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.
---
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 had a conversation about this with a black woman in Mexico a couple of weeks ago. She is a poor swimmer but her brother was on the swim team, we were trying to figure out why more black people don't swim. We came up with the usual socioeconomic reasons, but she added that especially for black women, chlorinated water does horrific things to their hair, like causing it to break off. She also said many black parents discourage their children from pursuing swimming, due to their own discomfort around water.
This is an interesting question about which I have not given much thought even though it has been staring me in the face for years. My neighborhood YMCA is a major metropolitan inner-city facility and has been around for about 100 years. It has the usual gym, indoor basketball courts, weight rooms, etc., plus an indoor swimming pool. The membership is predominantly people of color (perhaps 80%) with African Americans being the largest group (perhaps 60%). Yet only about 10% of swimmers are people of color and those are almost exclusively Asians. I am sure the reasons must be social/cultural, but it is surprising given the length of time the YMCA has offered swimming to this community. I'm surprised I never really thought about it before--but then again I see people as people and tend not to think about thier race that often.
peer pressure, and race is definitely still a factor, though i don't know why exactly.
a related observation: in american football, blacks dominate the running back position but are barely breaking into the quarterback position.
Although this article is a few years old, this program has only gotten bigger. Note the mention of Julimar who swam for Honduras recently in a major competition.
www.boston.com/.../
Makes you think.
Hello, here is my experience with swimming.
As a black woman growing up in Chicago, swimming wasn't mentioned too much in our household. Even though I was raised in a middle class family and my parents could afford lessons, my brother and I never expressed interest in learning. We didn't have a pool and the local park didn't have one.
One of my earliest memories of ever having a swim lesson was at day camp at the Y. I remember the instructor not having much patience and being a shy and nervous little girl, that made me not want to try anymore. I went to a private, integrated high school and we didn't have a pool. I ended up on the basketball and track and field teams. My interest in swimming didn't pick up until later in life. Now that I'm in my 40s and trying to learn, I wish I would have tried again at an earlier age.
Not too long ago, a radio station had a discussion that one of the reasons some black women don't swim is because of their hair. The opinions were mixed. A lot of maintenance is needed to take care of our hair whether it's natural or relaxed and a trip to the salon can cost a lot of money.
I'm proud that my 15 year old nephew and his brothers are good swimmers because of their mother. Her side of the family go fishing frequently so knowing how to swim is a must.
I'm black and I've always wanted to learn how to swim but didn't have access to a pool and having relaxed hair most of my life any time in the pool could damage my hair. No one in my family knows how to swim but me. I didn't learn to swim till I hit my 30s and I've done several swim meets and do triathlons almost every month.
As I said there are many black swimmers nationwide, someday one of these swimmers male or female will become a superstar and that will create more swimming intrest with everyone just as Tiger Woods broke into golf and became a star and he has givin the golf game a bost for all.
Hair care is a important issue with all female swimmers and relaxed styles and perms hair coloring, require alot of care and chlorine is damaging to everyones hair, salon costs yes can be much higher for swimmers, for swimmers who swim for fun and exercise there are swim cap options that can prevent much of the damage.
See www.reocities.com/.../swimband.html
for some details on easy ways to protect hair from chlorine damage. the home made band can be worn under or over a swim cap or both and the combo of cap and band shown on the page is very effective. After swimming a quick blow dry is useually all thats needed, a bit of conditioner applied lightly to the ends also can help before slipping on the band and cap.
