♪♪ >> So there was a period of close to 300 meets, about 14 consecutive seasons, where Howard went winless.

So when we refer to the dark days of Howard swimming, this is where we were coming from.

[ Crowd cheering, announcer speaking indistinctly ] ♪♪ [ Applause ] >> Before I even took the position, I was the biggest advocate for cutting the program.

I was very upset with the administration and the department because I didn't think that they were supporting the team enough, and I-I was tired of swimmers coming in and divers coming in, thinking they were going to have a chance to get better and develop and have, you know, this four years of great swimming opportunity.

And I was like, "Cut it."

And then I guess I spoke so loud that they took notice and they were like, "Okay, well, you fix it, big mouth."

[ Group chanting indistinctly ] [ Group chanting indistinctly ] [ Man chanting indistinctly ] [ Group chanting indistinctly ] [ Crowd cheering ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Early civilizations, including African civilizations, were around waterways.

In those civilizations, being in the water, whether it was fishing or pearl diving, that's how they supported their families.

So now you fast-forward into slavery, the transatlantic slave trade.

Our people were taken from those civilizations against their will, and they were put on ships and they were brought to foreign countries, and then they were forced as property to work as enslaved people.

And what happened was, now these civilizations in the new country are still around waterways.

They were seen as a means of escape.

And what happens when the slave owners would then see their property attempting to escape?

They were punished severely.

So the psychological new course in everyone's mind was, don't go around the water.

Imagine a mother of the children in this new space knowing that she knows how to swim, but unfortunately, they witnessed someone being severely punished most of the time by death going near the waterway.

What would you tell your child?

"Don't go near the water."

"Do not do that," as a form of survival.

So that broke the cycle for our people.

>> It means home.

I, no matter the pool, the beach -- If there's any type of water, I just feel so tranquil and relaxed and calm and just at peace, really.

I feel physically good.

I feel mentally good.

Um... And it's just a really good environment.

♪♪ ♪♪ >> My name is Nicholas Askew, head coach and director of Howard University men's and women's swimming and diving team.

I'm -- I'm a North Carolina boy.

Born and raised in Kinston, North Carolina.

Um, I'm the third son of a hardworking father and hardworking mom.

Um, two older brothers, who were extremely influential in my life and, you know, the trajectory that I've been on.

Um, you know, because during those times, you know, both of my parents were out of the house working to support the family.

And, um, so many times, my older brothers had to carry me along, you know, to wherever they were going, whether it was, you know, to their sporting events or activities, to work.

Um, and I was very fortunate to grow -- grow up right around the corner from a community center.

It was called Emma Webb Park.

And it had an Olympic-size pool, tennis courts, baseball field, a track, and a creek.

Um, and that's where I spent most of my days.

I would -- My brothers were lifeguards at the pool.

Um, they were on the swim team.

Um, swimming was a part of our family because my parents knew how to swim.

My father was an original Holloway Shark, which was another segregated pool in Kinston, North Carolina.

And he made sure that my mom -- He and my mom made sure that swimming was a part of our family.

So my brothers were lifeguards.

That was my daycare.

So I would go and follow them to work, and I would hang around the pool and started to learn some skills just by exploring in the shallow end and things like that.

And then one day, my -- my middle brother, um, he decided -- He was like, "Listen, I'm tired of you just walking around the deck and dabbling your feet in the shallow end."

And, um, I ended up in the deep end, um, you know -- Not the way that most people should learn how to swim, but it truly became a sink-or-swim moment.

And, you know, um, I credit both him and my older brother, you know, for -- for what this journey looked like for me, um, because that day, I truly made a decision that I needed to swim.

>> Go!

>> Yes!

Again, being the youngest of three boys, um, we competed in everything, you know.

From the moment we would wake up, it was, who could eat their breakfast the fastest?

Whoop, whoop!

Who can get out of the house the fastest?

Who -- We used to battle for the front seat of the car when my father would take us to school, or something like that.

Competing was natural.

I don't like losing anything.

I love to win, but I hate losing.

And just early on, I got that.

And once I got introduced to sports, again, being around the community center, I took full advantage of all those sports and activities.

But swimming and tennis spoke the most to me.

I was able to do team sports, but there was something about taking responsibility, you know, in individual sports that I really gravitated towards, knowing that, hey, whether I win or lose, it's mostly up to me.

You know, I -- I love the fact of having team camaraderie and supporting a team, but I like having the ball.

