The BAC was established in 2004 to support all high performance athletes in Great Britain. It enables athletes to represent themselves effectively within their sports as well as being the independent voice of athletes to all the key decision makers in British Sport.
Introduction
Welcome to the first of the BACs Monthly newsletters. We hope that you take a few minutes to read this every month, as we promise to keep it short and to the point with information that is relevant to you. There will also be opportunities every month to win great prizes from our partners and suppliers, so make sure you keep reading!
At the BAC we work hard to ensure that athlete's interests are looked after, and we have been very busy in the last few months with a few issues that left unhandled could have affected athletes' lifestyles and impacted on their training. These issues include:
- The Athlete Deed
- ADAMS
- Taxation
The following items outline the work we have been doing in these areas, and show how we have been looking after the interests of the athletes. We hope you appreciate the work being done on your behalf, and hope that if you have not already done so, you will sign up to the BAC as a full member and take advantage of all the benefits available to you.
Pete Gardner, CEO
This month's competition!
The
BAC has teamed up with Maximuscle to offer first and second places a a
hamper full of Maximusle goodies. Runners up will receive an Invitation
Book (more info) full of vouchers worth £30!
To enter simply answer the question below:
"How many days a year are Lottery funded athletes expected to give to the team 2012 initiative?"
Hint: the answer is in one of the articles below.
Email your answer to paul@britishathletes.org and the first correct answers received will win a prize so act quickly!
Athlete deed
As you may know, the BAC has been involved in lengthy discussions surrounding the deed document which your NGBs have asked to sign to go along with the World Class Programme agreement you also have to sign. The BAC is fully supportive of the scheme to which this deed relates, which is designed to raise additional funding for elite sport in the UK in the run up to 2012 and beyond. Initially however, there were some problems which needed to be resolved, and the following is a brief outline of what has happened over the past few months
- The Problem ? There were clauses in the first draft of the deed which in the opinion of the BAC could have caused problems for a large number of athletes. There were also potential problems for a smaller number of athletes with commercial interests, or those who may develop commercial interests in the future
- How It Was Fixed ? The BAC has spent a lot of time over the past few months working with the team 2012 partners to resolve the issues which could have caused problems. It also brought in the agents who represent the commercial interests of many athletes, to ensure that any issues surrounding athletes image rights were also taken into account.
- The Situation Now - As a result of these lengthy discussions the BAC is now completely satisfied that the rights of the athletes have been protected and that they are not being prevented in any way from pursuing deals which allow them to benefit from their image and success as an elite athlete. We are now happy to advise All athletes to sign the deed documents so that Team 2012 can progress with signing up sponsors to the scheme and bring in revenue to support those sports which still need funding to achieve their aims in 2012 and beyond.
This is a very brief summary of the discussions which have gone on over the past few months. For more detail on the agreements which have been reached and copies of the relevant documents (which we strongly suggest you read) please click here.
ADAMS
Anti doping is an area which causes a huge amount of stress for all athletes and the BAC is working hard to ensure that athletes are able to demonstrate that they are competing cleanly without having to have their lives dominated by restrictive testing practices.
This aspect of the BACs work has become more important with the introduction of the new WADA code and the new International Standard for Testing (IST) which came into force in January this year. It became immediately clear that the new IST was incredibly restrictive for athletes who are in their sports registered testing pool (RTP) and need to complete their whereabouts on Wada?s Anti Doping Administration and Management System (ADAMS). The BAC has been working with a number of other athlete and player representative organisations to lobby WADA to make changes to this system and recently made representations at the IOC Athletes forum. We are essentially campaigning for three changes which will not impact on WADAs ability to root out drugs cheats, but will make life a little easier for athletes who could otherwise get caught out by the system. The three changes we are lobbying for are:
- Move the earliest time an athlete can register their hour from 6:00am to 5:00 am. This will enable athletes who have to leave their homes early for training to put their hour at a time when there is less chance of a change to their schedule. This has become neccessary because athletes now have to remain at their specified location for the entire hour which brings us to:
- Change the requirement back to the tester having to remain at the specified location for an hour, rather than the athlete. It is ridiculous to force athletes to remain in one place for 365 hours a year, when they are only likely to be tested a handful of times. As long as the athlete can prove they were at the location specified, they should be able to leave if the tester has not arrived
- The ADAMS system is not accurate enough. Athletes have to be perfect with their information or they are punished severely, but the system can allow athletes to save mistakes without correctng them, or it will not let you save the information but will not tell you why. We are demanding that it is improved to the level of the system used by HMRC for allowing people to file their tax returns online. On this system, if you have made a mistake it flags it up and shows you your error, and will not let you save information till it is correct. The ADAMS system should be equally as good.
This gives an idea of the work the BAC is doing on your behalf. If you have any questions or wish to make any suggetsions on the work we do for you in this area. Please contact us using the feedback form here.
BAC negotiations on athlete taxation
In partnership with their tax advisors, the BAC have been negotiating the tax position held by the government relating to your UK Sport APA which has now resulted in a beneficial outcome for you. For more information click here.
For the BAC to continue doing this work this work we are doing please help us by becoming a member and gain access to our member benefits. Click here.
New advice section
We have recently expanded our athlete advice section to help guide you through some of the day to day requirements of an athlete lifestyle. We also have contacts for specialists in each sector.
Or alternatively if you need any other advice you can contact the BAC here and we will do our best to help.
Last month's Natural Balance Competition!
Last month, we held a prize draw for a number of hampers supplied by BAC partner, Natural Balance.
Natural Balance are a small British company devoted to making good-for-you munchies.
Natural Balance are offering all BAC athletes plus coaches and support staff 30% off Nakd and Trek bars with free delivery in the uk based on a minimum
two pack order.
Peter Mitchell, GB Cycling
Graham Edmunds, GB Swimming
Alex Partridge, GB Rowing
Ebony Rainford-Brent, England Cricket
The athletes' feedback:
"The sustained energy I got from the Natural Balance bars really helped me stay alert in the field and they tasted great too!"
Ebony
"I ate them each day before training and they really did the job!"
Alex
"I was vey excited about recieving the hamper firstly as it was food but also it is all natural. It doesn't matter what product you eat the flavour is not a forced one. The bars are great as you actually feel like you are eating something of substance."
Graham
"I really enjoyed them"
Peter
Talk To Us
Need help with a dispute? Got something you want said to a major sporting body? Contact us and we will help! Click here
Member Benefits
Here are just a few of the benefits available to our members!
athletesDirect links athletes to schools that would like a visit. Athletes can earn up to £300 per visit. There is over 100 requests each term and the scheme needs more athletes. So if you have a passion to inspire young people and want to earn some money click here.
athletesDirect is run by the BAC. Support us by becoming a member and clicking here.
Peter Mitchell, GB Cycling
Graham Edmunds, GB Swimming
Alex Partridge, GB Rowing
Ebony Rainford-Brent, England Cricket
