World Swimming Coaches Association: Severing Of Ties By USA, Canada, Australia & GB Is Unnecessary & Disappointing
The World Swimming Coaches Association (WSCA) says the actions of the National Swimming Coaches Associations of USA, Australia, Canada and Great Britain are “disappointing, unnecessary and do not best serve swimming coaches on a global level” after the four cut ties with the world body.
It follows a statement by the American Swimming Coaches Association (ASCA), Swim Coaches and Teachers Australia (SCTA), Canadian Swimming Coaches Association (CSCA), and British Swimming Coaches Association (BSCA) – who represent over 40,000 coaches and teachers – in which they state they’ve withdrawn their affiliation, saying WSCA’s priorities do not align with the proposed future direction of the four.
The quartet said its main reason for the disaffiliation “is the concern that the recently enacted WSCA constitution fails to meet the standards of organisational oversight and member representation, which are fundamental values for each of the national associations.”
Courtesy: World Swimming Coaches Association
On its website, WSCA says: “Our mission is to empower coaches, provide high-quality and affordable education, and amplify their voices within the swimming community, all on a global scale.”
However, rather than representing coaches throughout the world, a source told Swimming World it was felt over the last 10 years that it had merely become an extension of the ASCA with efforts made to address this in recent years.
As a result, the constitution was rewritten in order to provide worldwide representation with a minimum of one representative on the WSCA Board from North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia and Oceania.
It was passed by a majority vote in September with three of the National Coaches Associations voting against this.
Despite WSCA reaching out and proposing talks, there was no response until a flurry of emails over the last 48 hours.
A spokesperson described the situation as “extremely frustrating and disappointing.”
The vast majority of swimming nations don’t have national coaches’ associations and WSCA made clear they were looking to educate and empower in those particular countries, and not in the USA, Canada, Australia or Great Britain.
The WSCA spokesperson added:
“Our responsibility is to help coaches become better versions of themselves.
“This can only have a negative impact on coaches.”
In its statement, the WSCA says that from 2024, continental representatives will be selected from the world’s leading coaches, with coaching performance a pre-requisite of application and acceptance.
World Swimming Coaches Association Statement
“The Board of the World Swimming Coaches Association (WSCA) make the following statement following that released by four National Swimming Coaches Associations regarding their affiliation with WSCA.
“In September of this year, the WSCA Board voted for significant constitutional change, their strongest ever endeavor to date to ensure that the Association’s governance and strategic direction is truly representational on a worldwide level.
“WSCA is designed to serve coaches and not coaches associations.
“It is our view that the statement from the four NSCA’s is disappointing, unnecessary and does not best serve swimming coaches on a global level. These Associations are ‘disassociating’ from an organization run by volunteers with no agenda other to serve their own coach members.
“Rather than ‘outsourcing’ and embracing the role WSCA plays in the sport, they are implying a power grab that simply does not exist, and with the new Constitution, never will.
“Our new Constitution allows for a true and broadly-spread continental representation on the WSCA Board, rather than the previous default structure with control and influence in the hands of two or three powerful swimming nations.
“With WSCA serving over 14,000 members worldwide, the continents of North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Oceania will each have at least one representative on the Board following the Paris 2024 Games; it is clear and apparent that there remains opportunity for coaches from USA, Canada, Australia and Great Britain to occupy seats on the Board – but not at the regular expense of all other nations.
“The Constitution also fully facilitates recognized and constituted NSCA’s to be able to further their partnership with WSCA going forwards via their own Board seats, available to them through affiliation.
“It is therefore a sad day that these NSCA’s choose to disassociate themselves from WSCA when the aspiration of the Board is for clear, transparent and widespread international representation from all corners of the globe.
“From 2024, Continental representatives will be selected from the world’s leading coaches, with coaching performance a pre-requisite of application and acceptance. WSCA is also now in a position to be able to appoint additional ‘skill set’ Directors to the Board to help them enable their 2024-2028 Strategic Plan. It is hard for us to see how this can be seen as anything but good, proactive and inclusive for those we serve and support.
“The WSCA of 2023 has evolved to serve two missions. Firstly, the Association provides the voice for the high-performance coaches in the world through continuous advocacy, while remaining as service providers (through education and consulting) for the developing swimming nations of the world. WSCA is the only organization that serves both ends of the spectrum and is also the only Association that can serve the needs of the world’s swimming coaches without a national-led agenda.
“It should also be noted that the only NSCA that has been affiliated to WSCA over the last two years is the ASCTA. In many regards, this statement simply maintains the status quo that we have been working within. To date, the stated NSCA’s have not chosen to take part in any constructive dialogue, other than to collectively challenge our efforts to serve the global coaching community.
“The door will always be open for all NSCA’s to be partners with WSCA, including the four that sit within this statement. We sincerely hope that over time, these particular NSCA’s recognize that they have not acted in the interests of the coaches that they represent and that they reach out to us with swimming coach welfare, support and camaraderie at the heart of their decision-making. WSCA is, and always has been, strong, essential and progressive.
“All of those who would have swimming coach support at the heart of what they do will hopefully recognize over time that we are stronger working together, and that the world’s swimming coaches will be better served for it.
“Sincerely
“WSCA Board”
This became news within the swimming world over a week ago and yet specifics about the changes, why the NSCAs withdrew, and why adding representatives from each continent are stirring up such a mess. We are left to ‘read between the lines’ and what I see there is not flattering to the NSCAs, but since there is such a lack of specifics in any reports about this I could be wrong.
Swimming World would be doing everyone a service if some editorial or reportage could offer specifics as to what is behind this issue. But please, no more vague statements that dance around the issue and leave the important points unsaid.