Download the 2005-06 Annual Report - Swimming Canada

CEO’s report
Strategic Plan
Looking back on our goals established for the 2006 year, we can see that we are moving forward in a positive direction. We achieved a 5% increase
in the number Đ
our operating buĐ
through the swĐ -
monwealth Games and 8 medals at the Pan Pacific Championships. These 12 medals surpassed our goal of a total of 8 medals; 1 gold and 2 relay
medal at the Commonwealth Games and 5 medals at the Pan Pacific Championships.
Delivery of Service
Swimming Canada is continuing to improve the relationship with its members and stakeholders by increasing its level of service and value. We have
hired two additional staff members, Katie Dolan and Erin Sulpher who are helping with membership servicing, marketing and communication support
and office administration. By launching a weekly electronic newsletter to clubs, provincial sections, athletes and parents, by formulating virtual
meets fĐ
o help
service the clubs across the country better, we have developed a new position; Domestic Operations Manager. We are very excited to bring Andrew
Moss on board to fill this role which begins October 1, 2006.
Change in Culture
One Team – One Goal – One Nation, Canada; this is our belief. We will continue to work together with our athletes and coaches to share knowledge,
ideas, and support services to all levels across the country. We are fostering a partnership with the Red Cross and have developed a Memorandum
of Understanding in an effort to promote water safety and help reduce the number of accidental drownings in Canada. We are also collaborating with
the CIS; who together with Byron MacDonald of the University of Toronto have developed Canada First, an information handbook for prospective university
students. Our goal is to inform every high school athlete, parent and coach about the potential education and training opportunities right here
in Canada. We Đ
We must communicate the pros and cons of U.S. college scholarships and develop our own national, made-in-Canada high energy university swim
conference and scholarship solution.
National Training Centres
This year we have re-structured our National Swim Centre Program to provide comprehensive resource centres for athletes and coaches as well as
providing a channel of decentralized services that can be accessed by swimmers and coaches across the country. We have established two Centres;
one in Vancouver and one in Montreal and hired four new coaches; Tom Johnson, Head Coach and Jozsef Nagy, Assistant Coach in Vancouver, Paul
Bergen, Head Coach, and Benoit Lebrun, Coach in Montreal. The two Centres began operation as of September 1, 2006.
AFC/Sport collaboration
We are collaborating with our aquatic partners to establish efficiencies and cost savings through shared services, but more importantly to advocate,
as one voice, for greater investment in aquatic sport. Our short term collaboration is focused on planning for the 2007 World Championships, the
organization of aĐ -
prehensive needs analysis and strategy has been initiated to address aquatic infrastructure development in Southern Ontario.
National Team
We had two major international competitions this year; the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne, Australia and the Pan Pacific Championships in Victoria,
British Columbia. Thirty-two of our swimmers traveled to the Land Down Under in March and won 16 medals and broke 12 national records.
It was a positive and valuable experience for everyone involved.
SWIMMING CANADA - ANNUAL REPORT 2005-06
The Pan Pacific Championships were hosted this summer in Victoria, British Columbia. This competition was a very important development experience
for our young athletes. Mark Hahto and Andrew Moss took on the challenge of organizing this very successful competition in only six months. A
huge thank you goes out to Mark and Andrew, to the city of Victoria, Saanich Commonwealth Place Pool, the organizing committee and all of the volunteers!
WiĐ
Moving Forward
The 2006/2007 season is going to be another exciting year of growth as we move closer to the 2008 Olympic Games. We need to continue to build
and foster relationships with our coaches, provincial sections and athletes. We can help our coaches by creating more professional development
opportunities for them as they are absolutely critical in our success as a dominant swim nation. Building stronger partnerships and cooperation with
our provincial sections arĐ
for our retired athletes is another service we can offer to help move them forward in their careers after swimming. Lastly, we need to increase our
relationship and involvement with FINA. We want to increase the number of international meets on North American soil as well as develop a plan to
bid on hosting the FINA World Youth Championships in 2010.
Increasing our service and awareness of the Swimming Canada brand must be the core of our business. The brand of our swimming family and the
strength in brand unity are essential for us to move forward.
We need to be the number one sport federation in Canada by taking a leading position in all aspects of sport. This means we must be innovative in
our events, in our marketing, and in all aspects of our organization. We must develop new vehicles to communicate our sport to a greater audience.
We need to target children and develop new and innovative ways to interest them in swimming. We can do this through greater profile on television
and in new media, and through cross promotions in the course of partnerships and corporate sponsors.
I would like to thank the SNC Board of Directors for their hard work and tremendous support; and a special note of thanks to our staff for their hard
work over this past year.
One Team – One Goal – One Nation, Canada! Together we are building this dream into a reality. It takes each and every one of us to work together
and support the goals of our athletes. We can make dreams come true for our swimmers!
Pierre Lafontaine
CEO
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