2021 brought several accomplishments to WILD DEI. Here is a list of some of the things we were able to complete this year! Plans for 2022 are already in the works! Established a plan for WILD to incorporate DEI as a pillar of our team’s foundation Completed a DEI training for all WILD coaches via USA Swimming Rewrote our Team Handbook to include DEI language Updated our website with DEI resources, news and mission statement Created and executed a survey for all parents and athletes to participate in Wrote a...

Did you know that USA Swimming announced a new grant program working to create a 10 year, $1 million program with the hopes of developing learn to swim and competitive programs at historically black colleges and universities? “HBCUs are vital in producing future community and national leaders,” said Joel Shinofield, Managing Director for Sport Development at USA Swimming. “They have a rich history in swimming, and we hope to tap into that past aquatic success and current leadership development to revitalize aquatic programming in communities across the country. As HBCUs...

Did you know that accommodations can be made for athletes with disabilities at swim meets? Accommodations give swimmers with disabilities the opportunity to participate in swim meets side-by-side with their peers. Many aren’t aware that coaches have the ability (and responsibility) to request special accommodations for their athletes by submitting a request to the meet ref. Accommodations can range from needing a coach to help a swimmer on the block (in the case of a blind athlete) to needing an assistant on deck with a swimmer (in the case of...

A few weeks ago I talked about how the Ojibwe Tribe helped to directly influence the development of the sport of swimming in the Western World, and that got me thinking. Do you know what swimming looked like close to 100 years ago? I did a little digging and I was able to find a video from 1933 from W.J. Howcroft (1875-1951). He is one of the first ever coaches who documented swimming through video, as well as wrote books about swimming technique, like Swimming for Speed- The Crawl Stroke....

I (Coach Alex) have a confession to make. I love Ted Lasso - the goofy, charismatic head coach of AFC Richmond. If you haven’t subscribed to Apple+ yet (this is not an ad lol), you may not know that I’m talking about a fictional coach played by Jason Sudeikes. From the moment I watched the first episode, I told my husband, “I want to be Ted Lasso”. Realizing that I’ll never be that good at wordplay and I don’t have the innate ability to be cheerful in every moment, I...

Did you know that 14% of Chicagoans experience food insecurity, with Black and Latino households being twice as likely to be food insecure? In the past year the Greater Chicago Food Depository has given over 97 MILLION meals to households experiencing hunger and food insecurity. This year you can help provide some food security over the holiday seasons by volunteering with or donating to some of the local food banks! In case you're not sure where to start, here are some of the local websites to look into! Chicago: https://www.chicagosfoodbank.org/...

As our team shifts from the girls high school season to boys and our club meets become more competitive, some wise words from Olympic Runner, Allyson Felix, “having gratitude, having, um, you know, respect for the sport and respect for my competitors, that I am not the only talented one. I am not the only one who is working and giving and sacrificing and appreciating that, appreciating that there is excellence around me that there's beauty in lifting others up.” Felix talked to Adam Grant in the podcast Taken for...

Did you know that swimming as we know it today is greatly influenced by the Native American populations that lived throughout North America before the European Expansion? When Europeans arrived in North America, the majority (including the sailors themselves!) didn't know how to swim. The Native populations, having grown up along lakes and rivers in certain areas, knew how to swim extremely well. They used this skill not only to harvest things like oysters and scallops, but also to hunt fish, and even as a form of hydrotherapy. Native Americans...

Northwestern Artist in Residence with the Center for Native American and Indigenous Research (CNAIR), Wayne Valliere, is one of only six remaining birch bark canoe builders among the Anishinaabe people. For the last year, he worked with students at NU to build a canoe and launch it from a beach in Evanston (likely the first birch bark canoe launched in 200 years). Valliere told Northwestern Now “The teaching is that the birchbark is very fragile. It’s like paper. Cedar is also fragile. The roots can snap. But when you put...

Did you know that USA Swimming has a long standing commitment to creating an environment where each and every athlete can perform in a safe, accommodating, and fun way? USA Swimming has made sure to provide guidelines and accommodations for 3 levels of disabled athletes, P1, P2, and P3. Each of these levels comes with their own accommodations, as well as their own motivational standards depending on the level of disability. P1 is for non ambulatory athletes, P2 includes dwarfism, multiple limb deficiencies, or ambulatory with assistance, and P3 covers...