UEL Sports & British Swimming Partnership Offer

Summary of offer

UEL Sports and British Swimming, facilitated by Newham Council have approached NSC with an offer of funding towards the employment by NSC of a full time head coach. This head coach would be responsible for the development and delivery of NSC’s and UEL Sports’ swimming programmes under the umbrella of a single club. UEL Sports and British Swimming will each contribute resources and support to this club over a 3-year development period and will contribute £10,000 each for two of those years, specifically to employ the full-time head coach. Newham Swimming club would be responsible for the employment of the new head coach, and would also contribute a sum equivalent to the current head coach employment costs.

Q. When will the new programme start?

A. Recruitment of the new head coach needs to start as soon as possible in order for him or her to be in post and in a position to start delivering the first stages of the new programme in time for the new UEL semester and Freshers Week in September when students sign up to the various clubs and societies on offer. Changes to the club’s schedule and organisation will not take effect immediately, but a plan would be identified for this.

Q. Will there be more pool time?

A.Yes, there will be some more pool time as the programme develops. This will be partly through changes to the club such as the plan to provide training for 3 development squads, each based at a particular leisure centre, and partly though swimmers’ increasing need for pool time as they progress through the club. This is likely to involve slightly different usage of the available pools, for example, by taking over only half of the pool, but all the while still ensuring that a good swimmer-to-lane ratio is maintained.

Q. will there be an increase in the monthly fees ?

A. Yes, there will be an increase in fees, but the size of the increase and when it will take effect is not known yet. It will be important to ensure that the fees remain affordable, but at the same time the benefits of the new arrangements should ensure that the increases are appropriate for the club’s development but also good value.

Q. Will UEL swimmers take over too much pool time?

A. no, because the design of the new programme and the way it changes and adapts over the next 3 years will have to take account of the needs of all swimmers, from both UEL and NSC as it is now in order to guarantee success

Q. Will the swimmer commitment be higher?

A. Yes and no. Opportunities for additional training times will be available as swimmers progress through the club, but access to that will depend on swimmers’ (and parent s!) commitment and attitude to training. On the other hand, and this will be especially true as club numbers grow, the club will cater for those who are interested in swimming for fitness but are have no strong ambitions to compet at the higher levels.

Q. If direct funding from Newham Council for pool time will run out at the end of December, are we doing anything to stop that happening?

A. The straight answer is no, we’re not. The information from the Council is that we have been in receipt of the largest amount of funding for sports in Newham, but in fact funding has been cut for everyone. While the direct funding will stop, Alex Davies, the Council’s Aquatics Development Officer will continue working with us to apply for funding from other sources, and she is confident that she can help the club find the necessary funding to cover our remaining costs for the financial year.

Q. Are there any strings attached to the funding?

A. David Cosford, UEL Sports Director has asked for NSC to run both NSC and UEL Sports’ swimming programme as one, and in so doing form a new club, managed by the swimming club. UEL Sports’ interest will need to be represented on the club’s committee to make this work. British Swimming will be looking for NSC to report against a set of agreed objectives. We have some more discussion to have over the objectives, but examples would be increases in numbers of swimmers in the programme and agreed training for coaches.

Q. Will the other aquatics disciplines be catered for in NSC’s programme?

A. Probably not, but NSC swimmers will have plenty of opportunity to try the other disciplines such as the current water polo taster session, as they become available , and will be encouraged to do sop.