07/05/2008

By EMILY STEPHENSON  / Associated Press

Rosanne Roberts believes swimming is a necessary life skill, although one with a hefty price tag.

Roberts of Greensboro helps her daughter, a single mother, by taking her grandchildren, 6-year-old twins Nicholas and Daisry Cotton, to swim lessons at the Kathleen Price Bryan Family YMCA.

"It's a skill that's needed," Roberts said. "But it's a sacrifice for their mom."

She said the costs of joining the YMCA and paying for lessons for two children and for gas add up. This poses a problem because a recent study revealed that about 60 percent of African American and Hispanic children can't swim.

But local groups hope to remedy this by providing low-cost swim classes.

The News & Record of Greensboro reported that Robert Turner, director of aquatics programs at Hayes-Taylor Memorial YMCA on East Market Street, said a recent local study of swimming proficiency in African American and Hispanic children set off alarms that many families lack access to affordable swimming options.

Turner and the Hayes-Taylor YMCA applied to join a project that supports swim programs targeting minorities.

"We don't currently have a program," he said. "And we're about 90 percent minority community."

The USA Swimming Foundation's Make a Splash funds grass-roots swim programs and educates adults to improve access for minorities.

The initiative gained recognition in 2008 after a University of Memphis study of more than 1,700 children suggested that minority children are much less likely to learn to swim than whites.

About 60 percent of African American and Hispanic children can't swim, and drowning rates for minority children are more than double the national average, the study found.

Turner said a similar study performed by Greensboro's YMCAs yielded comparable results.

Trevor Hawkins, who coaches the summer swim team at the Bryan YMCA on West Market Street, said he thinks lack of access to pools poses a barrier to minorities learning to swim in Greensboro.

Hawkins, whose Bears swimmers are ethnically diverse, said few swim teams and classes meet in the parts of Greensboro where many minorities live.

"It has to do with proximity," he said. "There really aren't any pools downtown that have a lot of swim team options, and there's nothing on the south side of town. I think we're doing a great thing providing the opportunity."

The U.S. Census Bureau's 2006 data indicates that many African Americans live in southeast Greensboro, while most city and YMCA pools are concentrated in the central and western parts of town.

Aasiya Townsell, a Maryland native who swims for A&T, said when minorities do have access to pools, the facilities rarely are conducive to competitive swimming.

"I've been swimming on a white team since the age of 11, so I'm used to the atmosphere," she wrote in an e-mail, explaining that A&T's was the first team she joined that wasn't mostly white. "Now it's great to have someone that looks like me to relate to."

Townsell said she thinks more African American and Hispanic children nationwide would swim if it were cheaper. Six group classes at the Bryan YMCA cost $32 for members and $54 for non-members.

Make a Splash supports existing beginner swim programs by funding free or low-cost classes, and it promotes a national awareness campaign.

YMCAs in several cities, including Raleigh and Durham, began incorporating Make a Splash programs in March. Turner said Hayes-Taylor meets USA Swimming criteria for the program, and he hopes for a response this summer.

A USA Swimming representative said he couldn't pinpoint a response date because of a high volume of recent applications.

Several other Piedmont Triad groups are working on swimming initiatives for minority and low-income families.

High Point's Washington Terrace Park offers free pool passes and swim lessons for youths whose families receive any form of assistance from Guilford County's social services department.

Bryan YMCA, which touts itself as the area's most ethnically diverse YMCA, hopes grants will pay for Spanish translators at swim classes.

And several Winston-Salem pools work with the American Red Cross to offer free lessons.

Turner hopes support from USA Swimming will enable Greensboro to offer more low-cost programs for children.

"Our demographic is primarily older adults and (kids) under 15," Turner said. "We want to really try at this YMCA to be very need-based."