Howard Swimming Program Honored In PBS Documentary

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Howard College’s extremely regarded Bison Swimming and Diving Group was not too long ago featured within the newest episode of We Are Right here, a compelling six-part PBS and WHUT TV docuseries that highlights Black excellence in underrepresented sports activities and actions. The episode centered on Howard’s head swimming coach, Nicholas Askew, and his unwavering dedication to fostering group and selling swimming throughout racial traces.

Underneath Askew’s management, the staff has been on the forefront of efforts to make swimming extra inclusive, with applications like swim camps designed to coach each athletes and their households. Askew emphasizes the life-saving significance of swimming and the ability of illustration in encouraging extra individuals to study this important talent, Swim Swam famous.

The necessity for elevated variety in swimming is particularly essential in mild of a 2017 examine by the USA Swimming Basis, which discovered that 70% of African People can’t swim. This statistic is tied to America’s historical past of segregation, which stored Black households from accessing public swimming swimming pools for a lot of the twentieth century.

Along with his work on inclusion, Coach Askew has helped redefine the way in which swimming meets are approached.

In 2022, Howard hosted the first-ever Battle on the Burr, a twin meet towards Georgetown that drew a crowd of 1,200 spectators. The occasion was a vigorous celebration, that includes a DJ, a dance troupe, and overflow seating within the health club, full with giant screens displaying the motion. The success of the Battle on the Burr demonstrated that swim meets don’t need to be mundane affairs. Simply as school soccer video games have tailgates and school basketball followers camp out for tickets, Askew’s modern method confirmed that swimming might be thrilling and community-centered. The occasion additionally raised funds for important causes, together with changing outdated gear and supporting scholar scholarships—mixing sport, tradition, and social objective in a manner that’s reshaping the way forward for collegiate swimming.

Coach Nicholas Askew has additionally been a robust advocate for change within the swimming world by legislative reform.

In February, Maryland State Delegate Karen Toles launched a invoice requiring the state to ascertain a swimming elective curriculum for public faculties in grades eight by 12. The bipartisan invoice was mentioned in a committee listening to in March, the place Toles highlighted the essential want to deal with swim security disparities, notably in majority-Black communities. Askew supplied the only real testimony for the invoice by way of Zoom, Swim Swam reported, noting how obstacles within the swimming world have posed dire dangers for Black kids and teenagers. In keeping with the YMCA, 64% of Black American kids can’t swim. Moreover, Black kids are 3 times extra prone to die from drowning than different races.

Howard College had a historic 2022-2023 season underneath Askew’s management, capturing their first convention title in 34 years. Their success, coupled with a record-breaking turnout at an early-season meet in 2022, caught the eye of Sports activities Illustrated, which featured the staff. The article highlighted the legacy of Howard College, which is house to the one NCAA swim staff at a traditionally Black college, and the feats made by Askew and his excellent college students during the last eight years.