INSIGHT & ANALYSIS
He adds: “I’ve been in swimming all my life because I’m deeply passionate about it. What matters most to me is our impact as a sector, not ownership of achievements by individual organisations – ours included. If our collective work means more people swimming and fewer lives lost in the water, that’s wonderful.” Fixing what’s broken Candler concludes: “School swimming is a key focus for the Alliance at the moment. Children are being failed: too many are leaving school without achieving the national curriculum standards in swimming and it’s getting worse, not better. It’s shocking and we’re all 100 per cent behind the need to sort this out – but this is the first time we’re approaching it collectively. “In the past, we’ve worked in silos: Swim England has done free school swimming programmes, the RLSS has school swim programmes… Everyone’s done programmes, but there’s been no co-ordinated approach – until now.
What matters most to me is our impact as a sector, not ownership of achievements by individual organisations – ours included
“Now, the Alliance is stepping in to ask: ‘How do we take this forward together?’ I’m not saying there isn’t any competition in swimming any more. We each do our job well and the different organisations still compete in terms of day-to-day business. That’s a good thing. It drives up standards and gives choice to customers. “But when it comes to the greater needs of the sector, we’re putting aside ownership and PR and showing that we’re serious. Collaboration gives us strength and credibility. Working together is how we determine our priorities as a sector and actually make things happen. Awareness to action. PR to practice. That’s what it’s all about. “We aren’t completely there yet, but trust is building. We’re now able to acknowledge what hasn’t previously worked, pragmatically assess the situation and say: ‘We all know it’s broken. How shall we move forward together to fix it?’”
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STATE OF THE UK FITNESS INDUSTRY REPORT 2023 STATE OF THE UK SWIMMING INDUSTRY REPORT 2025
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