WHAT on earth is happening in the world of sport. Not a day passes without hearing of another cheat, another bribe, another bung, is this what sport has become, just another business giant like many others, feeding fat cats and totally corrupt?

It is often misquoted, but I believe fundamentally true, that “money is the root of all evil”: The correct quote, however, expands on this and in fact originates from the Bible; “For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows”. That in my opinion, sums up exactly what is wrong with many people involved in sport at the moment. For them it is not about participation, personal bests, athlete against athlete, team against team; it is now becoming crystal clear that it is predominately about “numero uno” and what’s in it for me.

Now my question here is, aren’t these individuals our role models? Are we not supposed to look up to them, aspire to be them, because if that is the case, then we are all doomed. The definition of a role model is a person looked to by others as an example to be imitated. Very worrying indeed if this is the example we are setting our budding athletes, coaches and administrators.

There is a bright side though, a lot of good work is being carried out under the true banner of sport. Let me tell you about one project and some of the real role models I met on Saturday at the University of Edinburgh, all part of Project Ailsa, the collaborative brainchild from Scottish Swimming.

More than 130 female swimmers attended the day with several of them having travelled as far afield as Orkney, Aberdeen, Dumfries. This was a mixed bunch in terms of age, ability and disability, all together working as one, all working closely with selected role models from swimming which include Camilla Hattersley.

Project Ailsa is run by Alan Lynn at Scottish Swimming and it aims to bring together aspiring young female swimmers, listen to them, empower them and create a positive environment where female swimmers can flourish and achieve their potential, normalise their expectations, and keep active and within swimming for the long-term future.

Statistics from Scottish Swimming show that overall female participation in swimming is higher than that of male participants. However, there is still a concern regarding the long-term retention of female swimmers who, it is hoped, will aim to continue swimming and participate at the highest level.

Therefore the idea behind Project Ailsa is about providing a proactive approach that is designed to energize and inspire female swimmers to be ambitious, resilient and excel. They also intend to extend this project to include coaches, clubs and the wider swimming community, creating a positive environment where female swimmers can flourish.

Scottish Swimming are collaborating with the swimmers themselves, and bringing in, not only role models from swimming but from various other walks of life; that will hopefully provide the incentive for these young women to understand the major benefits gained from the continued participation in sport, specifically in this case, swimming. Breaking down the barriers that have existed for so many years where young women walk away from sport in their early teens, never to re-connect.

It’s a bold project and given the huge success of it at this very early stage, bodes well for long-term success not only for the sport itself, but for each and every one of the female swimmers, no matter what level they eventually reach.

This, thankfully is quite a long way from the overpaid, over-hyped sports stars who (dis)-grace our media almost daily.