I like having, you know, the responsibility of what it's going to take to get first or to win.

Um, and that's why swimming and tennis were really the sports that I continued to train and compete in, you know, despite some of the, you know, uh, directions that my -- my neighborhood friends and, you know, the community, because those weren't popular sports in my community.

But I'm really grateful and, uh, thankful that I continued along that path because it's opened up so many doors for me.

And, you know, hopefully I've been able to transfer that to the people I work with today.

♪♪ >> My name is Salim King.

Uh, swimmers call me AP King because I recently became an assistant principal in Prince George's County Public Schools.

But for the last ten years, I have been an assistant coach for the Howard University swimming and diving team.

And it all started for me back in third grade.

Bob Trotman from New York, Long Island, New York.

Trot's Family Swim Club was the name of our team.

He had a learn-to-swim program started, and, um, we went through, you know, blowing bubbles, the basics, you know, very entry level.

And at the end of the classes, there was, you know, "Give it a go.

Let's see what you got."

And, um, you know, I just started swimming, doing what I could do, and he was like, "Hey, you know, you have a lot of potential and talent.

Swimming might be something you should consider."

I told my mom.

I'm was like, "Hey, I think I want to swim."

And she signed me up for the swim team -- me and my brother, who was four years older than me.

So we joined the team together, and we swam from third grade all the way through high school and then on to college.

I swam four years.

I was a graduate assistant my fifth year at Howard University.

We, um -- It was a challenging time.

You know, the stability of the program wasn't as ideal as I would have liked.

I had three coaches in my four years on the team, each coach having a very different philosophy on what it took or what college swimming should look like.

So just having to go through those adjustment periods.

You know, this is where we were coming from.

When Coach Nic took over the program, he, um -- His first season with the program, we actually went winless that first initial season.

I joined the staff that second year, and in that second year, we actually won our first meet, which broke the streak.

So from essentially winlessness for years on end, to a one-win season, a two-win season.

And one of the things that he did, when you talk about success, was, he prioritized academic success.

The students -- You know, he set standards, like, "We need to maintain this 3.0 GPA, the entire team.

We need to maintain, you know, community service hours.

We need to be putting in more community service hours."

Success looked different.

♪♪ [ Crowd cheering ] [ Announcer speaking indistinctly ] ♪♪ [ Cheering continues ] ♪♪ [ Cheering continues ] ♪♪ [ Announcer speaking indistinctly ] >> Whoo!

>> Get the belt!

[ Laughs ] Every time we -- somebody breaks the record, that's what we sit up and yell, is "Get the belt!"

This right here, this is our record holder's belt.

One of the many things that we did when we took over the program is, we had an understanding that we define success.

You know, the outside world doesn't get to tell us what success is.

We get to define it.

Um, so this is a representation of us celebrating success.

Internally, we have our records for every event that we compete in.

And we -- we keep track of every time somebody breaks a record.

And when someone breaks a record at any meet, they get an opportunity to hold on to this belt so that they can be celebrated by their team, by their family, by their supporters.

We take a picture, we make a big deal out of it so that they know that, "Hey, you were successful.

This is a high-level achievement."

Um, and they, they -- We put it on the deck, we take it to every single meet.

And it's so cool to see them kind of looking over at the belt and be like, "This might be my moment.

This might be the time where I'm going to get my chance to hold on to the belt."

Our team internally, they -- they support one another, but they want to be the ones at the end of the day who have the record, who have the chance to hold on to this belt.

Now, hey, if we keep getting PBs, that means we're getting better, right?

So now, hey, what's the next step?

The next step is, how many races can we win at a dual meet or conference championships, making finals?

All those different things started to add up.

♪♪ I remember when we won our first mid-season championship.

You know, there's no title that goes along with it, but, you know, beating several other teams that were also invited to, you know, this invitational -- it was in Richmond, Virginia -- called the Yellow Jacket Invitational.

And, again, we didn't go in thinking that that was the target.

We just wanted to swim well.

We wanted PBs.

You know, we wanted to make sure that the training was matching up with what we thought performances could be.

And when the announcer at the end on Saturday was announcing the list from bottom to top, they went from fifth place, they named a team, to fourth place, named a team, to third place, they named a team, to second place, and we didn't hear our name called.

And then they said, "And the winner of the Yellow Jacket Invitational -- Howard University."

I mean, again, you would have thought we had won, you know, the NBA Finals.

