Olympic Swimmer Cullen Jones Makes a Splash in Chicago
World Sport Chicago Helps Youngsters Learn to Swim
By Paul Slomski, WSC Contributor
Hosted by World Sport Chicago, USA Swimming Foundation’s Make a Splash program brought a number of Olympic swimmers to Chicago on Tuesday, June 22 for a breakfast with City leaders then out to Douglas Park to interact and get in the pool with neighborhood kids, all in an effort to teach more kids to swim. Olympic gold medalist Cullen Jones entertained the audience with a playful exuberance and riveting stories about almost drowning at a water park at the age of five then going on to become an Olympic swimmer.
The USA Swimming Foundation estimates more than 70% of kids from under-represented populations do not know how to swim and are twice as likely to drown. Their Make A Splash initiative aims to teach every child to learn how to swim and has teamed up with Cullen Jones, the first African-American to ever hold a world record in swimming to help spread the word. Jones talked about his near drowning experience and how frightened he was to get back in a pool, but how his mom insisted on enrolling him in swim lessons soon after. He quickly developed a passion not only for swimming but competing, taking a rare loss hard and vowing to do better next time. Jones went on to swim for North Carolina State University, turning pro in 2006, signing with Nike and competing on a world stage. He chose to take a lead with Make A Splash because “everything he has is because of swimming” and he realizes the importance of teaching youngsters to swim for safety, health and sport.
After a session of Q & A from the kids, which included “Can you beat Michael Phelps?” and drew the response, “Yes, I can and I have,” Jones headed outside to the Douglas pool to give the kids a few lessons. Once acclimated to the cold water, Jones demonstrated the various strokes and worked individually with the kids, gauging their skill and giving them pointers. Nailea Chavez, age 6, was excited about “learning how to turn around” and was looking forward to practicing it this summer. All the kids walked away with some new knowledge and Jayla Fenderson, age 9, thought Jones was “nice” and was convinced he had taught her “how to swim faster.”
Christopher LaBianco, Sr., Director of Development of the USA Swimming Foundation understands their goal to teach every kid to swim is an aggressive one, but knows how important it is. Make A Splash programs are now in 42 states with 319 partners teaching more than 325,000 kids since 2007. Conoco Phillips is the program sponsor, maintaining one of the longest corporate/sports relationships of all time, providing support for the USA Swimming Foundation for 37 years.
Additional Olympic swimmers on hand were three-time gold medal winner and US Olympic Hall of Famer Rowdy Gaines, and Mel Stewart, aka “Gold Medal Mel”, a 1992 Olympian. Stewart saw the sport of swimming “grow up” after he had retired and wanted to get re-involved. Realizing the alumni spend a great deal of time with the Foundation, he decided to throw his efforts behind Make A Splash as well. “The US is a rainbow, while swimming is very vanilla. We need color in swimming. We know the next Michael Phelps and Natalie Coughlin are out there, and more than likely they will come from this market segment, we just need to develop them,” said Stewart.
David Marsh, CEO of Mecklenburg Aquatic Club, coaches a number of the leading American competitors and gave a few of the Lindblom Make A Splash swimmers a private lesson during the event. World Sport Chicago is working to establish more Make A Splash programs throughout the city, interested partners are encouraged to call (312) 861-4850.