Swim England is “sorry” after publishing the full findings of an independent listening research report on Tuesday that found abuse, racism and bullying have been part of the organization’s culture.
The research, conducted by the company “The Behavioural Architects,” was launched last March as part of Swim England’s new safeguarding, welfare and culture plan entitled “Heart of Aquatics.”
“More than 1,000 individuals from across the aquatics community contributed to a mix of qualitative research methods,” Swim Englans said.
“This included an anonymous mass listening space open to all to share views and experiences, along with a moderated online platform and interviews.
“Observation sessions also took place at clubs and events, whilst workshops focused on current and former Swim England members, coaches, parents, club committee members and welfare officers.”
The findings are highlighted by a list of five cultural themes that were found within the organization:
- Performance Focus: Too much pressure is put on athletes to perform, rather than focus on the broader benefits of aquatics (healthy lifestyle).
- Culture of Fear: Extreme competitiveness and power imbalance within clubs leads to a ‘toxic environment’ with bullying and aggressive coaching. Swimmers are fearful to speak up to coaches and also fear repercussions from parents and Swim England. Coaches feel vulnerable to unfair allegations.
- Closed Community: The sport feels non-inclusive to newcomers or people from under-represented groups. People involved in the sport are known to have been in it for a long time and know each other, making those without existing connections feel ostracized. The cost also makes the sport seem elitist, pricing out potential members.
- Heavy Reliance on Volunteers: With volunteers being such a crucial aspect to the sport, they can feel over-burdened, which leads to high turnover and the inability/unwillingness to have the capacity to manage welfare issues on top of the day-to-day operations. Also can lead to conflicts of interest.
- Shared Passion and Commitment: Involvement in aquatics is “life-enhancing” and people enjoy a sense of purpose and belonging. However, this enthusiasm can lead to harmful behavior/loss of perspective such as overtraining children to injury or exhaustion.
The report notes that the findings were consistent with previous findings.
“Former and current athletes reported similar positive and negative experiences, indicating that even past or historic issues are ongoing and systemic,” the report says.
“This highlights the challenges of any cultural change. It is important for Swim England to recognize that past experiences are also still felt strongly in the present. They have far reaching consequences on individuals and live in the collective memory of the aquatics community, influencing beliefs and behaviors today. As such, they should not be disregarded as ‘historical’ but worthy of engagement and serious reflection.”
The report also dives into the positive and negative experiences reported by members:
- Positive:
- Wellbeing, camaraderie and support
- Progress and achievement
- Negative:
- Excessive demands and pressure
- Unequal and unfair treatment
- Poor communication
- Bullying and aggressive behavior
- Repercussions for speaking up
“People’s views of Swim England shared during the listening program are predominantly negative in relation to welfare, safeguarding and culture, particularly for those whose role or experiences have brought them into closer contact with the organization,” the report said.
Swim England chairperson Richard Hookway apologized for the organization’s culture and vowed to take the recommendations seriously and take action.
“We are sorry that the culture within aquatics has fallen short of what we strive for and that this has resulted in negative experiences within our community,” said Hookway.
“As part of this, we take the views expressed about Swim England within the report extremely seriously. We are committed to change.
“We have been working on our Heart of Aquatics plan for 12 months, which aims to improve safeguarding, welfare and the underpinning culture across our sports.
“As part of that plan, we made a firm commitment to commission an independent report to capture an honest and thorough reflection of the prevailing culture.
“I want to reassure everyone that we welcome the recommendations and we will act on the findings, which we fully accept.
“We will now take the appropriate time to develop our next steps, building on the Heart of Aquatics commitments and consulting with stakeholders as we do so. We will also continue to listen and to provide feedback on progress.
“Our overarching aim is simple – to ensure everyone feels safe, included and welcome in our sports.”
The report concludes with a large set of recommendations with four key areas that go hand-in-hand with “continued listening,” providing safe listening spaces for all groups and actively engaging with people on their concerns.
- Welfare, safeguarding and complaints management
- Preventative information and guidance
- Positive culture
- Support for clubs and workforce
Sport England issued a statement in response to the findings, declaring that it marks a crossroads for both Swim England and the sport as a whole:
“Today’s publication of the Heart of Aquatics Listening Research Report represents a crossroads moment, both for Swim England and everyone involved in the sport more widely.
“The report, which Swim England commissioned as a condition of their funding agreement with Sport England, details abuse, racism, bullying, bad practice, negative experiences and a poor culture within the sport.
“The experiences shared by so many swimmers, coaches and volunteers in the report are starkly laid out. No-one in sport should ever be subjected to this kind of treatment, and we thank those who came forward to tell their stories.
“Sport England is committed to supporting governing bodies to drive a culture in their sport that upholds the highest standards of ethics, integrity and welfare, whether on the world stage or at a community level.
“We are not a regulator for sport and physical activity in England, but we use the powers we do have to maximise positive change.
“In this case, we are clear that our continued funding for Swim England must be focused on addressing the significant issues within the sport.
“Swim England has a new chief executive and the chance to look afresh at many issues. We welcome this and will now work with and support this new leadership team to decisively and swiftly enact the report’s recommendations and take the sport forward.”
The issues within Swim England led to the retirement of former CEO Jane Nickerson under a cloud of controversy last year, which led to the launch of the Heart of Aquatics initiative.
Rather than accepting and investigating allegations, the ‘man’ who runs our swimming club, “teamipswich”, has submitted a counter claim of abuse against the whistleblower who raised the issues in the first place, lol. What can toothless Swim England do against such a culture? seems hopeless
Mount Kelly!
What a surprise when the entire system is built in this way from the ground up. Sums it up that it took an external report to show the bleeding obvious.
Every few years they think they change it. All they do is make a pancake into a waffle.
Not a surprise. GB is led by old school ghouls.