Again, it was a crazy celebratory moment for us.

And now to where we just accomplished the -- 2023, our men's team winning the first conference championship in program history.

Um, you know, words can't describe how much that meant to us.

Um, in that moment, it was a rush of just emotions.

It was a rush of all the sacrifice -- not just for me and our coaching staff and our families.

You know, we are here so much.

We're pouring into these young men and these women and this program and this department and this university and this culture so much.

Um, all of that hit me.

And I remember just being quiet.

There were no tears.

There was no celebration for me.

It literally was kind of a... what felt like an eternity of just flashbacks of everything we had done.

And I remember shaking Coach Salim's hand and being like, "Good job."

You know, the team's going crazy because, you know, the name was called last.

That's -- That's the goal.

And being the conference champions and, you know, then getting the trophy, um, celebrating in our special way, you know.

They didn't have a DJ at the conference championship, but the announcer is very familiar with us.

He knew exactly what to play.

He turned on what has become kind of our -- our signature song after meets.

And, um, you know, everybody got together and it was the most amazing Swag Surf [Laughs] ever.

Um, everybody's dancing, everybody's celebrating.

Um, and then we took our big splash into the pool.

And, you know, I'm so, so proud of every member of the team.

♪♪ ...icebreaker.

Um, and then you're gonna go down to the poolside, on there, and add decoration.

All of my parents, uh, you're going to follow Coach Mary and myself.

[ Speaking indistinctly ] [ Laughter ] [ Indistinct conversations ] ♪♪ ♪♪ >> I am Isabella Fountain.

People call me Bella.

I'm a recent graduate, a sports medicine major, psychology minor from White Plains, New York.

I swam the 50 and 100 free and the 100 breaststroke.

>> I'm Coach Tony Miller Jr.

I'm from Houston, Texas.

I just finished my first year here as the associate head swimming and dive coach at Howard University.

I graduated from Xavier University in Cincinnati, Ohio and ended up back in Houston, Texas, for a few years, coached a club team down there, and then the whole, like, wave of Howard University a few years ago, in 2022, I was like, "All right, you know, this is something I'm interested in, I wanted to be a part of, and really share my love of swimming, and, of course, with the people that look like me with Howard University."

The first word I think of is a "family" atmosphere.

It's tough when you come from all these miles away from Houston to D.C.

I wanted to be a part of a family.

And all of us look like each other, so it's pretty cool that we can share the same love of something that, you know, we've been doing all our life, most of us have been doing most of our lives.

And to come here and look around and people look like you and kind of went through the same difficulties of the good and the bad in our own community and of other communities.

So it's cool that you can kind of look around and say, "Hey, you know, we're going through the same thing together."

And I want to share, you know, the things that I went through, the good and the bad, to help them to be the next leaders and servicemen and women here in our country and worldwide.

>> Back home, I wasn't with people who looked like me in the water.

So coming here, it was a completely different, just, feeling.

I was still happy back home, um, but being at Howard on the swim team and seeing people who look like me doing what I love, it's just a feeling that I can't really describe.

>> There are a lot of things that are super important to this program, um, as a whole.

We're not just in it to touch the wall first or to break records.

Um, we're in it for the betterment of our community.

Um, but we understand that just competing as a Division One program is not enough.

We've got to be able to go out into the community and meet these young people where they are so that they can see us, that we become a reality to them.

We -- At this camp, when we started thinking about, "How can we do more?"

Open the doors.

Create a situation where people will come to us.

Create a situation where they get to be surrounded by Division One college coaches.

Create a situation where they can look up to people who are only maybe 3 or 4 years older than them.

So they're looking at the next step and having an opportunity to gain information, to gain knowledge, to gain, you know, "What is it like to be in your footsteps?"

And that's what this camp is for.

We want to be able to pour into the parents so it's not just, "Oh, come and train and leave," fill you up with, "Hey, do this drill, do that drill."

No, it's so much more dynamic.

And this camp is our way of being able to bring people in and give them the best of us from a holistic perspective.

Being able to see, you know, our youngest, to even the oldest swimmer, our most advanced swimmer, to our beginner, who was anxious to be here.

They didn't know what it was going to be like.

In their minds, they can swim, but also in their mind, "I might not be the same swimmer as the person next to me."

And to bring them in as family and to treat them with respect, to be able to give them skills and -- and share our knowledge base to help them go back to wherever they are from to be a better person, to be a better swimmer -- um, it's what we do.

