Cullen Jones continues his Make a Splash tour. The tour just stopped in Chicago on June 22.
Upcoming Stops:
Washington, DC – July 13
Los Angeles, CA – August 2
Oakland, CA – October 15
New York City – November 19

Here’s a video from last year’s Make a Splash tour.

Our neighbors across the street have an above ground pool. They invite our little kids over nearly everyday to play in it. That includes our 6 year old, who can’t swim, and even the 2 year old. I have resisted letting the 2 year old go to play until the other day. I went over to supervise her pool time, fearful that the water would be over her head.

I needn’t have worried. The water came up to her chest at best, and my toddler happily splashed and played with her water wings on her arms and cube on her back.

The 6 year old played with noodles and kickboards, etc. Periodically, the neighbor kids would throw all the toys out of the pool. The baby started leaving the pool at that point to bring the toys back.

Which brings me to my question. Are above ground pools really for swimming, or are they glorified wading pools?

I remember being a non-swimming child. I was so excited when someone invited me to play in their above-ground pool. The water was shallow, so there was no anxiety about accidentally wading out into the deep end. There is no deep end in these pools.

As a swimmer, I understand that deep water is part of the whole deal with a pool. It’s easier to swim without worrying about stubbing your toe on the bottom of the pool.

So can anyone actually learn to swim in an above-ground pool? Or should we rename them wading pools?

From USASwimming.org: The USA Swimming Diversity Select Camp recently took place at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. Thirty-three swimmers from ethnically diverse backgrounds spent three days in a world-class training environment. In this video, Olympic gold medalist Anthony Nesty, now a coach at the University of Florida, explains a freestyle streamlining drill.

Remember when I wrote about Lia Neal? I didn’t, either, until I saw her picture. That’s part of that thing I have where I never forget a face.

Anyway, the 15 year old swimmer competed in the Santa Clara Grand Prix this weekend. She swam in the 100 free, finishing 3rd. The winner was a 14 year old from Australia. I normally wouldn’t be celebrating a third place, but I was excited to see a young black swimmer in the race at all. Third place is still a medal at the Olympics, right? So there’s that. I hope Lia keeps it up; I’ll keep an eye on her.

The latest study about minorities and drowning was disheartening. I started wondering what is the point of all the hard work Diversity in Aquatics is doing, or even the meager effort I’ve been exerting to get the word out about how important it is to learn to swim.

But then I found that Cullen Jones is doing more than just breaking swim records. He is on a road tour with Make a Splash, teaching children to swim all over the country. When all the studies point out that what black children need to get them swimming is good role models, Cullen Jones is the right person in the right place. He is definitely to be commended.

What can we do at the local level? I think the underlying message of the latest study is that parents can’t just send their kids to the pool. Yes, that’s what we’ve been doing for years, and to mixed results. What we pass on, even when we send our kids to the pool but don’t learn to swim ourselves is fear, and apathy. We don’t really think it’s important; we just want to get them out of our hair. No, we parents need to get in the water with our children, and we could go a long way to reversing that drowning rate if we would learn to swim alongside our children.

What do you think about that? Want to start an initiative?

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I saw her name in the credits. Did you see her swim? Let me know.