Why people of color CAN swim
Totalswimm
group called Team Dream, which is led by TI Coach Derrick Milligan. Some were
already participating in triathlon. Others had a goal of doing so. Still others
simply wanted to be able to swim for health and well being. About half of the
group were good enough at swimming for us to conduct a regular TI workshop. The
other half were barely able to swim a few struggling strokes - certainly
nothing close to a full length - and a number were afraid to even put their
faces in. So we did 90 minutes with the first group, teaching as we normally
do. Then we did another 90 minutes with the second group, with all the coaches
in the water, and about 10 from the first group staying in to help us, so each
swimmer had a helper and guide as we taught a series of "discovery exercises"
to make them comfortable and help them understand how a body behaves in the
water.
First thing we did was progressive submersion with a partner helping you sink
under. Each time a bit further under, staying a bit longer, taking time to let
each release their fear and tension. We kept at this until the final step was
laying face-down on the bottom with your partner's foot on your back holding
you there -- until you signaled to be released to float to the surface.
This experience was incredibly empowering to them - first to be able to be
underwater for quite a while and feel no fear. Second to realize that your body
doesn't want to fall DOWN in the water. It wants to fall UP. An invaluable
confidence builder. Then we moved on to teaching our series of balance drills,
but with each student being manually aided into position by a helper at her
head and feet. By the end of 90 minutes, all 30+ women were gliding back and
forth across the pool in a variety of head lead and hand lead balance
positions, most on their own without any assistance -- and only 2 needed fins.
We did four such sessions with each group over the course of the weekend -
Saturday morning and afternoon and Sunday morning and afternoon.. By Sunday
afternoon we had all 65 women moving beautifully and fluently up and down the
full length of the pool. The coaches for the first group said they had improved
more in 6 hours of pool instruction than in the previous year. The second group
watched the progress of the first and came away believing they'd get there too
-- though their "graduation lap" was more often a drill than whole-stroke.
It was the most uplifting coaching experience I've ever had. They proved that a
sizable group of women of color could all learn to swim...and swim well. They
also told me how important this experience would be to their community -- that
in their community positive change of this sort -- i.e. changing a belief
system (that swimming and blacks are not meant for each other) and promoting a
healthy activity -- always comes from women. They vowed to take responsibility
-- to make sure their children became swimmers, and their children's children.
Seven of them have told me they plan to become trained as TI teachers.
And with that I'm going to take my leave of RSS again. So long as I'm here, I
seem to become the focus of too much of the energy -- positive and negative --
on the forum. I have too much on my plate to devote time to these endless,
pointless debates, and I'm sure people can find other things to discuss.
Swim for health and happiness,
Terry Laughlin
chris
puzzeled, prognosticated (perhaps even premeditated), and then, in a
very wise voice, sed: :
> I have too much on my plate to devote time to these endless,
>pointless debates
LOL...Thanks for *that* Terry. i've kind of accepted that i'm ugly and
powerless, but now pointless as well? Oh well, life is a neverending
spiral of futility and despair! :-)
--
chris
"Yes! is the answer."
--John Lennon
Donal Fagan
<cm...@cox.net> wrote:
>LOL...Thanks for *that* Terry. i've kind of
>accepted that i'm ugly and powerless, but now
>pointless as well? Oh well, life is a neverending
>spiral of futility and despair! :-)
"Life is suffering ... then you turn." I plan to
use that as the first line of my new book:
The Lane Less Lap-Swum
Donal Fagan AIA
Donal@DonalO'Fagan.com
(Anglicise the name to reply by e-mail)
de Valois
clean up:
>
>And with that I'm going to take my leave of RSS again. So long as I'm here, I
>seem to become the focus of too much of the energy -- positive and negative --
>on the forum. I have too much on my plate to devote time to these endless,
>pointless debates, and I'm sure people can find other things to discuss.
