I remember P Mulins the author maybe I missed spelled his name talking about swimming being a white upper-middle class sport and the country club set. I guess he had not met Shirley Bashashoff that came from a blue collar background. Anyway, swimmers in elite circles tend to be more from upper-middle families than the non-elite. In high school programs, their are plenty of them from the barrio and the ghetto. Also, he seems to think swimming is divided between whites and blacks. In his state, both Latinos and Asians outnumber blacks. And Latinos are the group lowest on the income level in that state and Arizona mainly done to immirgation. I think the swimming world is seeing that in the states, its not a black and white world anymore,even in the south asians and latins have increase.
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I live in a small town with a very nice YMCA. The facility is centrally located and within five minutes of just about everyone in town. There is a six lane 25 yard indoor pool and a year round swim team. The local high school team works out at the same time and shares coaching. What I've noticed is that the youth basketball league is full (I think they had to turn some kids away this year) whereas the swim team is very small. And of course swim lessons are offered for all ages, all levels of ability. My point is that most of the kids would rather play basketball than invest the amount of time and effort required to participate and excel in swimming. In this particular case, for what it's worth, race and/or socioeconomic status do not seem to influence access to swimming as a sport. Obviously role models (or lack thereof) and the perceived monetary gain (or lack thereof) could be factors in choosing basketball over swimming. Or maybe basketball just seems like more fun.
I live in a small town with a very nice YMCA. The facility is centrally located and within five minutes of just about everyone in town. There is a six lane 25 yard indoor pool and a year round swim team. The local high school team works out at the same time and shares coaching. What I've noticed is that the youth basketball league is full (I think they had to turn some kids away this year) whereas the swim team is very small. And of course swim lessons are offered for all ages, all levels of ability. My point is that most of the kids would rather play basketball than invest the amount of time and effort required to participate and excel in swimming. In this particular case, for what it's worth, race and/or socioeconomic status do not seem to influence access to swimming as a sport. Obviously role models (or lack thereof) and the perceived monetary gain (or lack thereof) could be factors in choosing basketball over swimming. Or maybe basketball just seems like more fun.
