| Programs & Goals |
Programs We Provide
 | Health | |
| Education | |
| Goals | |
Health
More importantly, we believe that exercise is one significant key to the
overall solution for our health issues. The benefits of exercise are usually
overlooked in spite of the unique health risks in the Afrikan community, such
as diabetes, hypertension, prostate and breast cancer, and obesity and
(black-life) stress in general. Our community has a genuine enthusiasm
towards sports and exercise. Yet, statistics have proven that this
enthusiasm is not sufficient to meet our health needs.
As a community, we do not exercise until we have been diagnosed with a
problem. Poor exercise practices, coupled with poor dietary habits, have
shaped an acceptance of unhealthy lifestyles in the African-American
community. Consequently, many of our children are overweight. It is the
responsibility of our community to teach our children how to be healthy and
happy through exercise and good nutrition. Thereby, we will help provide
one of the missing links, which is necessary to live a long prosperous life.
We believe that swimming is an excellent sport to help achieve this
objective. Although swimming is light impact, it is a great cardiovascular
workout. Swimming proves to be a first rate activity for achieving a healthy
lifestyle for all ages. Health is wealth!
More importantly, we believe that exercise is one significant key to the
overall solution for our health issues. The benefits of exercise are usually
overlooked in spite of the unique health risks in the Afrikan community, such
as diabetes, hypertension, prostate and breast cancer, and obesity and
(black-life) stress in general. Our community has a genuine enthusiasm
towards sports and exercise. Yet, statistics have proven that this
enthusiasm is not sufficient to meet our health needs.
As a community, we do not exercise until we have been diagnosed with a
problem. Poor exercise practices, coupled with poor dietary habits, have
shaped an acceptance of unhealthy lifestyles in the African-American
community. Consequently, many of our children are overweight. It is the
responsibility of our community to teach our children how to be healthy and
happy through exercise and good nutrition. Thereby, we will help provide
one of the missing links, which is necessary to live a long prosperous life.
We believe that swimming is an excellent sport to help achieve this
objective. Although swimming is light impact, it is a great cardiovascular
workout. Swimming proves to be a first rate activity for achieving a healthy
lifestyle for all ages. Health is wealth!
Education/History
Competitive swimming is indisputably the most suburban sport of all sports.
With the growing interest of swimming within the African-American
community, blacks are faced with a number of obstacles, some of which at
times seem quite impenetrable:
1. Access to good facilities (pools)
2. Access to funding to cover the expense of travel
3. Access to funding for supplies and training
4. Access to the swim culture and the power therein.
All of the above obstacles are tangible except one, accessing the swim
culture and the power within.
Feeling out a place in a cultural setting can be one of the most trying
experiences, which anyone can encounter. When you add stiff athletic
competition, where not only seconds but also tenths, hundredths of a
second, often make the difference between success and failure, the
exasperation increases. Most of us are familiar with the names of Jack
Johnson, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson, Bill Russell, Jim Brown,
Arthur Ashe, Althea Gibson, Venus and Serena Williams and Tiger Woods to
name a few. However a small number of individuals, if any, can relate to the
following names, Maritza Correia, Byron Davis, Cullen Jones, Mujahid El
Amin, and Michael Norment , and Tanica Jamison. Accomplishing great feats
in the pool outside of Olympic Trials, each of these Black swimmers have all
failed to make the US Olympic Team, except for two: Silver (male/1984) and
Corey (female/2004). Their failure was not due to the lack of talent, discipline
and hard work, which any world-class athlete must display. Their failure was
due to “indescribable pressures” when competing at the highest levels of
USA swimming. We believe that these “indescribable pressures” are
connected with the inability to access the power of the swim culture, which is
traditionally white, affluent, and suburban.
In earlier years, we believe that the success of Black athletes in breaking
color barriers rested securely upon the existence of a present, strong,
independent, supportive, separate, and segregated Black community. This
enabled, in our opinion, the Black athlete to feel a profound sense of cultural
and racial purpose through their sport(s). We agree that this was the home
away from home which today’s Black athletes do not have.