>Swim for health and happiness,
>Terry Laughlin
He blows in, blows up, and blows out again... :)
Tao te Carl
de Valois
>
>On Wed, 26 Feb 2003 22:14:02 GMT, chris
><cm...@cox.net> wrote:
>
>>LOL...Thanks for *that* Terry. i've kind of
>>accepted that i'm ugly and powerless, but now
>>pointless as well? Oh well, life is a neverending
>>spiral of futility and despair! :-)
>
>"Life is suffering ... then you turn." I plan to
>use that as the first line of my new book:
>
>The Lane Less Lap-Swum
>
Ye might want to check with the Frost estate before ye go thar, bairn. (knowing
full well, Frost was American, why did I write that in a bad brogue?)
Tao te Carl
Donal Fagan
<deva...@nailedandused.com> wrote:
>>The Lane Less Lap-Swum
>Ye might want to check with the Frost estate
>before ye go thar, bairn. (knowing full well,
>Frost was American, why did I write that in a bad
>brogue?)
M Scott Peck got away with it.
Hootie McBooberton
"de Valois" <deva...@nailedandused.com> wrote in message
news:b3l7h...@drn.newsguy.com...
So... what you're saying is, "he blows."
Robert W. McAdams
>
> They proved that a sizable group of women of color could all learn to
> swim...and swim well. They also told me how important this experience
> would be to their community -- that in their community positive change
> of this sort -- i.e. changing a belief system (that swimming and blacks
> are not meant for each other) and promoting a healthy activity -- always
> comes from women. They vowed to take responsibility -- to make sure their
> children became swimmers, and their children's children.
> Seven of them have told me they plan to become trained as TI teachers.
It is also worth noting that, at YMCA Nationals last spring, a
16-year-old black swimmer from New Jersey named Gary Grant took first
place in the 100y butterfly, beating more than a hundred of the top
high-school-age swimmers in the country - some of whom were 17 or 18.
Gary also took second place in the 50y freestyle, making him the top
swimmer in that event under the age of 17, and took fourth place in
the 100y freestyle and the 100y backstroke, making him the second
fastest swimmer in both events under the age of 17.
Bob
de Valois
up:
>
>
>"de Valois" <deva...@nailedandused.com> wrote in message
>news:b3l7h...@drn.newsguy.com...
>> total...@aol.com left this mess on 26 Feb 2003 21:22:29 GMT for The Way
>to
>> clean up:
>> >
>> >And with that I'm going to take my leave of RSS again. So long as I'm
>here, I
>> >seem to become the focus of too much of the energy -- positive and
>negative --
>> >on the forum. I have too much on my plate to devote time to these
>endless,
>> >pointless debates, and I'm sure people can find other things to discuss.
>> >Swim for health and happiness,
>> >Terry Laughlin
>>
>> He blows in, blows up, and blows out again... :)
>>
>>
>> Tao te Carl
>>
>
>
>So... what you're saying is, "he blows."
>
I take no responsibility for your interpretation...
...as hilarious as it is! :)
Tao te Carl
Peter Clapp
I took a Total Immersion class, after two short triathlons in which I
was almost dead last (both) out of the water. In two days, I learned
stuff that I still think about when I'm in the water: swimming as a
skill sport, more like tennis than running; front-quadrant swimming;
reaching; hip rotation; breathing with the body roll; stroke length;
dps; golf.
I subsequently joined a serious masters group. Neither of our coaches
know much about TI, and their emphasis is different in some respects.
They said that I glided too much - I should start my pull sooner.
They taught me how to bend my elbow for the catch. They emphasize
kicking, and they don't bug me about my head position. TI says to
stop when your form deteriorates, but if I did, I'd quit halfway
through many of our 4000m workouts. Some is the same, of course - we
still play golf.
I swim faster now than when I took TI (don't get me wrong, I'm not
fast). I swim as I'm coached. But I'm glad I took TI, I'm glad to
have experienced different styles, and I know that much of what I
learned from Terry over those two days is still with me.
Terry's built a program that's helped 1000s of people get more
comfortable in the water and enjoy swimmming faster. That's terrific,
even if he doesn't (or does) teach people to swim like Thorpe or
Popov. Is the TI cult sometimes a little ridiculous? Maybe - but who
cares?
I'm writing for two reasons. First, his moving story about teaching a
class of non-white women to swim was this group's best response to the
recent disgusting, racist postings (as well as that of the guy who
taught separate black and white classes years ago). Second, nobody
said - "great story, Terry, thanks for teaching that class, thanks for
the uplift, etc." Everybody just jumped on him. Hey, Runnswimm!
what would Mr. Rogers have done?
