Key Notes from Meeting Hosted by British Swimming & UK Sports Association at the DSE Junior

Key Notes from Meeting Hosted by British Swimming & UK Sports Association (UKSA) at the DSE Junior Swimming Championships, Ponds Forge, 6th March 2010

Tim Reddish, Disability Swimming Executive Director, British Swimming

Tracey McCillen, Chief Executive, UK Sports Association

History

Since athletes with intellectual disability excluded from Paralympic pathway as a result of incidents with classification in the Sydney Paralympic Games, UKSA, its members and British Swimming have been keen to see matters resolved as quickly as possible.

There have been a number of strong relationships built starting with British Swimming and UKSA, but also the support of the British Paralympic Association has been invaluable. In many INAS-FID nations they are not fortunate enough to enjoy the same strength of relationship as UKSA does with its National Paralympic Committee Member – ie BPA.

The re-formation of the INAS-FID/IPC Working Group has moved classification for athletes with ID forward considerably. By working in partnership strong foundations have been built and decisions taken jointly have been implemented across the INAS-FID membership.

The formidable work plan, ambitious research and objectives established by the Working Group culminated in a presentation to the IPC General Assembly in Kuala Lumpur in November 2009. All IPC member nations were present. Great Britain was represented by the British Paralympic Association. Tim Reddish, who is also Chair of the British Paralympic Association, was in Kuala Lumpur to cast the British vote on the motion to re-including athletes with intellectual disability into the Paralympic Games starting with London 2012.

There was vigourous debate and what was clear was that there was still some resistence to re-inclusion. This was however no surprise and the important thing to remember is that although the vote was won by just a few votes, considerable change had been achieved to get this positive vote. Many minds had been changed and now the Paralympic door is open.

London 2012 Paralympic Games

It has been announced that there will be four sports in London 2012 for athletes with intellectual disability. These are: Athletics; Table Tennis; Swimming and Rowing.

In order for athletes with intellectual disability to compete at the Games, they will need to undergo the first and second stages of international classification. UKSA manages and assesses all applications from athletes in the UK both at a UK and international level. UKSA is the only official GB member of INAS-FID.

International (INAS-FID) Classification

For Paralympic events, only international classification is relevant. There are two stages:

International Stage 1 – “Primary Eligibility Check”

All athletes will need to complete stage 1 and be awarded stage 1 classification, before they can proceed to stage 2.

Stage 1 criteria requires:

Evidence of IQ - a full scale score of 75 or lower on a recognised and professionally administered IQ test.

Evidence of limitations in adaptive behaviour - a formal test to measure of how learning disability affects both daily life and the ability to respond to life changes and environmental demands.

Evidence of Age of Onset pre 18 - must be able to show that the learning disability was evident before person was 18 years old.

International Stage 2 - “Sports Specific Classification”

Stage 2 is under development. It is the new work being managed by the Joint INAS-FIDand International Paralympic Committee Working Group. Stage 2 will require the athlete to undergo onsite testing by a classification panel, appointed by the International Federation responsible for the athletes sport.

The on site testing will focus on how the athletes learning disability impacts on their performance in their sport. The tests will gather “sports intelligence” on that athlete in order to make a decision.

The tests will be evaluated against sport specific minimal disability scores. An athlete must meet the minimal disability scores in order to be eligible to compete. It is expected that minimal disability scores and how the stage 2 testing will be carried out willbe announced by INAS-FID towards September 2010.

Stage 2, Sports Specific Classification will not mean athletes need to undergo new IQ assessments. INAS-FID and the relevant international sports will announce what testing procedures will be used in due course. UK athletes have already been contributing to the research to develop these testing systems where they have been part of INAS-FID and IPC events over the past couple of years.

The reality is that some athletes, who currently have a Stage 1, Primary Eligibility classification may not successfully complete stage 2 and therefore cannot compete at the Paralympic Games. Neither UKSA nor British Swimming can give any guidance on who that could be as the minimal disability scores and testing methods are not yet available.

It is important to note that sport specific testing is a completely new system. It is groundbreaking for sport for people with intellectual disability and will no doubt evolve in the years to come.

UK Classification

UKSA manages also the UK system. This is designed to closely mirror the international system and dovetails into the international (INAS-FID) system. British Swimming has not yet fully accepted the UK system saying it does not fully mirror the international system. This means that in for example the UK School Games, British Swimming require international classification.

UKSA disagrees with the decision on UK School Games believing UK Classification should be sufficient for young athletes just beginning their progression, however UKSA continues to work with British Swimming to allay their concerns and demonstrate that the UK system mirrors the international system.

