Swim 21
Kingfishers Swimming Club is now a Swim 21 accredited club. This is a widely recognised accreditation scheme which not only ensures that the club is functioning effectively, but also gives the club access to more funding. We are also a Sport England Clubmark accredited club.
We completed the Swim 21 Audit in February 2003. This was in the form of a questionnaire about how the club is run, what training and competition our members can access and what coaches we have. Out of this questionnaire, we were able to determine what we needed to put in place to improve the club. We were assessed on our answers to the questionnnaire by the ASA Regional Development Officer (RDO) who determined that the club was working towards the Skill Development Level. Interestingly, we completed a Swim 21 questionnnaire in 1999 and were assessed as working towards the Teaching Level (one level lower), so we have come a long way in 4 years.
The next step from the audit was to complete an Action Plan which lists what we have to do and when to achieve the Skill Development status. This was submitted to the RDO in June 2003 for agreement. We completed the final stage of the process in late March 2004 and submitted an evidence file to the District Swim 21 Assessment Panel for accreditation. The evidence file is large and contains things like: Copies of training schedules; gala results; coaches qualifications; links with other clubs; policies; rules; guideline and by-laws.
We were awarded the Swim 21 accreditation (Skill Development Level - Silver) in April 2004 and this was ratified by the National Assessment Panel in May 2004. It has already made a difference! We are the first club in the South Hams to gain 'Gold Status' with Sports South Hams which gives us access to up to £1000 worth of funding each year. We have also managed to get full funding from County and District for Karen Dorey to go on the ASA Club Coach course this August.
The Swim 21 process may seem like a lot of needless paperwork, but it's not. It ensures that our swimmers are able to access the coaching and facilities which they need to progress as far as they want to go - even to Olympic Level!! It has helped to shape the link between Plymouth Leander and Kingfishers and helped our coaches to direct our swimmers to the type of training and competition which they need to succeed in swimming.
If you have any questions about Swim 21 talk to Karen Dorey.