LONG READ: Still Lanes To Go

A changing tide

“Sorry, I forgot my kit.”

Five words that became close to a weekly ringtone when it was time for swimming lessons at school. Always, almost uniformly, from my friends who had the same skin colour as me, and because of an inherent desire to avoid getting in the water at all costs. 

That was 15 years ago. A lot has changed since then. At the top end of swimming, Simone Manuel became the first Black American woman to win an Olympic individual gold at Rio 2016. In 2020, Ahmed Hafnaoui won the 400m men’s freestyle - only the second non-white African winner of any swimming medal at Olympic men’s swimming.

The relationship people of colour historically had with swimming (and water) runs deeper, however, and is worth considering when trying to understand why resistance to getting into water has been so high.

I take a look at the relationship between people of colour and swimming, how it has evolved in recent years and float some ideas for how brands and bodies can build on existing grassroots work being done in further breaking the stigma.

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Looking back

We all know the history. Or do we?

Historical relationships between people of colour are complicated, with narratives diverging based on region, religion and spiritual beliefs. In some of the earliest strands of African ancient religion, the Water Spirit Mami Wata was celebrated and worshipped by followers, with similar views of water passing down through generations. Similar historical traces can be found in Brazil and Haiti, instead with the name Yemaya. Yet, such respect for water and its spiritual traditions did not translate into a widely held social norm that swimming was a skill worth learning.

In other parts of the world, historical race relations in the US and Apartheid in South Africa both had critical roles in the relationship between people of colour and water. We are only 65 years on from the Jim Crow laws being overturned in the US Southern States. These laws - made specifically to enforce racial segregation - ensured that Black people did not have access to the same facilities as white people - including access to swimming pools, at a time when the importance of swimming as a life skill was still being established. The pools they did have access to were poorly maintained, often leading to health issues for those who spent time in them. What then started was a vicious circle that continues to grip minority communities today, whereby someone within a community drowns, deepening the communal fear of water, pushing them away from learning to swim. It’s the same story in South Africa during apartheid - which only ended in 1991, 24 years ago. 

Bearing in mind this history, the achievements of Simone Manuel and Ahmed Hafnaoui feel particularly powerful - both in the speed of societal change and the disestablishment of swimming as a ‘white’ space. Even more incredible is Anthony Nesty, who became the first Black person to win an Olympic swimming medal in 1988 - whilst Apartheid was still at its peak.

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Reclaiming the narrative 

Despite this history being so recent, as with many instances of previous oppression, minority groups are claiming back their narrative. As with many historical movements, it starts with grassroots activism.

One recent example of this is from the Black Owned Swimming School. Founded by Annalize Butler in 2020, she has been responsible for driving an initiative solely focused on teaching Black people to swim. From initially feeling like a “Black unicorn” in swimming pools in the Midlands, Annalize recognised the power she had as one of the few non-white swim teachers to help minimise people feeling out of place when learning to swim. “I’ve always been a helper,” said Annalize when I spoke to her, also highlighting how her status as one of the few highly qualified black swimmers in the UK has meant people seek her out - not only as a swimming instructor but at a strategic level. She has been an important figure at a policy level, leading the conversation on EDI for swimming. “This hasn’t been easy,” she said. As the most senior advocate in the UK, she doesn’t have any mentors or guidance on what is the right or wrong decision. As a result, she does all the research herself, marking the territory as she goes. It makes it all the more frustrating when it feels like there is little movement at a governmental level. “Government and public bodies ignoring the problem creates a monoculture, deepening the ostracised feeling people of colour already harbour.” As a result, the grassroots work of her and others becomes even more important.  

Fortunately, she is not alone in operating at a grassroots level. Black Girl Swim Club have recognised the need to create safe spaces for Black womxn learning to swim. Creating such spaces can help further break down stigmas that may be initially tricker to overcome - for example, older women of colour, who may have other health considerations preventing them from feeling comfortable in public pools historically dominated by white people. 

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The brands swimming for success

One particular success story for people of colour and swimming in the last few years is Swim Dem. 

Founded in 2013, their mission has always been to get more people swimming, make the sport more inclusive, less solitary and - in their words - “a lot more social.” To them, this manifests in the form of personal development and self-affirmation; in other words, using swimming as a tool to empower people.

What they’ve achieved in the past 11 years is a testament to both the appetite from POC wanting to learn to swim and the realisation from global brands that they can combine social responsibilities with commercial opportunities if they partner with the right people. Be this their 2016 LAD Bible collaboration for the ‘U OK M8?’ mental health campaign, or their 2015 collab with Android sharing the story of how Swim Dem came about (an ad which has attracted over 6 million views) - they have demonstrated the power that brands can bring to growing communities.  As ON ROAD can attest to, being able to authentically communicate with unheard voices unlocks previously untapped value relating to representation and purpose. 

