.49
TOTAL HAMILTON		2
200 Back W	Godwin	Heretaunga	2.12.66
TOTAL HERETAUNGA		1
100 Free W	Littlejohn	St. Pauls	55.43
50 Free W	Littlejohn	St. Pauls	25.70
TOTAL ST PAULS		2

But beware Sport NZ will not have missed the change in swimming’s fortunes. They will have noticed the prospect that Clarke, Gray, Follows, Clareburt, O’Connor, Thomas, Gasson, Ouwehand, Dell, Gilbert, Fairweather, Deans. McCarthy, Godwin and Littlejohn are leading a swimming revival. And Sport NZ and its leader are not known for missing the chance to muscle in on a photo-shoot. Sport NZ were responsible for the collapse of swimming. They will not miss out on the recovery.

And so SNZ, when Sport NZ comes knocking on your door with their cheque book open, please, please, please remember those responsible for the change – for the beginnings of the good times. New Zealand coaches, clubs and swimmers turned this sport around, when Raelene Castle and Sport NZ left it struggling for breath.

Take Sport NZ’s money by all means but make sure it goes to those who got swimming out of the mess it was in. On that dark, wet night, lost in the bush, someone stood up and got us home. Coaches, clubs and swimmers did that and deserve the credit. SNZ, do not abandon them like your organisation and Sport NZ did once before.