Rising Tide: Is Swimming the Next Great African-American Sport?

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Kai Hickson's Olympic dream begins with a splash.

Three times a week, the 12-year-old trains with the Queen City Dolphins, working on technique and strategy at the Mecklenburg Aquatic Center. He's at home in the water, a prerequisite for such lofty goals.

"I like diving in," he said. "I want to go to the Olympics."

While that's part of competitive swimming, Kai and his teammates are growing the sport among African Americans. The Dolphins are among a growing number of predominantly black clubs taking to the pools across the United States. Major urban areas including Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago, Atlanta and Detroit have teams, and their swimmers travel to meets across the country. The Dolphins, who have officially been a team for just six months, are young but determined. The team's existence is due to its coaches, Rodney Sellars and Marcus Green, both former college swimmers.

"A lot of them have excelled," said Green, who went to Florida A&M. "They've gone from doing maybe one lap to 20 laps. A lot of these kids have excelled, and that's because of consistency. The kids that have been here every practice since we started have benefited."

Few African Americans have risen to the upper echelon of swimming. The U.S. Olympic team has had only two black swimmers in its history. Of the 140,000 members of USA Swimming nationwide who identified their race via questionnaire, only 1 percent checked African American. USA Swimming, which sanctions 2,700 clubs and the Olympic program, has 280,000 swimmers among its 300,000 members.

"When you're dealing with lower-income socioeconomic groups or ethnic groups, there are fewer people who know how to swim than people from upper-class or middle-class backgrounds," said Pat Hogan, USA Swimming's club development director.

USA Swimming has launched initiatives to increase African-American participation by encouraging new clubs in urban areas and community-oriented water safety programs. Growth has been slow, but noticeable.

"Our focus for many years has to been to encourage existing programs to seek more diversity," he said. "There are several clubs that serve disadvantaged youth in urban areas, but we probably don't have 50 clubs in the country at this point. While we're more diverse than we were 10 yeas ago, we're not satisfied with where we are."

The only blacks to make the U.S. Olympic team, however, have won medals.

Anthony Ervin earned a gold in 2000 and Maritza Correia won a silver in 2004. Correia was a major attraction at the Charlotte meet, signing autographs and offering encouragement to the swimmers.

"This whole experience is incredible," she said. "It's one of the first meets I've been to with so many African Americans. It's a different feeling, but it's awesome."

There's a feeling of change at the grassroots level. In May, Charlotte hosted its third annual National Black Heritage Championship Swim Meet. More than 450 minority swimmers from 10 states competed over two days. Similar heritage meets are held in other major cities, which helps expose swimming as an alternative to traditional stick-and-ball sports.

"We're giving them more options than football and basketball," Green said. "I went to FAMU on a swimming scholarship, so back in the day I got paid to swim in college."

The Queen City Dolphins range in age from 8-14, although the coaches will take anyone of any ethnicity, up to age 18. The cost of participation is $30 per month and practices are held three nights a week. Kenya Dunn, 11, enjoys Dolphins practice, especially the social aspect of working toward team goals.

"I get to swim with my friends," she said. "I like swimming because it's hard but it helps you grow and it's exercise."

Why don't more blacks participate on swim teams? Cost has been a barrier, as well as the lack of resources in African-American communities. To Harvey Agurs II, whose son Harvey III is a Dolphin, the tallest hurdle is the perception that many blacks harbor. Expense is an issue, but there are cultural barriers, too. Like hockey golf and tennis, swimming is often perceived as a white sport.

"I think it's a stereotype myself," the elder Agurs says. "I was in the Navy and I did a lot of diving. If you see these kids, they take to the water like it's normal. It is expensive, but sometimes that sacrifice needs to be made."

As a sport outside the mainstream in the United States, swimming struggles to get the best athletes at an early age, Hogan said. Developing a deep pool of young black talent now can only help improve the country's world-class depth.