I am told that Steve Johns the CEO of Swimming New Zealand has distributed an email to the “regions and coaches”. The email provides an update on “the review and refresh of the SNZ HP Strategy”. Before discussing the content of the email I want to take a moment to be a bit selfish. You see I would have liked to be included in Johns’ update. His email was sent to “regions and coaches”. I think I qualify as a coach. I have an ASCA International Level Five coaching qualification. Certainly I coach the current men’s Auckland Champion at 50 meters freestyle and silver medallist at 100 meters freestyle and 50 meters butterfly. Evidently that’s not good enough to qualify as a coach recipient of Johns’ news report.

But more importantly, in the email, Johns says that the plans Swimming New Zealand are putting in place are the product of “a lot feedback received relating to our existing programme that is consistently clear that the existing centralised approach needs attention.” I suspect even my worst enemies would accept that one of the loudest and certainly the longest critic of the existing centralized approach has been the Swimwatch blog. That effort should merit being included in the conversation.

The decision of Steve Johns to strike me off the distribution list is a perfect example of what I despise about the management of that organization. Their reaction is petty; the product of small men motivated only by the thought that David Wright was nasty to me so I’m going to ban him from my email list. That’s not business management. That’s some twelve year old defriending a Facebook contact. That’s not looking at the merits of the issues. That’s personality politics. Good management engages its critics and considers their views. And that’s why few of us have ever accused Swimming New Zealand of good management. Rather than engaging their critics Swimming New Zealand turn bitter and delete their names from email distribution lists.

So what does the email tell us about the “refresh” of the Swimming New Zealand High Performance Strategy? Here are the highlights.

1. The review is going to lead to “changes in the way Swimming New Zealand operates and delivers its High Performance programme from early 2018”.

Comment – Good and about time. Swimwatch has been asking for just that very action for about six years. Whenever anything this bad lasts for six years, there is not much in the way of credit to go around. A normal human reaction is to be pleased change is on its way but to ask, ‘What the hell took you so long?”

2. The new programme “will have at its core, a move away from the centralised approach to a decentralised targeted programme that will look to provide support, guidance and leadership to identified targeted athletes and coaches regardless of where they live and train.”

Comment – Good without qualification. I never thought I would see the day that the word “decentralisation” would appear as a positive term in a Swimming New Zealand email. But it has and for that we should be thankful.

3. “This programme will be led by a newly appointed Targeted Athlete & Coach Manager.”

Comment – Good. In Swimwatch we have always called this position the job of a Head Coach. However, “Targeted Athlete & Coach Manager” describes the function better and is exactly what the top swimming person in Swimming New Zealand should be doing. I will be interested to see who Swimming New Zealand appoints. He or she will need to know a lot about swimming. The organization is going to be relying on that person to repair a neglected and broken infrastructure. The person doing that job is going to have to know enough about elite swimming preparation to provide us all with the guidance and direction necessary to nurture successful international swimmers.

4. The new program will mean that Swimming New Zealand will not be replacing the National Head Coach position.

Comment – Good. The diversified approach and the Targeted Athlete & Coach Manager means there is no reason to have a poolside coach. That function in Swimming New Zealand has never worked and so will not be missed.

5. The new changes to the High Performance Strategy will be communicated “where possible by face-to-face presentations.”

Comment – Wow, “face-to-face” presentations! I’d be over the moon. Talking to a real person; what a change. But right now I’m not getting my hopes up. I’d be happy just to see my name put back on an email list.

Everyone involved in New Zealand swimming should look on this as positive news. The devil, of course, is in the detail. Implementation is going to be critical. But the idea of decentralised targeted preparation is right. The policy direction suggested by this email is a good one.