Metropolitan Swimming - Diversity Page
Last update: 06-20-2011
Metropolitan Diversity Liaison: Ray Willie - email: ray.willie@metroswimming.org
June 20, 2011
2011 Eastern Zone Diversity Camp at LaSalle University in Philidelphia
This past weekend the Eastern Zone held it's first ever Zone Diversity Camp. There were a total of 24 athletes that attended the 4-day camp held at LaSalle University in Philadelphia. Metro was represented by swimmers MariaJose Oceguera and Danielle Fergus. Ethan Fergus attended the camp also while John Yearwood was apart of the coaching staff.
The purpose of the camp was to instill a vision of success and inspire athletes from ethnically underrepresented populations to become leaders in the sport of swimming.
Goals: To empower athletes from ethnically underrepresented populations and their coaches to:
- Demonstrate the viability of multicultural success in swimming
- Achieve performance excellence at every level of the sport
- Expound the benefits and value of participating in the sport of swimming
- Assist in recruiting more swimmers and coaches from diverse ethnicities to the sport of swimming
- Be positive leaders and role models that others from multicultural backgrounds can emulate.
The 3-day camp program included a combination of pool training, motivational and education sessions, and team building activities.
The swimmers and the coaches all enjoyed their experiences at the Diversity Camp and look forward to heading back to their teams and sharing their experiences.
April 16, 2011
Eastern Zone Diversity Select Camp - June 16-19, 2011
Purpose: Celebrate the opportunities of/for diversity in swimming in the Eastern Zone through inspiration of athletes, coaches and volunteers. Create local ambassadors and leaders to grow our sport.
Goals: Empower athletes from ethnically under represented populations and their coaches to:
1. Demonstrate the viability of multicultural success in swimming within their local LSC
2. Achieve performance excellence throughout the sport
3. Introduce the benefits and value of participating in the sport of swimming
4. Develop positive leaders and role models that others from multicultural backgrounds can emulate
5. Connect, network and promote the virtues of the sport of swimming through a comprehensive strategy involving the athletes, coaches and LSC Diversity Chairs in their own local LSCs and throughout the Eastern Zone.
Place: La Salle University. Athletes, coaches and volunteers will be housed in campus dorms. Meals will be catered on-site by the school
Date: June 16-19, 2011. Athletes will arrive Thursday (June 16) late afternoon/ evening and depart Sunday (June 19) morning
Invitees: two athletes from each of the 12 LSCs in the Eastern Zone - one coach from each LSC
Qualifications: Athletes must have qualified in at least one individual event in their local LSC championship meet in either SCY or LC seasons. In the event that there are no qualifying swimmers, the LSC can elect to send two athletes of its choice
Questions: email Ray Willie at ray.willie@metroswimming.org
Camp Schedule: The two day camp program will include a combination of pool training, motivational and educational sessions, networking and strategic planning sessions for members of each LSC, and team building activities. If interested please fill out application and return by May 10th to the address on the application
April 14, 2011
Outreach Clinic with the New York City Parks and Recreation Aquatics Program, April 3
On April 3rd Metropolitan Swimming hosted their first outreach clinic with the NYC Parks and recreation aquatics program. The day was a huge success for all involved. One hundred and twenty swimmers and their fifty coaches had an experience that will last them a lifetime. I would like to personally thank all the coaches, officials, parents and swimmers who helped make this day a great success. John Hutchins from the city aquatics program could not have been happier with our staff and their professionalism. We had Anthony Ervin who donated his time for the day and gave the kids a great instruction in freestyle. We truly appreciate all he has done for metropolitan swimming and its outreach efforts. He is a member of our swimming family and he has truly dedicated himself to the sport of swimming. The children of the NYC aquatics program could not stop smiling and having fun. Metropolitan swimming would also like to thank Hobie swim for donating beautiful drawstring bags for all the kids. Lastly we would like to thank Eduardo Urreta and Verizon wireless for their very generous sponsorship. Without their help we would not have been able to run such an amazing event. Metropolitan swimming continues to support diversity in the sport of swimming and thanks all who helped make this day a success.
