hi all, I'm writing from Italy. Hope not to be politically incorrect, you know, sometimes one uses wrong expressions which may be offensive without knowing it - English is not my language.
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My question: has someone understood why there are no black swimmers at the top of the world rankings? is there a physiologic reason? Thank you Antonio
I think that has changed a lot in the last few decades. Most cities now really concentrate on providing recreation facilities in poorer areas. Not to say there aren't exceptions, but I'll betcha these days most major cities have nice public pools available in neighborhoods with high concentrations of minorities. The next step is getting the families in these areas to use the pools and to sign their kids up for swim lessons. In my personal experience it's working. I swim at a public pool in a fairly well off area of the city. I would say at least half the kids I see taking lessons are minorities. Muslims seem to be especially proactive in signing their children up for lessons.
In the Wenatchee area, I've noticed at the three swimming facilities that a large % of the kids in the swim lessons this summer are hispanic. Part of this could be because of the multiple recent drownings over the past year in the Wenatchee area that have got significant news coverage. 4 drownings, all 4 being hispanic. 1 in the H.S. pool during class, 1 in a motel pool (unguarded), and the other two in the river or lake (also unguarded). Out of my son's swim lesson class, all are hispanic...my son included. He's 50/50, but we always claim hispanic on all information sheets. You never know when it'll give him an advantage sometime in the future.
I think that has changed a lot in the last few decades. Most cities now really concentrate on providing recreation facilities in poorer areas. Not to say there aren't exceptions, but I'll betcha these days most major cities have nice public pools available in neighborhoods with high concentrations of minorities. The next step is getting the families in these areas to use the pools and to sign their kids up for swim lessons. In my personal experience it's working. I swim at a public pool in a fairly well off area of the city. I would say at least half the kids I see taking lessons are minorities. Muslims seem to be especially proactive in signing their children up for lessons.
In the Wenatchee area, I've noticed at the three swimming facilities that a large % of the kids in the swim lessons this summer are hispanic. Part of this could be because of the multiple recent drownings over the past year in the Wenatchee area that have got significant news coverage. 4 drownings, all 4 being hispanic. 1 in the H.S. pool during class, 1 in a motel pool (unguarded), and the other two in the river or lake (also unguarded). Out of my son's swim lesson class, all are hispanic...my son included. He's 50/50, but we always claim hispanic on all information sheets. You never know when it'll give him an advantage sometime in the future.