A major part of their early success was the long-term involvement of Nike. They sought out Swim Dem in the hope of finding a partner that could help them expand swim culture and create community through swimming. The culmination was Nike’s 2019 Flow Free campaign that drew the parallels between streetwear and swimwear, and an activation event at Parliament Hill Lido with Swim Dem where swimming masterclasses took place. Since then, Nike has been involved in supporting the regular free-to-access swim classes. “I think brands that are prepared to take a risk and enter into longer-term partnerships have the stronger effect,” said Nat, co-founder of Swim Dem. The implication here was that sometimes, it’s clear you are simply a small part of a brand’s larger social calendar. As Nat poignantly said to me - “You need more than just 3 Instagram posts and a story share.”

Nike leaned heavily into an area people of colour can relate to - streetwear - demonstrating that familiarity is critical when trying to break down long-term barriers, and reinforcing that leaning into adjacent cultural industries does work. Layer on top having grassroots advocates who know how to communicate with urban audiences, suddenly something that is both a sport and life skill becomes far more appealing and is instead viewed as a lifestyle, social activity and way to meet new people.

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Setting the standard

As Jesse talked about in our first piece on basketball, the future of any sport and its success in the UK is critically reliant upon work both at the top and bottom. The work done at the top typically comes in the form of funding or setting pathways (both to elite level and basic skills). With this in mind, the work of the Black Swimming Association - a non-profit seeking to diversify aquatics sports more broadly - becomes even more important. Their mission is underpinned by 4 guiding principles:

• Education
  
  • Raising awareness towards the importance of water, safety and the health benefits of aquatic activities
• Advocacy
  
  • Understanding and addressing barriers that limit communities of African, Caribbean, and Asian heritage from engaging in aquatics and water safety
• Research
  
  • Using data to understand attitudes and experiences relating to aquatic activity and water safety
• Support
  
  • Using their knowledge and understanding to drive change via guiding principles, action-orientated advice and collaboration

Where swimming differs from most other sports is that it’s not just a sport. “It’s a critical life skill, and one that can potentially save lives,” Annalize reminds me. As we’ve hinted at, this makes it all the more important. It’s also why the danger involved is such a barrier for people of colour. Black Owned Swim School’s guiding principles are almost identical; this sort of alignment on the direction of travel is crucial, especially as more organisations pop up aiming to drive similar agendas. 

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‍Still lengths to go

This aside, the BSA 2023 report laid bare how much there still is to do. In England alone:

• 95% of Black adults do not swim
• 80% of Black children do not swim
• 93% of Asian adults do not swim
• 78% of Asian children do not swim

With these stats in mind and given that swimming lessons are part of the national curriculum for children, the question remains - what more can be done? How can we turn all the individual success stories into one growing movement?

Until recently, there were huge issues with funding, leading to the closure of almost 400 pools in the last 14 years. However, in the 2023 Spring Budget, £60 million was allocated by the Government to tackle this, now being administered by Sport England. Additionally, after an incredibly successful Tokyo Games, British Swimming saw an uptick in their funding ahead of the Paris Olympics / Paralympics this summer. There are some separate probing questions one can ask around the average distance to a public swimming pool in London (and the UK generally) as a result of 14 years of neglect - laid out bare in how many pools have closed. But it certainly feels a good start that the funding now exists. 

One outstanding issue is role models. We’ve already talked about how much British Basketball can benefit from British global superstars,  tapping into the “I want to be like them” mindset of children. At present, British Swimming has one elite swimmer who is a person of colour - Alice Dearing. She is also co-founder of the already mentioned Black Swimming Association, meaning that a 26-year-old is carrying the burden of both trying to set out long-term strategies and pathways and be the face of inspiring young people of colour to swim - all whilst training to be an Olympic athlete and a regular person in their mid-20s. Were she to win a medal, one could reasonably expect a typical chain of events to be set off that would undoubtedly have positive effects on people of colour learning to swim. However, it is a huge burden for one person to bear so the next question becomes ‘Who or what else can fulfil this role?’

When we then turn to products, there are further opportunities to serve people of colour better. It is well known, for example, that people of colour can typically suffer from drier skin after spending extended time in chlorinated or salty water. Yet, little to no products exist that are marketed specifically as aftercare for these situations, deepening the pre-existing belief that swimming is not for people of colour. The only clear example we came across was from E45, who very recently started running a TV ad featuring people of colour using the product post-swim. 

Similarly, swim caps properly made to accommodate braided or locked hair have only recently become more widely available. Soul Cap is aiming to tackle this - but once again, they only exist at a grassroots level. And for people who are happy to allow their hair to get wet, the stigma about the subsequent frizziness it could incur has historically deepened the resistance to get in the water at all. And whilst brands such as YouSwim and Chromat are leading the way in championing body inclusivity, their swimsuits are simply too expensive for the average consumer. 

One of the success stories worth celebrating (again from Nike) was the release of their burkini, allowing female Muslim swimmers to enter a pool in a way that they’re comfortable with. How comfortable they feel doing this in predominantly white spaces in practice, however, maybe a different story. 

