There was a budget boost for Scottish Swimming today when sportscotland announced over a million pounds of investment in the sport with more than £900,000 coming from lottery funding.
sportscotland Chair Louise Martin CBE and Minister for Public Health and Sport, Shona Robison visited the Gorbals Leisure Centre in Glasgow to confirm £1,218,500 of funding for Scottish Swimming over the next 12 months, the biggest ever single investment in a Scottish governing body of sport. They met swimmers young and old participating in a range of water based activities and were able to see for themselves why swimming is worthy of such significant support.
Announcing the funding Louise Martin CBE, Chair of sportscotland said: “The benefits of being able to swim last a lifetime. Swimming starts out as a vital and potentially lifesaving skill and quickly becomes a fun and enjoyable activity to take part in with friends and family. It is also the ideal sport to improve fitness and health particularly for older people. That’s why it is so important for us to invest in this sport right across the board.
“Our investment of £1,218,500 will allow Scottish Swimming to create more quality opportunities for people to participate in the sport through learn to swim programmes, community clubs, for fitness and health and of course, to support the development of our talented athletes as they aim to continue Scotland’s fantastic record of achievement on the world stage.”
Sports Minister Shona Robison added: “Swimming is a sport enjoyed by young and old and is an excellent way to get fit and have fun at the same time. This record funding will encourage people of all ages across Scotland to get active and benefit from a sport Scotland continues to excel in. In addition, the new Healthy Living Managers funded by the Scottish Government will drive forward schemes to ensure as many people as possible start to swim”.
Swimming is an inclusive and hugely popular activity, one of the top participation sports in Scotland and indeed the UK. It is second only to walking for adults and ranks third after football and cycling for children.
Scottish Swimming has a track record of delivering against their strategic targets and is perfectly placed to satisfy an increased demand for fitness activity and to deliver world level medal success for Scotland in the future providing appropriate facilities are in place.
Thanks to investment from sportscotland and the Scottish Government, Scottish Swimming has introduced a range of initiatives designed to encourage more people to take up the sport and make swimming part of a healthy, active lifestyle.
A recent innovation has been the appointment of two Healthy Living Managers whose remit is to implement and deliver a healthy living strategy to drive participation across Scotland. Targeting key groups, the programme is a key element of Scottish Swimming’s corporate plan “Everyone Can Swim”.
The sport has also recently issued a new draft facilities strategy for consultation to ensure the sport, working with local authority partners and others, can address the facility challenges that lie ahead.
Welcoming the investment, Maureen Campbell, Chair, Scottish Swimming said: “Scottish Swimming welcomes this investment from sportscotland. A key aim for a number of years has been on working in collaboration with clubs and local authorities to set up partnerships focused on coaching, water access, and sharing of best practice.
“Our attention to partnership working is critical to our latest initiative, the development of a new facilities strategy. Delivering against this strategy will rely heavily on the quality networks our sportscotland funded development and performance teams have established with the local communities, including all local authorities, Leisure Trusts, and other pool providers.”
• In 2007/08 sportscotland invested over £11.5 million in 59 sports governing bodies.
• This year’s investment of £1,218,500 is made up of £910,500 from the sportscotland lottery fund and £308,000 sportscotland funding from the Scottish Government.
• Last year Scottish Swimming received an investment of £818,000. The increase includes realignment of investment previously directed to the Institute network, sports partnerships and UKCC costs.
• The Healthy Living Manager post is a two year fixed term contract funded by the Scottish Government. The remit for the post is to implement and deliver a healthy living strategy leading to an increase in swimming participation for key target groups.
• For more information on Scottish Swimming visit their website at www.scottishswimming.com
(Source: sportscotland.org.uk)
