Sports---Wade in the Water

Because this is my first blog post, let me tell you a little bit about the title...It comes from one of my favorite songs by John Legend entitled "Heaven"...I love John Legend by the way...he is an amazing artist and he has amazing songs!! Anyway, the entire lyrical phrase reads as follows..."Sometimes when we're talking words/Words get drowned out by the sound/Let's get back in touch/And we'll be back on solid ground/OHH"....or something pretty close to that. Anyhoo, I really like these lines because I think they are very true...there are a lot of people out there who are not good listeners...it is very easy to have a conversation with someone and afterwards have no idea what they have said...this could be for a number of reasons whether that be you are just not interested in what they have to say, you are too busy worrying about what you want to say, or you hear something you do not like or agree with and tune the other person out...whatever the reason, I think the world would be a much better place if everyone could learn to be active listeners ...there would be more happy, productive people. Moving on, this whole idea of blogging forces people to really absorb the ideas and thoughts of others...people are more attentive when they read...well, at least I am...hence the title of my blog. I would eventually like my blog to read like a mini-newspaper so expect a lot of variety...and I know a lot about newspapers, I used to edit one, so I do not think I will have too much trouble achieving this vision. This concludes my intro...and now, my very first post...




Hopefully you know who this guy is, but in case you don't...His name is Cullen Jones. He is on the US Olympic swim team and recently won a gold medal in the 4x100 meter relay race. The link to my blog is words get drowned out by the sound.blogspot.com right? Well...speaking of drowning...i recently found out that Mr. Jones almost drowned as a child. Apparently he had a freak accident involving an amusment park water slide and an innertube...poor kid...if you saw the story on NBC you know what I am talking about, he really did almost die. Well, this Cullen fellow goes very nicely with what I would like to talk about in my first post.

BLACK PEOPLE...AND SWIMMING...

Why do so many of us not know how to swim? For the last couple of weeks, this has been something that I have been pondering. I can think of several friends of mine, all people of color...who do not know how to swim. For the record, they are pretty good at perpetrating though. They hit up pool parties and beaches just as good as anyone. But when it comes to real business, the actual swimming part, they are completely lost...and usually a little scared. Just recently, I was catching up with one of my boys down in Texas and while I was there, I spent a lot of my time pool side. I love to swim so I decided to take advantage of the lovely pool in his development. Anyways, I was astonished to find out that his skills in the pool are limited to dipping his feet in...and splish splashing...two thumbs down!! lol...I was also slightly irritated...why suggest going swimming when you do not know how to swim...this guy also grew up on the Ghanian coast (he lived on the beach!!!)...so I feel like there is no good reason why he has no clue how to swim....no clue, lol. I tried to teach him the basics, treading water, black floating, etc., and although we did a lot of laughing...not too much progress was made. I think swimming is one of those things that works out better if you learn early....kind of like languages and riding a bike. So with that said...I would like to share my own experience of learning how to swim. Note: If you are reading this friend, I am not mad at you for not knowing how to swim by any means...do not take my comments literally...I adore you!

I guess I was about 7 when I finally had it down pact. I learned mid-summer I suppose and the summer prior was pretty miserable for me. I went to a summer day camp and we used to have swim time just about everyday. I used to feel like such a loser because I was the only one in my class who did not know how. We used to play tag and whenever someone tagged me as "it" it was a wrap for me for the rest of the game. I could never catch anyone obviously and because I couldn't swim I was forced to walk around the pool with all that water weight hoping someone would accidentally bump into me. It was pretty embarassing...but by next summer...things were definitely looking up.

My best friend at the time, along with my mother (who ironically enough is a part of the non-swimming blk population), and my best friend's family taught me how to swim. Her grandma, who I affectionately called Gram, had an amazing pool...I've yet to go to a better pool...and she spent everyday there during the summer. I guess she got tired of me watching her swim on the sidelines (not to mention she was somewhat bossy) so she made it her job to teach me. Not only that, but it was somewhat of a community pool in that there were always a lot of other kids there swimming and playing. Long story short, after a lot of peer pressure...swimmies, even a few tears...I was finally a SWIMMER!

Looking back on my childhood, I can not imagine it without swimming...so many of my favorite memories somehow revolve around being at somebody's pool with friends or fam. As a black female, I can relate to the many of us who dread swimming due to hair issues or even worse "getting too dark". Lucky for me though, my best friend was half-white and her familly was all white so nappy hair or ash were never seen as a serious issue to anyone in my circle when I was young. Even know that I am older, I try not to be that girl who refuses to get in the pool because I just got my hair done. Why get your hair done if you know you are about to go swimming???

Well, as much as I would like to believe that black people not swimming as much as their white counterparts is a myth...I can't...it may be possible that we have some type of aversion to the water. Is it a class issue? No i do not think so...I do not consider myself to come from a privileged background nor did I or anyone in my immediate family ever have a pool. I still managed to learn though so that can't be it. You do not need a pool in your backyard to know how to swim. Not only that, there are plenty of black people who do have pools and/or can afford to pay for lessons. Swimming has to be one of America's favorite summer pastimes, at least unofficially and I know for a fact that there are plenty of opportunities to teach children (and adults for that matter) how to swim.

Is it somehow connected with slavery and having to travel that horrific Middle Passage boat ride? Did that make African-Americans inherently afraid of the water? I think that is a bit of a stretch but I just like throwing random ideas out there sometimes. I will say this though...I have a Haitian acquaintance who does not know how to swim, Haiti is an island by the way, no need to mention her easy access to the water or anything, lol, and she said this..."a lot of people in Haiti don't know how to swim...a lot of little kids end up drowning and ppl especially parents just get scared"...I am not sure how true this is, but it is something to think about. It definitely alludes to an idea that negative attitudes toward swimming are perpetuated from generation to generation. Thank GOODNESS my mother made sure I learned...One day, when I am financially stable, I am going to pay for her to get lessons so she can finally stop missing out on all the fun.

This passage has turned out to be much longer than I intended...let me end by saying keep up the good work Cullen Jones...not only are you an extremely HOT world class athlete but hopefully you are inspiring all the black children out there who do not know how to swim....along with their parents...and grandparents, to step their game up and give the water a try...LONG LIVE THE OLYMPICS~~~ciao