Sports and Leisure Management (SLM) has been named the first ever winner of the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) award for Facility Operator of the Year at the Swimtastic Awards 2008.

The judges said that "SLM were the first to work with the ASA through an IOS SLA, to ensure their staff are attending CPD updates and are trained to the highest standards, proving that their staff are valued highly." Mandy Mason, the ASA's business team manager, said: "SLM have proved they are a pro-active organisation, keen to ensure their quality ethos is at the forefront of all that they do.

"They work with the ASA to ensure staff are trained to the highest standards and help the ASA to develop products and services. "They have shown a 44 per cent increase in the Kelloggs/ASA awards over the last year which is evidence in itself that more children are achieving through their swim scheme."

Jacqui Tilman, Group Swim Development Manager at SLM said: "We now use the Kellogs ASA awards exclusively and we have implemented the National Plan for Teaching of Swimming '07 across all our sites. "We are committed to ensuring the delivery of quality swimming lessons and the development of our young swimmers which is even more important following on from the success of our Olympic swimming team in Beijing earlier this year."