INSIGHT & ANALYSIS
INSIGHT & ANALYSIS
We must get out into our communities to understand their needs. Let’s not assume we know who they are or what they want.
So many audiences are not yet embracing swimming: ethnic minorities are highly under-represented, for example, as are disabled people. We need to get out into our communities, better understand their needs today – let’s not assume we know who they are or what they want – and find new ways to turn latent demand into participation. It’s why last year’s STA campaign, STArlight, focused on upskilling existing swim teachers to serve a disabled audience. We identified teachers’ confidence levels as a major barrier, so in the space of six months we trained 500 disability specialist teachers. Off the back of this, 86 per cent confirmed they would adapt all their swimming lessons to be more inclusive.
It’s also why the 2024 campaign, Community STArters, is awarding start-up funding of £1,000 to one community- based, grassroots swimming initiative every month. Of course, there are already some great examples of best practice within the public sector, including among our own customers. We certainly saw many fantastic examples through STAnd Up for Swimming, with Active Leeds and Active Surrey leading the way in using the campaign to work with their communities to help address inequalities. However, as a general rule I believe much more can be done. We need to move away from continually asking for help to instead help ourselves, taking learnings from the private sector.
Active Leeds used the STAnd Up for Swimming campaign to work with its community to help address inequalities
We can fix this for ourselves if we have a more coordinated approach. It’s why we’re so supportive of the new Swimming Alliance.
What other changes would you like to see? With swimming spanning leisure and sport, public and private sectors, there are so many stakeholders and voices involved. This has traditionally made it difficult to know who’s in charge, particularly in recent years with the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis. It has often led to uncoordinated political approaches, with everyone trying to ask government what to do and everyone after the same pot of money. As I say, we can fix this for ourselves if we put our minds to it and have a more coordinated approach. It’s why we’re so supportive of the new Swimming Alliance, which we see as a really positive step forward for swimming.
I’d also like to see progress from a data perspective. Shamefully, there’s no data to accurately show how many UK children go through how many lessons at how many swim schools, nor how learn-to-swim provision is split between private and public sector. I personally suspect a significant percentage of lessons are delivered privately – far more than you’d think the way everyone talks about it – but we don’t know for sure. How have we reached 2024 without this basic understanding of our market? I’d really like to see this change, but sadly commissioning such research is beyond the budget of a small charity like the STA.
STAnd Up for Swimming covered the cost of training 900 new swim teachers, 86% of who were immediately employed
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STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2023 STATE OF THE UK SWIMMING INDUSTRY REPORT 2024
STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2023
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STATE OF THE UK SWIMMING INDUSTRY REPORT 2024
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