All Blog Posts (488)

DAP Membership Drive

First off, thanks for your continued support of the Diversity in Aquatics Program Network. You are making a difference! It's important that we keep this momentum going, and therefore want to enlist your help in doing a membership drive. The goal is for each member to recruit at least five new members in the next 20 days (August 10-30). The five people who recruit the most new…

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Added by Jayson Jackson on August 11, 2010 at 9:00am — No Comments

5 Questions with Nikole Saffle: Preventing drowning

New DAP Member, Nikole Saffle was featured in Detroit Free Press, by Cassandra Spratling:

Q: What's the first thing you thought when you heard news of six teens who drowned last week in Shreveport, La.?

A: I was horrified. We had a similar incident here in Detroit (in… Continue

Added by Jayson Jackson on August 10, 2010 at 12:30pm — No Comments

Check out this article on Black America Web about a 16 year old lady who is currently #3 in the world for the 50m Breaststroke!

http://www.blackamericaweb.com/?q=articles%2Fnews%2Fthe_black_diaspora_news%2F20835&sms_ss=facebook

Added by Miriam S Lynch on August 6, 2010 at 8:21am — No Comments

Pittsburgh's Coach Holder is on a PR roll

WQED OnQ OnDemand

"Participant, Competitor,…

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Added by Mark Rauterkus on July 29, 2010 at 9:00pm — 1 Comment

Coach Holder in Pittsburgh got some good ink in the newspaper

Check out this article about Coach Holder in Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_687475.html

Added by Mark Rauterkus on July 25, 2010 at 6:30pm — 1 Comment

3 Reasons Blacks Won't Learn to Swim

Although I suspect I’m laboring in obscurity here, I have figured out the mystery of the non-swimming black culture. There are three reasons, and they feed each other.

1. Non-swimming adults

If you don’t swim, you don’t get what the big deal is with swimming. You don’t make it a priority. If you hear about the disproportionate drowning rate among your people, and you’re a non-swimmer, you figure you’ll fix that by staying away from the water. Which brings me to. .… Continue

Added by Angela Gray on July 9, 2010 at 10:05pm — No Comments

Why Don't Blacks Swim?

The debate continues here. To be fair, the original question was not why don't blacks swim, but, rather, can blacks swim well enough to save themselves? I have contributed to the forum, without actually addressing that original question. I haven't found that question sufficient or interesting, or whatever, but I think I will address that… Continue

Added by Angela Gray on July 9, 2010 at 12:00am — No Comments

Do Swimming Attitudes Differ Between Blacks and Whites?

I mentioned a pool party in my last post. My sister-in-law invited one of her friends from work. Her friend was white, and she had three mixed daughters. Her attitude towards swimming was different from black people I’ve talked with, even from those who were at the party.

Maybe it’s a non-swimming, vs swimming attitude, and it looks like black and white because of the large number of… Continue

Added by Angela Gray on July 6, 2010 at 4:38pm — No Comments

Black Folks Don't Swim; They Splash Around in the Water

So we were invited to a birthday party today. It was an outdoor party, held at a camp. I knew they were going to swim, but with basketball, archery, and other activities, I didn’t expect to find anyone in the water for long. We were running late, I didn’t have my teenage helpers, I had just gotten my hair done, so I’d decided my kids wouldn’t swim.

Easier said than done. All the other kids were splashing around in the water. My children were soon discontent with just wading. The baby… Continue

Added by Angela Gray on July 1, 2010 at 11:00pm — No Comments

From Swim Teacher to Lifeguard and Back

My daughter has been lifeguarding rather than teaching lately. I have been swimming during part of her shift lately, but yesterday I just dropped her off and picked her up. When I arrived to pick her up, I pointed out the lifeguard to my 6 year old son. We noticed that she was a different girl. I was looking around trying to find my daughter when my son said, "There she is!" And sure enough, my daughter was in the water, teaching a lesson.

She was excited, because lifeguarding makes… Continue

Added by Angela Gray on June 27, 2010 at 9:40pm — No Comments

What good is an Above Ground Pool?

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… Continue

Added by Angela Gray on June 24, 2010 at 9:21pm — No Comments

Lia Neal in Santa Clara Grand Prix

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… Continue

Added by Angela Gray on June 20, 2010 at 10:35pm — No Comments

Back in the Pool

This is not a theme I want to recur, ie., I stay out of the pool so long I can't stand it anymore, then I return and happily blog about it. That sounds like the recipe for standing still, or worse, getting behind.

But I had to work out some issues before I could see clear to go swimming again. So, today, I tagged along with my daughter when she went to work. She was a lifeguard for three hours; I thought I could swim during one of those. I was so proud going to the lifeguard to ask… Continue

Added by Angela Gray on June 19, 2010 at 8:24pm — No Comments

Cullen Jones Hits the Road

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… Continue

Added by Angela Gray on June 17, 2010 at 11:13pm — No Comments

I talked to an old friend today. She grew up in a Lake Michigan town, and shared with me that everyone in her town had to learn to swim. She is a black woman not held back by fear of the water. One o…

I talked to an old friend today. She grew up in a Lake Michigan town, and shared with me that everyone in her town had to learn to swim. She is a black woman not held back by fear of the water. One of her favorite sports? White water rafting. She shared how her husband went rafting with her once. He did fine, but being a non-swimmer, he just didn’t feel comfortable trying white water rafting again.

My friend told me that swim skills may not be too helpful in the rapids, but they… Continue

Added by Angela Gray on June 15, 2010 at 11:46pm — No Comments

Summer Solstice Swim Meet Memories

I heard that the Summer Solstice Swim Meet was this weekend. It was also the dreaded weekend of my daughter's Open House, so we weren't going. The Summer Solstice Meet is the big USA swim meet our local club, Great Lakes Aquatics hosts. It's a weekend long event held in a large outdoor city pool. My kids competed in it a few times before they quit swimming.

The last Summer Solstice Meet I attended was four years ago. I wrote a post about it. Here it goes:

Tan and burning.… Continue

Added by Angela Gray on June 13, 2010 at 9:56pm — No Comments

Oh No He Didn't!

A month ago, I wrote about a comment my Pastor's wife made about not being able to swim. She made a passing remark, "I don't swim, so I stay away from the water. . . "

Today, the Pastor made more than a passing comment. He made a long joke about not being able to swim. He was funny, too, talking about how folks wanted to throw him in the lake at the Church Picnic, but since he couldn't swim, he had no bones… Continue

Added by Angela Gray on June 6, 2010 at 10:30pm — No Comments

New Report Out: Blacks are Still Drowning

USA Swimming is releasing a new study that shows that non-swimming Blacks drown at a rate of 70%, Hispanics, 58%, while white non-swimmers drown at a 40% rate. The report cites the usual factors, lack of access, which is amplified in this recession. Pools are closing at an alarming rate in Black neighborhoods, and budgets to pay for lifeguards are also shrinking.

These horrifying statistics aside, we are really killing ourselves. The study cites that non-swimming black parents are… Continue

Added by Angela Gray on June 1, 2010 at 9:36pm — No Comments

Swimming Baby

I took a road trip today with the girls. My oldest had a Junior Miss function, and I took the other girls along for the ride. After she rode in the Dearborn Memorial Day parade, my daughter was invited to a pool party.

Of… Continue

Added by Angela Gray on May 31, 2010 at 10:08pm — No Comments