Welcome to the Diversity in Aquatics social network. The network and website, MinoritySwimming.com, are the brain-child of Shaun Anderson and Jayson Jackson. The goal of our Diversity in Aquatics Program (DAP) is to help create and promote more local DAP programs, as well as to create a forum for interaction, communication, news, and competitive swimming. We hope you enjoy the network and MinoritySwimming.com. Please send us suggestions, comments, posts, and ideas at ideas@minorityswimming.com.
Come see the award winning FREE SWIM (www.FreeSwimMovie.com) . . .
The Cape Ann Community Cinema (www.massbayfilmproject.org) 21 Main Street, Gloucester, MA * come earlier for a pre-screening party at 6:30pm
October 18 at 10AM La Femme Film Festival (www.lafemme.org) Davidson/Valentini Theatre 1125 N McCadden Place, Los Angeles, CA
The world’s leaders in environmental conservation, ocean filmmaking and wildlife photography came together for the Blue Ocean Film Festival , held in Savannah, GA from June 10 – 14, 2009. The event honored Dr. Sylvia Earle with a Lifetime Achievement Award for Ocean Advocacy, and awarded numerous filmmakers for their achievements. I’m proud to announce that the film FREE SWIM won the Patagonia-sponsored “Best of Ocean Sports” award granted to the film that “is most effective and innovative in relating ocean sports stories or competitions to conservation and appreciation of the oceans.”
FREE SWIM is a 50-minute documentary film about the paradox of islanders not knowing how to swim. Taking place on the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas we follow a group of kids as they overcome their fears, gain confidence and reconnect with their environment by learning to swim in open waters. With fresh memories of a friend drowning and the conflicts of growing tourism, for these kids it’s not just about floating, but gaining new skills for their future.
As a doctor of environmental health and a filmmaker, I use my background in public health and environmental science to inform my work. In 2006, I co-founded reelblue, LLC, a media company specializing in stories about global health and the environment. The idea behind FREE SWIM grew out of my personal adventures and public health work with coastal people around the world. I became aware of a paradox: many people, young and old, who live surrounded by water, do not know how to swim. Being an islander myself, I wanted to give this story a voice for several reasons: drowning is a leading cause of death for children globally; many questions still exist regarding minorities and swimming; and children are becoming more disconnected from the natural world. Recognizing these issues collectively, I decided to pursue this topic visually through FREE SWIM and its paired photography book We, Sea on Eleuthera, a long and narrow island where the non-profit Swim to Empower was giving free swimming lessons.
Working with local groups in the Bahamas together with Swim to Empower, I’m using the film as a catalyst for social change and also hope to get an inter-island film screening and educational outreach tour running in 2010. The aim is to establish a national learn-to-swim program in the Bahamas so that every islander has access to learning to swim. A recent feature article about these efforts appeared in the Nassau Guardian. Beyond the Bahamas, FREE SWIM is screening from the Philippines to South Africa as well as in coastal towns of the US, inspiring people around the world to learn this life skill and to reconnect with their natural environment, and to one another.
For more information, general questions or to host a screening, visit www.freeswimmovie.com. In addition, all proceeds from the sale of the book We, Sea are donated to Swim to Empower and the Deep Creek Middle School. Visit www.reelblue.net to learn more.
Horizons National was recently featured on NBC Nightly News in the “Making a Difference” segment. Horizons National has been making a difference since it was founded in 1964 by trying to close the achievement gap. One of the components of the summer program is that all of the kids have to learn to swim.
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
Great article on Imagine 2050 about Jenny Levison’s movie Parting the Waters.
In 2006, there were 110 deaths due to drowning in Virginia. More than half of these deaths (54%) were in natural bodies of water. Virginians, age 15 to 24, experience the highest number of fatal drownings in the state and African-Americans drown at a woefully disproportionate rate. In response to these clarion calls, the Norfolk Department of Public Health, collaborated with the City of Norfolk Aquatics Division, and the Triple A “Norfolk Tides” baseball team, in the creation of the moving and insightful video WaterLine Teens: Keeping Heads Above Water, sponsored by the Virginia Department of Health Center for Injury & Violence Prevention. Featuring compelling, true stories of near-drowning survivors and surviving family members and friends of fatal drowning victims, this impactful video also offers valuable water safety instruction and tips. Written, produced and directed by Terrance Afer-Anderson, with production services provided by Genesis 7 Media, this 22-minute video also features former Norfolk Tides catcher Matt Weiters, now a Major League player with the Baltimore Orioles; essential water safety tips, provided by Daniel Jones, Division Head, Aquatics; Wanda Jean Butts, founder of The Josh Project, a program that provides free swimming instruction to inner-city youth; Norfolk State University faculty and swimming coach Shaun Anderson, Program Coordinator, of the University’s “April Pool’s Day,” an American Red Cross water safety and awareness day event; and John Cruzat, Diversity Specialist, USA Olympic Swimming team. The WaterLine Teens: Keeping Heads Above Water video asks an important question to anyone who lives near or around water. Do You Know How To Swim?
A quick update from Cullen Jones and USA Swimming about the Make A Splash with Cullen Jones event series.
It’s been a big media week for Swim to Empower’s (www.swimtoempower.org) work in the Bahamas …
Free Swim (www.freeswimmovie.com) came home with a big award from the Blue Ocean Film Festival in Savannah, GA
and
“Discovering the joys of the sea” feature story appeared in today’s Nassau Guardian
(http://www.thenassauguardian.com/social_community/297027701770987.php)
USA Swimming and the USA Swimming Foundation launched the Make a Splash with Cullen Jones Tour this week in Houston. The festivities began with a dinner on Tuesday night with representatives from ConocoPhillips, our corporate partner for the tour. Then on Wednesday morning there was a breakfast with 96 of Houston’s community, civic and business leaders, as well as the local Make a Splash program providers. Rowdy Gaines emceed the breakfast and speakers included: Gene Batchelder, Senior Vice President & Chief Administrative Officer for ConocoPhillips; John Cruzat, USA Swimming’s Diversity Specialist and DAP member; and Cullen Jones.
Articles and Photos
Jones promotes water safety
Make a Splash with Cullen Jones, presented by ConocoPhillips Promotes Life-Saving Learn to Swim Programs (Richard J. Carson, photographer)
Free Swim, a documentary film featuring Swim to Empower, has been selected as a finalist at the Blue Ocean Film Festival!
If you are in the
Visit us at http://www.freeswimmovie.com/ and join our mailing list to stay in touch.
For more information about the Blue Ocean Film Festival visit http://www.blueoceanfilmfestival.org/
Check out the Spring 09 issue of the American Red Cross’s Aqua’zine. This season’s issue features DAP Co-founders Shaun Anderson and Jayson Jackson (pages 7 & 8).
Aqua‘Zine is a publication for aquatic professionals that is written and distributed by the reparedness and Health and Safety Services Division of the American Red Cross and its publisher, StayWell. Copyright ©2009 by the American National Red Cross.
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