When laid out like this, and considering the history, suddenly those stats do not seem as shocking. And of course, for so many people of colour, their potential interest in swimming is likely to start from a position of fear. “You also have to be incredibly cognisant of cultural heritage,” Annalize says. “It’s entirely possible that a 7-year-old inner-city Black child who’s not learned to swim does not have first-hand experience of a body of water bigger than a bathtub. Combine this with generational trauma passed down from parents who cannot swim, that may have morphed into something far bigger than a fear of water.” From this standpoint, the fact that basic products such as swim caps and post-swim moisturisers are not in place en masse does not convey a message of change or inclusion of culture. 

The issues above help frame a new set of questions:

• What more can be done at a macro level (possibly by brands) to make swimming a safe space for people of colour?
• What product and service opportunities exist to help people of colour with the aftercare of swimming?
• How can the work of the BSA, Swim Dem and others be elevated further to increase the appeal and value of swimming?

These questions can perhaps be summarised more broadly - what more can be done to further build a swimming culture for people of colour that both inspires and educates?

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Building a culture

It’s clear swimming has not had an existing successful culture for people of colour. Compared again to basketball, the sport had been present for decades in the states. It meant there was an aspirational path for young Black and Brown kids in the UK. “I want to be in the NBA,” will have undoubtedly been the aspiration for the few young British fans 20 years ago. An initial few achieving this aspiration paved the path for the individual British Basketball culture. 

It also gave brands success stories around which they could wrap commercial narratives, further cementing the aspirational vision that young people wanted to lean into. Such a vision is comparatively limited for people of colour swimmers - with Alice Dearing currently bearing all of that burden. Nike occasionally shines a light on her, but not one bright enough to poise her amongst other Nike athletes of colour.

That said, success stories do not have to be built around elite performance. I have family members who learned to swim late into their adult life, which can be celebrated as a success story for similar and differing reasons. The power of someone with an existing audience or following being able to tell this story seems an untapped idea as of yet. 

Then there is the power of a great teacher and their role in creating success. When I spoke to 14-year-old Roman, he talked incredibly fondly of his school swimming teacher. “They made it a lot more fun,” he said. A competitive swimmer from an early age, being Black in these environments had the potential to be alienating - with his teacher ensuring this was not the case. For those who are simply learning, having a teacher they trust could go a long way in overcoming the initial fear barrier.

To take it a step further, building a culture does not rely solely on individuals or success stories. Just as Nike did with Flow Free, we can look at reasonable parallels to understand what steps could be taken to break down individual parts of this complicated ecosystem. For example, on the topic of the dangers of drowning and how to mitigate those, you could easily cite the British Heart Foundation’s 2012 ‘Staying Alive’ campaign as a near-perfect example of how to use humour and stereotypes to break down life-threatening situations and teach life-saving skills. Similarly, we can look to the success of creating not just communities, but spaces and centres specifically for the combination of a demographic and sport, allowing for a wholly new culture to flourish. This is going beyond a leisure centre simply giving a grassroots organisation a swimming pool for 2 hours a week. It’s imagining a pool where an organisation such as Swim Dem can stamp their culture on the whole space 24/7. My colleague Seetal will scrutinise this idea in her piece next month focussing on Boxing.

We are not short of examples of people travelling to facilities and communities where they feel a part of something. A great example of this is Flippers World - which has people travel from all over London for their events, culture and community. Albeit not as life-critical as swimming, Flippers has managed to rebrand roller skating, moving it from being a hobby to a lifestyle, thereby opening up a world of commercial opportunities and multiple ways of engaging consumers. And it certainly doesn’t feel unreasonable to imagine the number of swimming stigmas that could be broken down in an environment where you are not just surrounded by people who look like you, but where your culture feels present. 

Like with Flippers, would people be willing to travel further to a space where they felt more comfortable? Would this then create a domino effect if the model was proven to work? Black-owned spaces have previously allowed for niche sub-cultures to thrive; on the surface, there’s little reason why swimming would be any different. Annalize has recognised this, “Our own swimming pool would empower B.O.S.S. and other Black-focused brands, creating our own ecosystems, and setting our own standards.” It would also go a long way in tackling the issues Annalize highlighted - hereditary anxiety, a fear of large bodies of water, or trauma from near-drowning experiences. Making people “culturally comfortable,” as Nat puts it, would suddenly become a lot easier. 

Of course, there are many other facets to how you could build some form of consistent culture: supersizing the work of Swim Dem, broadening the reach of the Black Swimming Association, better serving the aftercare needs of people of colour when swimming and identifying clear crossover opportunities with other cultural industries such as fashion or music all feel like other reasonable steps.

It is by no means an easy problem to solve, but the brand(s) that can, will be the first to tap into the audience of 10.5 million people of colour in the UK - whilst having a leading role in teaching these people a skill that could save their life, or someone else’s.

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