The UK system is designed to be a less onerous process than that of international classification and to be used at the point an athlete demonstrates some ability to progress along the performance pathway, but is still in the developmental stages.

UKSA implemented IQ as a mandatory requirement in the UK system with effect from 1st January 2009. All athletes classified previous to that date on the UK system have been required to re-classify.

Despite British Swimming not currently acknowledging UK Classification for the UK School Games, British Swimming and UKSA are moving closer to agreement since the inclusion of IQ. Both are agreeing a way to evaluate the correlation between the IQ testing done on a short form assessmentwith those done on a full IQ assessment to demonstrate that the UK System fully mirrors the international system. Good progress is being made and if it continues in this way, including seeing more athletes go through the various testing procedures, it is hoped that the UK system will be fully accepted by British Swimming at the beginning of 2011.

British Swimming does however acknowledge UK classification in a number of competitions – for example DSE Juniors. For all IPC sanctioned events or those that are formally part of the Paralympic Pathway, international (INAS-FID) classification is required. International classification is currently required for the UK School Games.

Swimming for Athletes with Intellectual Disability

British Swimming objectives, policies and drive is to put athletes on the podium at the Paralympic Games. Since the re-inclusion of athletes with intellectual disability in the Games they have been working closely with UKSA to put in place an early mechanism to support athletes with Paralympic potential whilst we wait for the second stage of international classification to be announced.

Both British Swimming and UKSA want to ensure that swimmers are as ready as possible and felt it would be detrimental to their Paralympic potential to wait until the end of the year when all classification questions have been answered.

British Swimming has committed to using current funding available to it to implement an S14 Fast Track Programme. The programme will consist of two levels and swimmers will be invited to that programme based on strict criteria and consideration times utilizing the same performance matrix that has been established for S1 to S13 inclusive.

The full details are available on the British Swimming website. The programme will come into effect from 1st March 2010. It should be noted that UK Sport has complimented British Swimming on their initiative to be as prepared as possible to include athletes with intellectual disability into programmes.

There are no swimmer APA’s at present and full inclusion onto the British Swimming World Class Programme will be considered only when second stage classification (sports specific) has been implemented and athletes have undergone this process.

Swimmers Home Coaches are crucial for the athletes development and have the responsibility for implementing Annual Plans. British Swimming insistent that Annual Plans and home programmes are fine tuned and rigorously implemented in order to sustain performance and enhance podium potential. British Swimming Home Liaison Officers have already been appointed and those invited to the Fast Track Programme will be required to get in contact.

S14 swimmers will receive other support from British Swimming – for example the “Essentials Pack”, advice around nutrition. The full depth of support available is still being determined.

It has been confirmed that the following events will be in the London 2012 Paralympic Games – 200 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 100 breaststroke – all for both men and women.

British Swimming and UKSA acknowledge this is not ideal and assure swimmers that they will continue to try and influence the addition of more events. However, it should also be noted that whilst both organisations will continue to raise their disappointment, they have no choice but to operate on the basis that these will be the only and final events. The decision was taken by IPC. It is unknown at present what influence INAS-FID had on this decision. It is unknown what rationale has been applied by IPC to select these as the most appropriate events.

British Swimming will select S14 athletes to the IPC World Championships Team in Eindhoven. The Selection policy has been published. Despite British Swimming and British Paralympic Association assertions, IPC Swimming has only included the 3 Paralympic events in the Championship programme. Again, this is being challenged by British Swimming, but there is no choice but to operate on the basis of just three events for men and women. It will only be the top 2 swimmers in each event that are selected. The selection policy is available from British Swimming.

UKSA are currently evaluating its swimming programme and position within INAS-FID swimming events given the complexities of the Paralympic pathway at present. This has resulted in UKSA deciding on this occasion not to send a GB Team to the 2010 INAS European Swimming Championships in Italy in June. UKSA believes that swimmers should be focusing on achieving selection to the British Swimming Team to the IPC World Championships as part of the pathway and opportunity to London 2012.

This does not however mean that UKSA will no longer support INAS-FID events. This decision has been taken for this year only and as UKSA evaluates the pathways and opportunities for people with intellectual disability from the UK going forward, further announcements will be made.

UKSA and British Swimming will continue to work closely together to ensure every effort is made to see that there are appropriate Paralympic and other opportunities available for athletes with intellectual disability, including increased opportunities at the 2016 Paralympic Games.

Both Tim Reddish and Tracey McCillen thanked swimmers, coaches, parents and volunteers involved in S14 swimming for their patience and co-operation whilst many of these issues continue to be resolved.

British Swimming – telephone 01509 618 700

UK Sports Association – telephone 0207 490 3057