Therefore, we believe events such as the Washington D.C. Park and
Recreations Black History Month Swim Meet have become all the more
significant to the nurturing of clean competition and healthier self-esteems,
minds, and spirits within the young Black swimmer. And for the Black athlete
searching for that piece of edge on the court, field, or in the pool; perhaps it
might be found by looking back first. Sankofa!
Competitive swimming is indisputably the most suburban sport of all sports.
With the growing interest of swimming within the African-American
community, blacks are faced with a number of obstacles, some of which at
times seem quite impenetrable:
1. Access to good facilities (pools)
2. Access to funding to cover the expense of travel
3. Access to funding for supplies and training
4. Access to the swim culture and the power therein.
All of the above obstacles are tangible except one, accessing the swim
culture and the power within.
Feeling out a place in a cultural setting can be one of the most trying
experiences, which anyone can encounter. When you add stiff athletic
competition, where not only seconds but also tenths, hundredths of a
second, often make the difference between success and failure, the
exasperation increases. Most of us are familiar with the names of Jack
Johnson, Joe Louis, Muhammad Ali, Jackie Robinson, Bill Russell, Jim Brown,
Arthur Ashe, Althea Gibson, Venus and Serena Williams and Tiger Woods to
name a few. However a small number of individuals, if any, can relate to the
following names, Maritza Correia, Byron Davis, Cullen Jones, Mujahid El
Amin, and Michael Norment , and Tanica Jamison. Accomplishing great feats
in the pool outside of Olympic Trials, each of these Black swimmers have all
failed to make the US Olympic Team, except for two: Silver (male/1984) and
Corey (female/2004). Their failure was not due to the lack of talent, discipline
and hard work, which any world-class athlete must display. Their failure was
due to “indescribable pressures” when competing at the highest levels of
USA swimming. We believe that these “indescribable pressures” are
connected with the inability to access the power of the swim culture, which is
traditionally white, affluent, and suburban.
In earlier years, we believe that the success of Black athletes in breaking
color barriers rested securely upon the existence of a present, strong,
independent, supportive, separate, and segregated Black community. This
enabled, in our opinion, the Black athlete to feel a profound sense of cultural
and racial purpose through their sport(s). We agree that this was the home
away from home which today’s Black athletes do not have.
Therefore, we believe events such as the Washington D.C. Park and
Recreations Black History Month Swim Meet have become all the more
significant to the nurturing of clean competition and healthier self-esteems,
minds, and spirits within the young Black swimmer. And for the Black athlete
searching for that piece of edge on the court, field, or in the pool; perhaps it
might be found by looking back first. Sankofa!
Goals
- To organize & coordinate a “Traveling All-Star Swim Team” consisting
of swimmers of Afrikan Ancestry to attend Black swim meets
throughout the country; - To recruit as many children of Afrikan Ancestry in the Bay Area through
our various contacts with Bay Area swim teams; - To seek sponsorship from organizations to support our mission;
- To seek a coach (es) of Afrikan Ancestry to assist in training our
swimmers beyond the summer league schedule as well as to provide
essential leadership; - To seek moral support of coaches who will help provide an opportunity
for year-round swimmers to participate in our annual activity; - To educate the youth about the importance of exercise;
- To formalize an official team through the USA Swimming organization;
- To organize a parental component to support this endeavor;
- To expose our children to competitive swimming of children of Afrikan
Ancestry beyond the borders of California - To increase their skill levels as swimmers
- To encourage their growth developmentally, culturally & spiritually;
- To use this opportunity to travel to Washington DC as a cultural
expedition; - To enroll each swimmer in the USA Swimming organization;
- To seek monetary support for swimmers whose families may
experience a financial hardship in the participation of this activity; - To have each swimmer write an essay (age appropriate) on a famous
Afrikan American swimmer or about one of the black historical sites
toured during our travels.
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