{"id":425736,"date":"2020-04-03T02:59:55","date_gmt":"2020-04-03T09:59:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=425736"},"modified":"2024-10-28T11:51:30","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T18:51:30","slug":"international-swimming-league-solidarity-11m-lifeline-for-swimmers-in-corona-crunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/international-swimming-league-solidarity-11m-lifeline-for-swimmers-in-corona-crunch\/","title":{"rendered":"International Swimming League Solidarity: $11m Lifeline For Swimmers In Corona Crunch"},"content":{"rendered":"

International Swimming League Solidarity Program to pay swimmers first regular wage in their sport: 320 athletes to receive $1500 a month<\/em><\/strong><\/li>\n
$11m set aside for wages, bonuses and prize money<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n
All 10 ISL teams, swimmers, coaches and support staff invited – at ISL expense – to 5-week solidarity camp in October-November for training and competition as a catalyst to reunite the world swimming community\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n
Reality TV concept for the camp may have commercial spin-offs to further help fund swimming and swimmers at a time when subsidised funding of the sport may take a hit because of the economic downturn caused by the pandemic<\/strong><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
The International Swimming League (ISL)<\/strong> today throws a lifeline to swimmers facing uncertainty and even the prospect of forced retirement from the sport due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
In a letter (in full at the foot of this article<\/em>) sent to the 320 athletes, their coaches and managers at the 10 ISL teams, the League, founded and funded by businessman Konstantin Grigorishin<\/strong>, announces a Solidarity Program<\/strong> in which each swimmer will receive a guaranteed $1500 wage for 10 months between September and July next year to tide them over a time of challenge.<\/p>\n
Grigorishin told Swimming World<\/em> that the measure is designed to help “save the sport … prevent premature retirements”.<\/p>\n
The 30 ambassadors for the League, including the likes of Katie Ledecky, Adam Peaty, Caeleb Dressel, Sara Sjostrom, Chad Le Clos, Katinka Hosszu <\/strong>and Sarah Sj\u00f6str\u00f6m,<\/strong> will receive between $3,500 and $5,000 a month for the same 10-month period.<\/p>\n
Summing up the wages at $6m, Grigorishin tells Swimming World<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
“This is nothing if you’re taking soccer or basketball but it’s a big deal in swimming.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
A level to keep swimmers in swimming? \u201cThis is our main goal,\u201d says the ISL founder.<\/p>\n
The ‘wages’ part of the package may be extended beyond next July “if we are commercially successful”, he added, noting that a further $5m had been allocated to prize money during a training and competition camp to be help over five weeks in October and November, coronavirus pandemic pending.<\/p>\n
More from Konstantin Grigorishin in due course.<\/p>\n
Our Coverage:<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n
ISL Swimmers React to Solidarity Program: New Life for Amy Bilquist, Justin Ress, Others<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
Caeleb Dressel A Condor Confined To Nest Now Craving Breeze Back To League Of High Flyers<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
Katinka Hosszu: ISL Support Will Enable All Swimmers To Continue Into 2021<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n
Georgia Davies: ISL Support Will Be Invaluable And Allow Athletes To Fully Focus On Training<\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Australian Cate Campbell<\/strong>, a senior on the London Roar squad, said:<\/p>\n
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\u201cThis is going to be a lifeline for swimmers, not just in Australia but all around the world.\u00a0No-one has said it yet, but let\u2019s be honest, the writing\u2019s on the wall that funding cuts are going to happen and for a lot of swimmers on the cusp of representing their countries, that might mean they have to give up their dreams.\u00a0This will also give everyone a little bit of insight into what it\u2019s like to be a swimmer and their personalities and what an average training day looks like, because we kind of exist a little bit in the dark.<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s going to be so important for the sport moving forward because corporate dollars and sponsorship dollars are going to be so scarce in the years to come.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The Swimming Reality and Reunification Camp<\/h2>\n
A condensed ISL Season II will have a twist.<\/p>\n
All 10 teams, 320 swimmers and their coaches have been invited to attend a five-week training-and-competition camp in October-November this year. The dates will be adjusted if the coronavirus pandemic demands.<\/p>\n
The subsidised reunification of the swimming family will include an ISL-format competition each weekend, with 10 teams competing in matches of four teams at a time. Innovations for the coming season include skins on all strokes – back-to-back races which operate on a knockout basis with the two remaining swimmers racing in a head-to-head final, \u00a0split-time events and a 100m medley added to the program.<\/p>\n
The eight existing teams in the League from last season were each allowed to keep eight athletes without risk of them being ‘poached’ by other teams. The closest thing so far to a ‘transfer window’ in swimming meant a month or two during which swimmers could switch teams. The two new teams joining the party this season, in Japan and Canada, were even a month in which to recruit their 2020-21 rosters.<\/p>\n
Depending on coronavirus developments, the final match in the condensed 2020 series would either be held on the last weekend of the camp or about a month or two later somewhere else in the world, London among cities to have expressed an interest, with the cusp of Christmas among options on the calendar.<\/p>\n
Among venues being explored for the camp are Australia, Budapest, Japan and Florida. Australia and Japan are the front-runners for the time being.<\/p>\n
The cost of the camp and the related competitions will swell the ISL’s investment to more than $20 million as a solidarity measure on the way to a full season in 2021-22. More details to follow.<\/p>\n
Grigorshin<\/strong>, founder of the ISL and the billionaire behind the Pro-Swim revolution, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cOur approach is we consider athletes as our partners so before we made this decision we asked them what they wanted and this is what they told us, so it\u2019s a swimming camp, it\u2019s a competition and it\u2019s a reality show all rolled into one.”<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
James Gibson<\/strong>, head coach to the Energy Standard<\/strong> squad and the ISL team that lifted the inaugural League Trophy in Las Vegas last December after a tight tussle for supremacy with London Roar, summed up the mood among many in the League with this Instagram post:<\/p>\n
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A post shared by J\u1d00\u1d0d\u1d07s G\u026a\u0299s\u1d0f\u0274 MBE (@jamesgibson____)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n