The ASA Handbook - Swimming.Org

Annual General Meeting
68
undertaken about the role and the sustainability of clubs in the 21st Century – these documents have
been circulated to regions and are available on the website. A working group was set up consisting
of three Regional Chairs and the Chief Operating Officer. This group looked at a number of areas of
support to existing clubs including looking at the possibility of locally based staff to support clubs, an
on-line self help tool kit, immediate advice to new club post holders on appointment, central
purchasing etc. The self-help tool kit is currently being produced and an example of this will be
demonstrated at the club conference. Funding for locally based staff has been included in the Whole
Sport Plan submission and we await the outcome of this. The system of sending information to new
post holders is in place and will be rolled out as the membership team are advised of changes in post
holders. The Aquatic Officers have continued to support clubs on swim21 submissions and club
infrastructure. The conference will focus on clubs and feature presentations and workshops on the
proposed club pathway/structure and the plans to support clubs and volunteers. An expanded
Volunteer strategy is under development to further support volunteers of all ages.
Paul Davies – Strategic Lead Grow / Jane Nickerson Chief Operating Officer.
6.1.2. The South East welcomed the response and were pleased to note the renewed focus on
Clubs but felt it was disappointing that this had not been brought to the forefront
previously and emphasised how important they felt the delivery of this was.
6.1.3. Starred Item A2 – BIG SPLASH – East Region. Following the excellent motivational Big
Splash workshop at last year’s conference, at which a BBC producer present outlined the
coverage to be delivered, the clubs were encouraged to get involved in Big Splash, and to
keep the designated weekend free. BBC programmes were promised in the run-up
months, and on ‘the’ weekend. The perception was that Big Splash was to be covered
rather like Sports Relief.
From the point of view of the membership, the promised Big Splash did not happen. Some
pools had posters and probably ran events, but television coverage was minimal in the
run-up months, and what happened to ‘the’ weekend?
An opportunity to engage people with our sport was missed, and that in a year when there
was supposed to be a focus on participation figures. The membership saw the ASA fail
on another promise of delivery. There is also no point in spending time and money on
providing excellent workshops at a conference for the membership, if the people
motivated there see no results from their efforts. There is also a danger that even the
volunteers who are passionate about our sport will become disillusioned.
Response:
Thank you for your question and we are pleased to be able to provide some facts to answer
the points raised. These come from the official report circulated to the ASA Board in July.
All the evidence we have collated on the Big Splash shows it was a very successful project:
1. Over 1300 pools carried Big Splash promotional material throughout the year-long
campaign, covering a range of key messages supporting our participation drive.
2. 400,000 reward cards (incentivizing people to swim once a week) were distributed and
around 40,000 were completed – that’s up to 40,000 extra people swimming once a
week for 12 weeks.
3. The BBC ran 64 separate programmes covering the Big Splash – these included the
One Show, Breakfast, Blue Peter, CBBC , Radio 2 and the Great Salford Swim.
4. Big Splash programming reached over 73% of the UK population.
5. Over 50,000 people signed up to ASA databases to receive further information about
swimming.
6. Kellogg’s Big Splash cereal packs were bought by 85% of homes in the UK.
7. The Weekend was delivered in partnership with Swimathon on April 27-29 2012 – a
record 26,000 swimmers and 795 clubs took part.
8. The Big Splash Mile for Sport Relief was an integral part of the Weekend; overall the
Weekend raised £2.35m for charity.
The Big Splash campaign and weekend achieved an excellent return on investment – it
delivered £46 of media value for every £1 spent. We continue to work with the BBC on
future projects to support swimming.
Chris Denny – Director of Marketing and Communications