Swim Wairarapa hold fire

Swim Wairarapa are not among the regions calling for the sacking of the national board after the latter's high-performance environment was the subject of a damning Sport and Recreation New Zealand (Sparc) report.
Just how many of the 16 regions have put the SNZ board on seven days notice was not clear from inquiries made by the Wairarapa Times-Age yesterday but it is understood it could be more than half of them, including the likes of Auckland, Manawatu, Canterbury-West Coast, Bay of Plenty, Poverty Bay-Hawke's Bay and Southland.
Swim Wairarapa, however, have taken a different tack, preferring to wait until SNZ's annual meeting next month to decide what, if any, actions need to be taken against the current board.
"The problems they are talking about now haven't just surfaced, they've probably been with us for the best part of the decade or so," Swim Wairarapa general secretary Maryann Corrigan said yesterday.
"Obviously everybody involved in the sport is keen to get things moving in the right direction but we want to hear the full story before we make a move and the annual meeting would seem to be the best place for that to happen."
While Corrigan was "not surprised at all" that the Sparc review should talk about a culture of distrust in the SNZ high-performance environment and a lack of confidence in its leadership she said it was noticeable that those now calling for the board's sacking had not come up with any options or alternatives to the present set up.
"They are acting as if everything will come right if you sack the board and simply start again but you have to question whether that would be the case," she said.
"Aren't there are a lot of other things which need to investigated and corrected before that would happen?"
Sparc's criticism came after they initiated an independent review of the SNZ high performance.
It was carried out by former NZ Sports Foundation chief executive Chris Ineson and was aimed at identifying any barriers which could stop swimmers and coaches combining to produce medal-winning efforts at next year's London Olympics.
Ineson found the high performance structure to be non-sustainable with many of those interviewed labelling it dysfunctional and saying it needed to be improved.
"Ninety-one per cent of those interviewed attributed the poor culture at the high performance centre as a significant barrier to success in London," the report said in noting the environment at the centre was negative with a lack of confidence in its leadership.
Which meant in turn it was not conducive to the preparatory needs for London, or any other major international event.
"The feedback about structure, environment and leadership was so strong and so consistent across the broad spectrum of the high performance swimming community that it cannot continue to be ignored."
The Sparc report made five recommendations and the top priority was the establishment of an advisory committee to provide the board with governance oversight of the high performance programme.
Also on that list was a review of the high performance structure, the appointing of a head coach-Olympic campaign director until the London Olympics, the appointing of the best possible high performance coaches and the immediate implementation of the report's recommendations in an open and decisive manner.