Girl Scout Camp: One year I was faking it, scared of the water, but wanting so badly to pass into the swimming level that used row boats. Sail boats were for the real swimmers. They knew how to do the BUTTERFLY! That was just a pipe dream for me. . .

Somehow I managed to not touch the bottom of the lake enough times during my swimming test to qualify for the rowboat level–I’d finally graduated from canoes! But I remember wistfully eying those sailboat girls. Could I ever be a good enough swimmer for those?

The next year, I finally learned to swim. As in, I learned to tread water, and got over my fear of deep water. Not as much as brother did, mind you–he would swim along the bottom of the 14 foot water–that was crazy! But I passed out of advanced beginner (Red Cross swimming)–at age 12!

My brother and I jumped off a boat to swim to shore on our vacation in Cozumel, Mexico that summer. We scared our parents, non-swimmers, to death, especially when we kept going down to see how deep the water was. But it was freedom! Freedom from fear, freedom from faking it, freedom to explore a whole new world!

Later, in High School, I passed the intermediate level, and had breast stroke and side stroke under my belt.

I returned to Mexico for my honeymoon, and even though I was still scared to be hanging out on the bottom of the pool, I went scuba diving with my husband. It was so beautiful just a few feet under the surface!

It wouldn’t be until I was a grown woman with children before I finally learned the butterfly. And that was from watching them at swim practice.

And now I wipe final fear cobwebs from my mind by going to the Y and swimming laps. I was so scared I’d get kicked out of the pool for not being a real swimmer at first! Now I see swimmers of all levels and ages working out side by side. It is a fellowship, even though we don’t say much to each other. But we share that freedom to explore underwater.

We don’t have to be scared to go to the lake. We can try stuff like tubing, waterskiing, white water rafting, surfing, snorkeling, . . .and we can be free of other things too, like obesity, high cholesterol, high blood pressure. . ..

All because we dared to have life in the water. It is totally worth whatever amount of time or money it takes to get there.

Wanda Butt’s 16 year old son Josh drowned in 2007. Rather than just be a sad statistic, she started a lifesaving program called Project Josh. Her page on the Diversity in Swimming page has this quote:

I am Josh’s Moms. From the tragedy of losing my son Josh to drowning – my goal is to be triumphant and to help other mothers avoid such a horrific loss. I have been inspired to “make a difference and stop the drowning.” The Josh Project is my vision. The Josh Project will save lives by teaching water safety and minority children to swim for free! I want parents to know the importance of our children knowing how to swim. Swimming is a life skill, an accredited sport and fun! The drowning rate in our communities is like an epidemic – but together we can “cure” it. In partnership with USA Swimming the national governing body of swimmers we can make a difference. My vision for The Josh Project is to have a JPAC (Josh Project Aquatic Center) where we teach swimming, water safety, boating safety in classes and in the pools. We can do it. I believe that GOD is on my side and I will not fear. To GOD be the GLORY.

Wanda Butts is based in Toledo OH, and she has a Norfolk VA branch of Project Josh run by Norfolk State faculty member, Shaun Anderson. Anderson was a competitive swimmer at age 5 who went on to swim for Penn State University. He is trying to get a swim team started at Norfolk State, where he is director of pool operations.

These people are doing something besides hand-wringing and pontificating. Anderson would like to see more black competitive swimmers. Butts would like to see 100% black swimming proficiency. They are working together towards the latter goal by offering free swim lessons.

What they’re finding is that in reaching towards the 100% swim goal, they’re getting more people interested in the competitive swimming goal as well. In all the circular arguments as to why there aren’t any more competitive black swimmers, nobody thinks that swimming proficiency would have anything to do with it.

But I could see that. I hated swimming when I didn’t know how to do it. Now I am passionate about it. I am not alone. We can all make a difference by supporting programs like Project Josh. For more information, check out the Project Josh website.

I found this on the Diversity in Aquatics ning site.  Enjoy!

Find more videos like this on Diversity in Aquatics

Sabir Muhammed is a good example of black swimmers being encouraged by other black swimmers. He began as a youngster on the City of Atlanta Dolphins (CAD) swim team, the second largest black swim team in the country. He said he and his teammates didn’t know that what they were doing was not something most black kids did.

That’s like my cousins growing up in Chicago.  They went to an all black high school, and all swam on the swim team. I was in awe of that. To have been able to do that. . .

Back to Sabir Muhammed.  He was the first black swimmer at Stanford University in 1994. He finished in the top 16 in the 1996 Olympic trials. Unfortunately, he never realized his Olympic dream.

That wasn’t the end of swimming for Muhammed, though. He also recognizes how dangerous it is for young black kids not to know how to swim. In 2001, he created Swim for Life! which was the basis for the Make a Splash program I mentioned here.  Running the program in Atlanta, Muhammed ran into issues like pool renovation and maintanance, which were expensive hurdles. Then came other issues like scheduling and standardization of how lessons were taught.

When USA Swimming chose Atlanta as the first site for Make a Splash in 2004, Swim for Life! had paved the way, and the two sort of merged.

Sabir Muhammed continues to encourage young swimmers, as he was spotted at an Atlanta children’s swim meet recently. And he still swims, having just competed in the US Nationals.

So he reached for the pinnacle of his sport, took action against drowning, and continues to swim to this day. Sounds like a role model to me.

All’s well that ends well, I guess. The Philadelphia day camp children not only got a trip to Disney World, but they also got their pool time.

According to this article, Girard College, a private Philadelphia boarding school offered its facilities to the Creative Steps Day Camp.  The school, for children from low income and single parent homes, had no problem with the complexion of the Creative Steps group.

Girard College was already serving 500 children, but had no problem accomodating 65 more–belying the argument given by the Valley Swim Club as the ‘real reason’ for the ‘misunderstanding.’ After the ‘complexion’ and ‘atmosphere’ remarks, the Valley Swim Club had said, no, it’s really just a question of space.

As of early July, Senator Arlen Spector was to look into the allegations of racism.  So, let’s see. The Creative Steps Day Camp kids ended up with: a trip to Disney World, a new swimming contract, and a free day of icecream and candy making, sponsored by Gumdrops & Sprinkles. And the Valley Swim Club gets. . . rid of the day camp kids, closed for fear of protests, and a federal investigation.

And some people say nothing’s changed.

I must have been under a rock for the past 8 years. I mean, how could the ‘most famous’ black swimmer have slipped out from under my consciousness?

If I had watched him swim in the 2000 Olympics, I probably would have blocked it from my memory. It was that much of a train wreck.  In a human interest story kind of way, of course.

He came from Equitorial Guinea, a small African nation.  Eric Moussambani learned to swim in Jaunary 2000, when FINA, swimming’s governing body invited his nation to participate in swimming in the Olympics for the first time ever. He made it to the Olympics without having the minimum requirements by a wildcard draw to encourage countries without expensive  facilities to participate.

Why? I wonder.  Why would FINA set a swimmer up like this?  Sure, he was a crowd favorite, like the little engine that could, and it is impressive that he would finish, considering he’d only been swimming for 8 months, and the pool was bigger than any pool he’d ever seen, let alone swum in.

But to be exposed to the ridicule of the world, and then later lauded as the most famous black swimmer?  His only teammate, Paula Banila Bolopa finished with a similarly slow time, and received her own 15 seconds of fame.

Why couldn’t Equatorial Guinea take a few years to build their swim program?  Why not have given Erik 8 years rather than months to perfect his stroke and times?

I would rather not seeing any black Olympic swimmers than to see unprepared ones. I hope that FINA experiment is over.