>> Howard University is the finish line.

That's the best way to describe it.

You know, this is the end goal.

I think back to my time in the pool.

You know, I wanted to train hard.

I wanted to work hard in hopes of earning a scholarship, which would take the financial burden, the financial responsibility off of my parents, or even the student loans off of me, and allow me an opportunity to, you know, extend into my future accordingly.

When we see these kids today, it's such a privilege because they're getting the exposure.

The one thing that we didn't get in our time was exposure.

There were so few black swim teams.

There were so few programs where the interest was about how to swim at the collegiate level.

You know, Howard University is the only Historically Black College and University with a swimming and diving program.

And, you know, the reality is, we can't take everyone.

>> Swimming can add so much to your life.

Um, you know, the health benefits are unlimited.

You know, you think about being able to have individuals who have health concerns, who can't go run on a track, who can't go play, you know, a contact sport -- They have the ability to come into the water and do, you know, activities that are non-weight-bearing so that they can get their cardio, they can work on their stamina, they can, you know, decrease their blood pressure.

You know, it could be a stress reduction.

Um, the water is a peaceful place.

It's a giving place.

And I think that the more people start to understand that and it's not just, "Oh, you need to be able to swim back and forth, back and forth, back and forth" -- Sure, that's for a certain group, you know, but that is not the end-all, be-all.

>> It's just a really good environment.

And it's a really good sport that I think more black and brown and colored people should be in, um, because they're missing out, um, because I want other people to feel the way that I feel.

So that's why I try to tell young kids and all the kids here that, "You should really keep going."

>> We -- I know we're -- At Howard University, we're just trying to teach them swim lessons, trying to introduce them to different things, not only to be on the swim team, but there's so many different things that you can do with water, rather to be a marine biologist, rather to be a lifeguard.

For those that are young trying to get a job at the beginning, that's a great tool, great thing to get you around the water and get money from it.

Be a swim coach.

There's so many opportunities around the water that can open up doors for you, and then just you pushing and pushing for that passion in the water is going to give you belief in yourself, self-confidence in yourself to say, "Hey, I'm a black guy," "I'm a black girl."

"And I continued to persevere through those tough times when I was dealing with the water."

>> Having more black coaches, having more black teams -- You know, the saying's always "there's strength in numbers."

So when you're not the only one on the team and you don't feel like you're being accepted or you have to change who you are to be accepted, so now you feel like you're living a lie -- That can start to weigh on you.

You're like, "I don't want to do this anymore."

When you can be yourself, be comfortable in your own skin, and then to just train for the love of the sport, that's when you're going to start to see that growth.

>> There's no one size fits all.

Um, everyone can do something.

I think some of the low-hanging fruit is, number one, everybody in the community has to learn how to swim.

Swimming is a life skill.

Um, you don't want to put yourself in a space where you're fearful around the water, or you're not able to save yourself in the water if something happens.

The drowning statistics are unreal in our community.

65% of African Americans have limited or no swimming ability.

That means if there's a water emergency, we're going to see a lot of lives lost.

And there's something that you can do about it.

Being able to be more knowledgeable of how to be safe around the water and then learning how to swim.

And, again, you don't have to learn how to swim necessarily to be a competitive swimmer.

That's just one of the many pathways.

Um, I think the other big thing, honestly, is continuing to push legislation in our communities and our government.

Swimming should be taught in the schools.

That's where our kids are.

That's how we're going to break the cycle.

And if you're not -- If you don't have the capacity to teach it within your school, at the very least, you have to have a curriculum for water safety.

And that's something I've been advocating for.

I've talked to delegates and administrators and public figures in creating legislation.

Again, there's no one size fits all.

Every community is going to be a little bit different, right?

Now you have communities where they're in a swim desert, meaning there are no pools within a 30-mile radius.

You have communities that are right on lakes and rivers, and they have different needs for what water safety and learning how to swim is.

A lot of that starts with the parents.

Statistics show that if a parent knows how to swim, then their children are more likely to know how to swim.

And the exact opposite -- If your parents don't know how to swim, then your children are less likely to know how to swim and, therefore, more prone to drowning.

And that's something we can prevent.

♪♪ We have to continue to support measures that are going to get our black and brown community into the water.

♪♪ And, ultimately, we have to continue to commit to break the cycle.

We have to continue to commit to dispel the myth that black people don't swim.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