Great story, Terry.
Back to work - P
Hootie McBooberton
"Peter Clapp" <pwc...@aol.com> wrote in message
news:b96833c2.03022...@posting.google.com...
> what would Mr. Rogers have done?
>
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/030209/168/38f3u.html&e=18
Hootie McBooberton
> >
> >So... what you're saying is, "he blows."
> >
>
> I take no responsibility for your interpretation...
>
> ...as hilarious as it is! :)
>
I'm just trying to keep this newsgroup alive. :)
Alton
>
> It is also worth noting that, at YMCA Nationals last spring, a
> 16-year-old black swimmer from New Jersey named Gary Grant took first
> place in the 100y butterfly, beating more than a hundred of the top
> high-school-age swimmers in the country - some of whom were 17 or 18.
> Gary also took second place in the 50y freestyle, making him the top
> swimmer in that event under the age of 17, and took fourth place in
> the 100y freestyle and the 100y backstroke, making him the second
> fastest swimmer in both events under the age of 17.
You mean he's "black" the way Anthony Ervin, Alison Terry, Sabir
Muhammad are "black"? Or is he a true black?
Let's see what happens when he comes up against world class elite
swimmers, if he even makes it that far. I guess it would be incredibly
un-PC to point out that of the small handful of "black" swimmers that
have made it to the olympics, they've only medaled in short distance
events?
Sure, "people of color" are capable of swimming, and swimming well,
but they don't seem to do well in the elite levels of competitive
swimming.
Totalswimm
>but they don't seem to do well in the elite levels of competitive
>swimming.
Okay, you've made this brilliant observation. What next? What should the world
do with this piercing bit of insight -- whether the reasons are lack of access
and opportunity, and role models, or something in the physical makeup of those
who are "too black."
Should coaches now start weeding out kids by skin color? Should US Swimming put
out a helpful color chart to aid coaches in deciding which kids are worthy of
space in the pool? And should basketball or sprinting coaches do the same with
kids who are "too white?"
What, exactly is the useful outcome or point of this discussion...and why do so
many threads on this newsgroup get derailed by people who want to pick apart a
useful discussion until it becomes utterly pointless? Can't you think of a more
productive use of your energy and time?
Terry Laughlin
Martin W. Smith
>
> >Sure, "people of color" are capable of swimming, and swimming well,
> >but they don't seem to do well in the elite levels of competitive
> >swimming.
>
> Okay, you've made this brilliant observation.
Actually, it isn't an observation; it is a claim. He can't say that
people of color don't seem to do well in the elite levels of competitive
swimming unless (a) he demonstrates that people of color who *have* made
it to the elite level did not do well there, and (b) he demonstrates
that the reason there are not many people of color at the elite level is
*not* that there just aren't very many people of color in the sport.
martin
--
Martin Smith email: m...@computas.com
Vollsveien 9 tel. : +47 6783 1188
P.O. Box 482 mob. : +47 932 48 303
1327 Lysaker, Norway
Alton
> Should coaches now start weeding out kids by skin color?
The stopwatch is color blind. As it has always done, it will weed out
the slower swimmers at meets. May the fastest swimmer win. End of
story.
> Can't you think of a more
> productive use of your energy and time?
Can you think of a more productive use of your time than whining about
my input? Apparently not.
Alton
> >
> > Okay, you've made this brilliant observation.
>
> Actually, it isn't an observation; it is a claim. He can't say that
> people of color don't seem to do well in the elite levels of competitive
> swimming unless (a) he demonstrates that people of color who *have* made
> it to the elite level did not do well there, and (b) he demonstrates
> that the reason there are not many people of color at the elite level is
> *not* that there just aren't very many people of color in the sport.
I don't have to do anything but point to the facts.
Paul Gormley
"Alton" <obbz...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:e116921e.0303...@posting.google.com...
Martin W. Smith
When are you going to start doing that?
Here is a fact that you can't use: The fact that most elite swimmers
are not people of color does not mean that people of color couldn't be
elite swimmers.