INSIGHT & ANALYSIS
INSIGHT & ANALYSIS
Following a change in senior leadership across the sector, we are finally embracing partnership and collaboration
“I’m therefore really happy to see some important changes happening in the sector now – the biggest and most significant I’ve ever witnessed. Following a change in senior leadership across the sector, we are finally embracing partnership and collaboration as the key to addressing the many issues facing us.” Working in Alliance Candler continues: “The Swimming Alliance is the clearest manifestation of this: a coming together of over 25 leading national swim organisations to move forward with one single voice. “Founded a couple of years ago, it’s starting to deliver results. Although the Swimming Pool Support Fund isn’t new news, the Alliance was instrumental in its creation. And most recently, June’s unprecedented parliamentary debate on the vital importance of leisure centres and swimming pools to local communities – a lengthy discussion that achieved cross-party agreement – was tabled by The Swimming Alliance.
“Would this have happened if one standalone swimming body had taken it to government – or, as so often used to happen, if multiple organisations had been separately lobbying government on the same thing? Quite probably not. “But when the Alliance came forward with one voice and one agenda, it was far more powerful. That single voice continued afterwards, too, with every Alliance organisation using the same standardised press release to tell its members what had been achieved. “Ultimately, we’re stronger together. We have a bigger voice together. Only by sitting down together can we thrash out not only what our targets are, but also how we will achieve them in real, practical terms. We can each come up with a million ideas on how to improve the sector, but unless we work in partnership, they won’t become a reality. “And I think now, with the change of senior leadership in the sector, everyone’s accepting that.”
When the Alliance came forward with one voice and one agenda, it was far more powerful… We’re stronger together.
Sharing best practice He continues: “Let’s take inclusivity as an example. We’ve all been talking about it for years, but nobody worked together to achieve it – until now. And now, as a result, things are starting to happen. “A new collaboration between GLL, Level Water and the STA is a great example, with a team of specially-trained inclusion specialists now in place at GLL. These specialists are on-hand to support GLL swim teachers in making classes as inclusive as possible – for example, bringing individuals with disabilities into mainstream lessons where this might not previously have been possible. “The important difference is that nobody’s trying to take ownership or credit for this initiative. The project is co-branded and we all equally share the responsibility of delivering the right outcomes. If it works well, we can then
harness the reach of the Alliance to roll it out to other organisations. “The same goes for the grassroots swimming and water safety projects the STA supports through its Community STArters grants. Local communities come to us with ideas – nobody knows what a community needs better than the community itself – and we’ve supported a wide range of projects, from swimming for ethnic groups, individuals with autism and disability-specific schemes to open water swimming for mental health. “Where these projects are successful, we can now bring them to the Alliance and consider where else in the UK they might work. And crucially, we can do it without feeling we have to duplicate or own the schemes ourselves, using up valuable resources to rehash and relaunch them under the STA banner.”
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STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2023 STATE OF THE UK SWIMMING INDUSTRY REPORT 2025
STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2023
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STATE OF THE UK SWIMMING INDUSTRY REPORT 2025
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