Summer league(commonly known as rec. league)  swimming is probably the most dreaded time of year for me personally. Not only am I forced to sit thru numerous outdoor meets, most swim teams have 2 practices a day, an additional fee for summer league and of course a totally different uniform to wear for summer league swimming!! Ladies and gents if you think swimming is a cheap sport and you want to put your child in it for that reason, please run the other direction!!!!

Summer league teams usually consist of kids from your neighborhood with little or no swimming experience. This is how most kids get introduced to swimming. It’s a non competitive way for kids to race against each other. The kids are as young as 4 and some are as old as 17. It’s a great way to build confidence in young and beginning swimmers and the kids just love being outside in the sun running around and swimming.  Yesterday we competed in our first summer league meet. I had done all my swim mom duties for the meet, I packed a cooler with plenty of fruit, water and snacks, had my fold-up chair, blankets, extra towels, sunscreen, bugspray, emergency first aid kit and tons of other stuff that I never touched and my son didn’t even realize I had! Not to my surprise the team we were up against was an all white team with some pretty decent swimmers. My son was excited just to be in the water, he knows that it’s not a highly competitive meet and gets out there and just swims! You can always tell the kids that swim year round from just those that only do it during the summer. Their strokes are nearly perfect, they have wonderful technique and they are usually some of the fastest kids in the pool.  My son’s team won yesterday and pretty much dominated the entire meet. I am always amazed at how people still can’t believe that there are teams full of black kids that can actually swim….and swim damn good too. I sat next to gentelman most of the meet who had a son that was the same age as my son and had swam 2 events against him. Now as you know I don’t cheer for my son but at summer league the atmosphere is so encouraging and different, each time a swimmer from my team got in the water I would scream a few encouraging words and cheer loudly for them. So honestly this gentlemen had no idea who my child was. As they finished up the 50meter breaststroke event that my son had just won this nice gentleman’s son came over to his dad. His dad made the comment “hey that kid is really good, is that the one that beat you in the other 2 events?” The son who was clearly angry about losing turned to his dad and said “Dad I don’t know, all these blacks look alike.” I couldn’t help but chuckle inside, his dad did nothing to correct the statement his son made and maybe he agreed with him that all blacks do look alike but it just made me wonder……Do they all really think like that??? I only pondered on it for a minute because we had another kid in the water kicking ass so I needed to cheer!

Swimming is not a ultra diverse sport, sure over the years there are more and more minorities leading the way and breaking records in the sports but in most areas club swimming is mainly an all white sport. I encourage all minorities to learn how to swim and teach your kids how to swim. I am not saying that your kid will be the next Alia Atkinson or Cullen Jones but at least they can go to the pool and be comfortable enough to really enjoy themselves and you don’t have to confine them to the “steps only” of the swimming pool!  If you decide to get more involved in swimming as a sport, summer league is a great way to start! You may come across some naysayers and your kids may hear some pretty harsh words towards them but hey welcome to the real world! They will learn how to deal with it and hopefully come out on top and better than their less colored counterparts!