What I Learned at the USA Swimming Workshops

Recently, I (Coach Alex) had the privilege of traveling for Illinois Swimming to the USA Swimming workshops held in Denver, Colorado. As the Illinois Swimming DEI Committee Co-Chair, I was responsible for attending DEI workshops, connecting with other LSC leaders and soaking up as much information as possible to bring home to Illinois. What I came away with is hope and a sense that we are making progress in the right direction for all people to enjoy the sport of swimming. Here’s what I did over three days.

Day 1

My first workshop was hosted by Leland Brown III, the DEI Director at USA Swimming. When I arrived the room was packed. There were literally people standing outside of the door trying to get in. Seeing that gave me an immediate sense of hope that there were people out there in our swimming collective who want to understand and value diversity, equity and inclusion. Leland explained to us that in order to create inclusive and equitable spaces, we have to follow these three principles - connect, accept and provide. Connecting with others in our spaces means making an attempt at digging deeper to understand someone. Rather than just asking the usual, “How are you?”, being intentional about getting to know someone better and listening to what they have to say. The next principle, accept, can sound misleading. Leland explained it best, “Accepting doesn’t mean approving.” You can accept what someone has to say, who they are, their beliefs and not approve of any of those things. Accepting means acknowledging that the person in front of you is who they are, just as they should accept who you are, but that doesn’t mean that you have to approve. Lastly, provide. Asking that person, “What do you need to feel accepted?”, is the first step to being able to provide a space for that person. This session was pretty powerful. We sat at round tables with about 10 people and throughout the presentation we discussed what connection meant to us, things we could accept and things we don’t approve of and what we need to feel accepted. 

The second workshop was more of an interview with Schuyler Belair, the first openly transgender male swimmer to compete in Division I at Harvard University. The interview was conducted by Leland Brown III and there were two major takeaways I got from this conversation. The first is that humanizing a person can be the best way to understand them better. He gave us an example of how he shows people his baby pictures when he starts to talk about his life. I mean who doesn’t like a baby?! He explained that when he finds things in common with a cisgender person, they are more willing to see him as just another human and makes it harder for them to “hate”. The second takeaway was that education about and exposure to trans people and their lived experiences is key to accepting and providing. There is a ton of misinformation about trans folks, especially when it comes to athletics. Schuyler is an educator, researcher, author and advocate. His website, www.pinkmantaray.com, offers tons of resources and education about and for trans folks. 

Day 2

I had my first open National DEI committee meeting. This means that there was an audience of people who sat in on our meeting and could comment and ask questions in real time as we went through our meeting agenda. I gave a small presentation about the different resource ideas my project group has come up with that will eventually be communicated to all USA Swimming LSCs. I have to admit that I was pretty nervous before this meeting. Public speaking, believe it or not, is not my forte. Before we got started with business, our DEI Chair asked each committee member to share with the room one word to describe how they were feeling at that moment. I shared that I was hopeful seeing so many people in the room that wanted to hear what we have to say and nervous that this was my first open meeting. Sharing that I was nervous, acknowledging it outloud, helped the nerves calm down and suddenly I was cool as a cucumber. 

Earlier in the day, we went to an awards Luncheon, where my Co-Chair, Ben Pearthree from M3Aquatics won the National DEI award for his efforts with his team in Chicago and in our LSC. I was beaming with pride, him with a little shock as he took his picture with Olympic swimmers, Missy Franklin and Rowdy Gaines. 

Later in the day, we were able to drive over to Boulder, a quick 45 minute trip from Denver to take pictures in the foothills of the Rockies (pictured above). It was a beautiful day and I felt a little at home pointing out places and landmarks that I’m familiar with from traveling with my husband to his hometown.

Day 3

Everyone in our travel group from Illinois went to a Central Zone meeting to see what’s being planned for the next few years. There are some exciting things on the horizon including an athlete summit, diversity swim meets and new opportunities to get involved with the zone. It was pretty cool to be in the room with coaches and athletes from Iowa, Minnesota, Indiana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Missouri, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Ohio, Nebraska, Wisconsin and Michigan. We voted on a couple of things, had great discussions and got to hear what was important to different LSCs, some large like us and some small. 

This experience was unlike anything I’ve been to before. For some, it may have been just another convention setting, full of workshops some more interesting than others. For a first timer, it was exciting, full of potential and knowledge, a time to learn from others and share my own successes and setbacks, meet people who I’ve been talking to over zoom for the last two years, invigorating and exhausting. I got to know my LSC colleagues, our athletes and meet swimming icons. Being able to connect with so many across the country and from right at home filled my heart.