Looking Forward

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Looking Forward

• David Sparkes

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What are we here to do?

• Win GOLD medals at the Olympics and Paralympics
• Give every person an opportunity to learn to swim
• Ensure the talent pathway works
• Increase participation as part of the activity
  and health agenda

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Reflect on Regionalisation

• Structure in place
• Core Staff in place
• But! We are now just learning to walk
• The Region is now developing
• We need each other
• Let us look forward together

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But before we do that

• Counties are now part of the governance structure
  of the sport
• They too have responsibilities to be part of the
  delivery mechanism and we need to determine in
  each region how they do that
• The role for Counties has changed

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What are we here to do?

• Effective talent development structure
• Workforce development programme
• Strategic role in the health and activity agenda
• Is this where you are putting your efforts?

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Who does what?

• This is for the Region and Counties to decide in
  partnership
• Key for me is that counties are delivery agencies
• Delivering talent pathways
• Delivering workforce development
• Both within a strategy and framework set by the
  Region

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Talent Development

• Are we hitting targets in Swim 21 clubs?
• Are we hitting targets in getting athletes into
  the British Team in all disciplines?
• Have we analysed if our competition structure is
  delivering for your clubs in all disciplines?
• I have assumed the Region has a clear view on
  what their targets are in this area

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Workforce development

• Are we hitting our targets for training of
  coaches and teachers?
• Are we developing younger and enough technical
  officials
• Have we trained enough volunteers and are we also
  targeting younger people
• I assume you have a strategy in this area know
  your targets and have a delivery plan

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Health and Activity

• Have you increased participation in the region?
• Has the region made enough partnerships with
  people in this area?
• Do we have a Facility Strategy for the region to
  cater for the increased demand?

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Partnerships and dialogue

• County Sports Partnerships
• Education partnerships
• Regional Development Agency
• Regional Sports Council
• Learning and Skills Council
• Skills Active
• Swimming development staff
• Primary Care Trust
• Cities! Looking to the future

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What have we achieved so far?

• Have we been strategic?
• Have we made a difference?
• Have we got a clear plan?
• Have we continued to deal with minutia?
• Have we been challenging?
• To be strategic you have to be asked to make
  strategic decisions and monitor delivery

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Have we become focused on governance and
structure?

• Purpose should proceed structure
• The role of the Chairman and Director is to
  provide leadership to the Region
• The Region should then provide leadership to the
  Counties
• Do your agendas and papers challenge?
• Is the Board or Executive making strategic
  decisions?

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Hold on! I hear

• Money is a worry
• But what do you want the money for and how much
  do we need
• Financial planning is a Board and Executive role
• Have you looked at what you need over the next
  5-10 years
• It is your responsibility to plan for the
  financial needs of the sport against your
  business plan

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We want to focus on Corporate Governance

• What does good corporate governance tell us a
  Board or Executive should do?
• Leadership and strategic direction focusing on
  the vision, core values and objectives of the
  organisation.
• Ensuring there are sufficient resources available
  to achieve the overall vision and objectives of
  the organisation and controlling the application
  of those resources.
• Monitoring and supervising with the Director and
  team.
• Reporting on stewardship and performance
• Do you do this?

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Opportunities

• London 2012
• Swimming has a massive role in the activity
  agenda
• Swimming locked into the national curriculum
• We offer a career structure for coaches and
  teachers
• New opportunities through Local Authority reform
  to use swimming as part of the wider agenda

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What can I do?

• To work with the Board or Executive to formulate
  and reviews its Vision and Strategic plan and
  annually monitors performance against those plans
• To ensure that we deliver against the plan and
  above all challenge the plan and look for better
  ways to achieve the Vision
• Work as a Team to ensure that the Region and
  Counties deliver the Vision for the sport.

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Challenge for 2012

• To be delivering podium athletes
• To have a better skilled workforce
• To have more people swimming

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Now we need to look forward to

• 2020