Swimming SA president Alan Fritz’s account to parliament about a water polo manual contained mistruths and factual inaccuracies, the national school body for the sport says.
Explaining the long-running battle between Swimming SA and members of the water polo fraternity, Fritz told the portfolio committee on sport, arts & culture the fight was commercially driven and claimed an individual was paid R500,000 to draw up a coaching manual that could have been downloaded free off the internet.
The manual he referred to was commissioned by Schools Water Polo SA (SWPSA) with a private company called Elevate Water Polo doing the work, apparently over years.
The two entities said in a joint statement after Fritz’s comments last week that they were “compelled to address the mistruths and factual inaccuracies”.
“This coach development curriculum was the result of years of determined effort and collaboration between Elevate Water Polo, SWPSA and other school bodies,” the statement read.
“Contrary to the Swimming SA president’s assertion, this initiative to address a critical gap in formal coach education in SA water polo, particularly in light of the historical neglect, represents not a failure in governance but rather responsible and proactive governance by SWPSA.”
It is understood the manual involves far more than simply offering training and strategy advice for coaches but also informs on how best to communicate with schoolchildren and how to deal with their parents.
Until the manual was drawn up, anyone who didn’t have a police record could apply for a water polo coaching position at a school.
“The curriculum developed includes a comprehensive range of essential coaching knowledge and skills, addressing holistic coaching, safeguarding, technical and tactical fundamentals and more,” the statement continued.
“Furthermore, this robust and iteratively updated curriculum was made available to the [Swimming SA] training and development department, and by extension its regional affiliates, free of charge in 2023 for their continuous professional development requirements.”
Swimming SA and a group called SA Water Polo (SAWP) are heading to court in a battle over control for water polo.
Swimming SA has dismissed disgruntled people in water polo as dissidents, but SAWP has countered that the federation has mismanaged their aquatics discipline by, among other things, selecting national teams too late for meaningful preparation.
Fritz, who declined to respond to a request for comment, made no mention that the coaching manual had been given to his federation for free.
“The inference that an individual was paid R500,000 to write a coaching manual is categorically false and constitutes a severe misrepresentation,” SWPSA and Elevate said.
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