Courtesy: British Swimming
A brand-new look for British Masters Swimming marks a significant change in governing structure for the sport.
Following an agreement with Aquatics GB, British Masters Swimming will now move under a joint umbrella of each of the three home nations – Swim England, Scottish Swimming and Swim Wales.
The change in structure, set out by the renamed British Masters Swimming Committee (BMSC) – previously known as the Home Countries Masters Swimming Management Group – has been designed to help reflect the differing needs of Masters swimmers to those competing at an elite level and targeting the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The new BMSC will now report straight to the three CEOs of each of the home nations and will continue to work collaboratively to represent the best interests of Masters throughout Great Britain.
To reflect the changes, the group have created a new logo, venue dressing and medals to use at British Masters events throughout the calendar.
The logo design features a stylish cube-like shape, with the letters of each of the home nations joining together. That combines with the new venue dressing that contains an explosion of blue and red colours around an all-white version of the logo to represent the unity of the nation’s supporting British Masters Swimming.
These will first be on display, alongside some brand-new medals, at June’s British Masters Championships, which heads to the London Aquatics Centre for the first time.
‘Excited for the future’
Speaking on the changes, BMSC Chair Jeroen Peters is excited for the future of the sport.
He said: “I’m excited by these changes and I’m really looking forward to the future.
“As much as Masters swimmers love to compete and hit their best times, it’s just as much as about participation, getting together as a community and swimming for our clubs.
“The change in structure gives us more opportunity to make our own decisions to help support the sport and the level we’re swimming at.
“A massive thank you to fellow Masters swimmer Martyn Fresher of Fine Design LTD for all his hard work in creating the logo and to Swim England’s design team for helping to bring that to life with the new venue dressing.
“The group and I look forward to continuing to help grow the Masters community further and ensure adults are actively swimming, either competitively or for fitness, fun and friendship.”
Affiliation to international competitions such as the World and European Masters Championships will be unaffected as a result of these changes.