Bio for Anthony Ervin: Anthony Ervin is an Olympic Gold medalist, 2x World Champion, and former World and American record holder in the sprint freestyle events - all feats accomplished by the time he was 20 years old. Anthony is culturally distinguished - through the socially constructed American phenomenon of race - as the first US Olympic swimmer of African-American descent. After a rapid rise to the peaks of competitive swimming, Anthony walked away from the sport he had invested his entire childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, to come-of-age on his own terms, and to explore avenues of culture and society as a young adult with unfettered freedom. His journey led him across the country, from the San Francisco Bay Area to the boroughs of New York City, where he rediscovered his passion for swimming through the teaching of young people at the Imagine School of Swimming. So inspired was he as an educator, that Anthony returned to the University of California at Berkeley to finish his degree and launch immediately into graduate school where he currently studies the culture of sport and its role in our education.
|
2000 Olympic Gold Medalist Anthony Ervin talking to swimmers and volunteers
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2011 Diversity Camp Coaching staff and volunteers
|
Metropolitan Swimming Diversity Goals for 2010-2011
1. Develop a program to reimburse Outreach Athletes for meet entry fees
2. Have all qualified clubs submit applications for all of their eligible athletes to participate in the National Diversity Select Camp
3. Run Diversity Camps in at least three different localities within the LSC
Outreach membership offers qualified individuals the opportunity to become a USA Swimming year-round athlete member at a reduced fee. The national fee for outreach membership is $5. Metropolitan Swimming has waived its fee. The outreach form must be filled out and submitted with the necessary documentation to the club's registration person.
Disadvantaged / Minority Athlete Application
USA Swimming Diversity Select Camp Information
Time Standards for 2011 Diversity Campr
How do we as a swim club or parent increase Diversity in the sport of swimming?
So what can we do?
So what can we do?
Get involved, be active and promote the sport of swimming. We can all go through life never picking up a baseball bat or lacrosse stick. However never learning how to swim can have serious consequences.
Just take a look at the statistics.
• Drowning is the second leading cause of unintentional injury-related death for children between the age of one and 14(Centers for Disease Control, 2003)
• Nine people drown in the United States every day (Centers for Disease Control)
• Two-thirds of all drawings occur between May and August (Orange County California Fire Authority)
• Approximately 75% of child drawings occur, because of a lapse of adult supervision of less than five minutes.
• African-American children between the ages of five and 19 are 2.6 times more likely to drown than Caucasianchildren in the same age group (Centers for Disease Control, 2003)
• In the swimming pool, African-American boys, between the ages of 5-19 are 12-15 times more likely to drown than their Caucasianpeers (National Institute of Health, 2001)
• Less than 1% of the USA Swimming nearly 300,000 members are African-American, and less than 3% are Hispanic
So here are some suggestions for you your team or your friends
1. Take the first step and find a place to learn to swim, and then help every member of your family to become safe in the water.Find a Swim Lesson
2. Create the opportunity for an at-risk child to learn to swim by sponsoring a swim lesson.
Donate today
3. Run a Catch the Spirit camp at your facility.
Here are some ideas for your camp. Ladies night out, Diversity, drowning preventionor any idea you can come up with
4. Introduce swimming as a regular part of your exercise routine
5. Download the Make-a-Splash In School materials and teach your kids and their classmates about water safety
6. Find and join a learn-to-swim or competitive swim program at any of 2,700 USA Swimming clubs across the country.Make-a-Splash.org offers a searchable database of programs
7. Download the USA Swimming Water Watcher Card for your next pool party or social gathering, to ensure that a responsibleadult always has an eye on the pool
8. Talk about the program and encourage others to get involved
9. Nominate your “local hero” on the Make-a-Splash web site
Here are some links to help you get involved
• Diversity in swimming study
• USA Swimming Diversity Page
• Swim Strong Foundation
• Make a Splash Local Partners
• Marriott Dives in -- Marriott becomes Official Hotel Sponsor of USA Swimming -- Book online now!