Swimming is like two separate sports up here in Michigan. There’s summer swimming, where you hope against hope for a warm-hot summer so you can partake in lake swimming, or get your money’s worth on that outdoor pool. This is more splashy, fun swimming, unless your swim club practices in a local lake.

Then there’s winter swimming. Not for the faint at heart, especially if you are trying to protect your delicate black hair. Then we’re talking wearing scarves and winter hats home from the pool and rinsing and drying it at home.

I know there are some polar bear folks, but swimming in a pool is cold enough for me in the winter! It’s reminds me of the fortitude to splash in Lake Michigan, which never gets above 60 degrees in the summer. I’m not saying that the Y pool is that cold, but it doesn’t matter how warm the pool is once you hit the sub-arctic air with your wet hair.

It gives me such a thrill of accomplishment. I have defeated the weather! I have pushed through and gotten my workout anyway. I have boosted my immune system!

I remember the days of going to winter swim meets. We’d bundle up to face the cold, drive to the meet all bunched up in the car, then sweat in the hot natatorium for several hours before bundling back up to head home. The swim kids weren’t sweating in the natatorium, mind you, just the spectators. I wouldn’t care how cold it was outside afterwards; anything was better than that sweating in the stands.

I had no idea how robust that winter swimming makes you. How a cold doesn’t stand a chance against chlorine. And don’t forget lung capacity–something that’s grown in leaps and spades since I’ve been swimming.

So that’s one thing to look forward to as the days shorten and the chill in the air grows.

“The Most Rewarding Thing I’ve Ever Done.” from Jayson Jackson on Vimeo.

The Aqua Angels of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida are unique. They’re an age-group swim club affiliated with a Parks and Recreation dept. That’s not unusual. They are predominantly black as are their coaches.

I’ll point out the significance of this in a minute. First I’ll go back to the puzzle. The puzzle is the myriad of reasons most blacks don’t swim. If this were just another sport, then the answer could be preference and we could get on with our lives.

But swimming is more than just a sport. It is a life skill–one that could literally save your life. So it’s more important than preferences. The more I read about The Problem, the more I hear about the complexity of the causes. I don’t think that’s very helpful.

One of the many solutions is to have more black coaches, who would turn out more black swimmers, who would eventually become more black coaches, and so on and so on. Getting started is half the battle.

So when I see a team like Fort Lauderdale’s Aqua Angels, or Jim Ellis’ Philadelphia Department of Recreation team, I get encouraged. Then I read on to hear that Ellis’ pool is unheated in the winter, and Fort Lauderdale has a hard time attracting lifeguards to the inner city areas, and I think, great! More hardship. More barriers.

What can you do to tear down some of those barriers? What can we do to encourage coaches to continue in this important work?

Let me think on that.

Vince Gallant, the director of Great Lakes Aquatics, the club my children last swam for, is a hero. As a middle school teacher, he had a theory about swimming improving grades. To put his theory to the test, he took a group of at risk, (ie., lower income black, Hispanic, and white kids) to the pool across the street. There was a YMCA across the street from his school at that time. His theory proved to be true. Swimming requires discipline that will serve you throughout life.

I just heard about a national program, Horizons International, that takes public school children and sends them to private schools in the summer to close the achievement gap between lower income and middle class children. Swimming is mandatory. Daily.

I wonder what studies the Horizons International programs based the swimming requirement on. Most articles I found called the evidence anecdotal and inconclusive. They point to a chicken egg scenario where they don’t know whether swimming attracts top students or creates them.

I can add to the anecdotes. My daughter had fuzzy thinking and could not grasp the concepts of times and negative splits when she was in swimming. It was stressful for her, but she concentrated and learned how to swim on the 15, and how to remember her times and share them when asked. I started using swimming examples in her math problems, partly to prepare her for her swim practice, and partly to train her mind. My son learned these concepts before he had problems in math. They may have contributed to his strength in math to this day.

I would tend to agree with those who say that the discipline of swimming makes stronger minds. I could watch it format my children’s minds.

From where I sit, swimming is all good.

Remember when I wrote about this movie? Well, if you live in Gloucester, MA or Los Angeles, CA, you have a chance to see it!

If you do see it, post a comment and let me know how you liked it.

FREE SWIM screenings coast to coast

Come see the award winning FREE SWIM (www.FreeSwimMovie.com) . . .

October 13th at 7:30PM

The Cape Ann Community Cinema (www.massbayfilmproject.org)

21 Main Street, Gloucester, MA

* come earlier for a pre-screening party at 6:30pm

October 18 at 10AM

La Femme Film Festival (www.lafemme.org)

Davidson/Valentini Theatre

1125 N McCadden Place, Los Angeles, CA

His story was already inspiring. This was no natural fish. This was a typical child who had never been exposed to water–almost drowning while trying to have fun. And then his mother signed him up for swim lessons, and the rest is history. Cullen Jones went for it. And he has an NCAA championship, world records, a gold medal, among other things, to show for it.

Now he joins the ranks of Muhammed Ali, Jackie Joiner-Kersee and Jerry Rice. Since its inception in 1987, the Chase Major Taylor Award has been presented to African-American athletes, coaches, athletic administrators and officials who not only make a significant local and national contribution to youth but also encourage excellence in future generations.

So this is a cultural icon award. May the seeds he sows today (through Make a Splash, and just his excellence) bring forth many more swimmers of his caliber.

Good job, Cullen!