Ed Accura (Part 2): The Black Swimming Association

Co-founders of the Black Swimming Association. Left to Right: Danielle Obei, Seren Jones, Alice Dearing and Ed Accura

Words by Lydia Paleschi

Last month we shared the first of our two-part Ed Accura series with you, covering A Film Called Blacks Can’t Swim: My Story. In it, we learnt that there are huge disparities in the number of Black people swimming in the UK. Despite swimming being part of the school curriculum in England, only 75% of children leave primary school able to meet the national curriculum criteria. In ethnic minority areas this falls to 42%. According to Swim England, 95% of black adults and 80% of black children in England do not swim.

In his film, Ed reveals that a generational gap and lack of prioritising being placed on swimming within the Black community has led to these statistics. In our second and final part of the Ed Accura series, we learn how Ed is working to change these numbers, by coming together with some of the most prestigious members of the swimming community to form the Black Swimming Association (BSA).

The poster for A Film Called Blacks Can’t Swim: My Story

The beginning

The BSA was formed in early 2020. Ed explains that it was born out of a continuation from the film: “In February 2019 I decided to start the Blacks Can Swim campaign on Twitter and Facebook. I realised people would get bored of my voice and that I needed to get out and talk to people about it. I devised a podcast called ‘In the Deep End’ where I interview Black and ethnic minority influential people and celebrities about their personal stories and journey of swimming.” It was via this podcast that the first signs of the BSA began to emerge. “One of the people I interviewed was Alice Dearing, the only Black swimmer in team GB. We realised we were both doing the same thing but in a different way. She was doing it more at the league level, trying to get more BAME children into swimming and I was trying to do it at ground level, at grassroot level. We decided it would be a good idea to work together.” 

Fast forward to October 2019 and Ed and Alice had also connected with Seren Jones who used to swim for the US national team and now works for the BBC, plus Danielle Obei, the inventor of a swim scarf. From here, they pooled their efforts, working from grassroot to league level alongside Swim England, to put together a steering group and get into the community. By March 2020, the Black Swimming Association was born with Ed, Alice, Seren and Danielle as the co-founders. 

From left to right - Alice Dearing, Danielle Obe, Seren Jones, Ed Accura

Aims of the Black Swimming Association

When I asked Ed what the aims of the BSA are, he explained “our whole aim is to encourage the Black community to swim and to educate them on water safety and drowning prevention. We knew and still know we have a huge task on our hands. As an organisation we’ve only been here since March and a lot of people are looking at us for answers but we need to take it slowly and do it right.” 

How is the BSA going to achieve this? 

The BSA’s first move to reach this goal was to highlight the issue. They decided to do so by re-releasing A Film Called Blacks Can’t Swim: My Story as a feature length film in June 2020. The next stage of the BSA’s agenda is research. Ed expands, “We’re researching to find out what exactly the issue is. The hair is a big one. Luckily there’s all these swim caps and waterproof scarves now which can prevent chlorine getting into the hair so hopefully that will entice Black females to go and swim. Then, there’s the education part of it. We all know the statistics on Black children leaving school unable to swim. [We’ve realised that] swimming is something that has to be taught outside of the school environment. When they start school it’s a continuation of the journey not the start of the journey. It’s about educating the parents and making the facilities available. People need to see the importance of swimming and have it as a priority to get their children swimming.”

The logo of the Black Swimming Association

The BSA are also working with Swim England, Speedo, the Swimming Teachers’ Association and Swim Wales to get people swimming in the community. Ed explains that this is a huge challenge that will have to be tackled incrementally. “The first hurdle is getting the people that want to swim but don't know how to go about it into the water. We are putting a strategy together right now so these people know what to do and how to work at it. Once we’ve got that one out of the way we start to deal with the more difficult people like myself who have all of the excuses.” I also asked Ed if he thought that finances were a barrier to people swimming, particularly in cities. “We will have things in place to combat the financial part of it. I don't think cost should be an issue. But, I personally think the priority thing is bigger than the cost thing. To get around this [financial] excuse as a barrier, we will look into subsidised lessons.”

Conclusion

It’s clear that Ed and the BSA have a huge challenge on their hands. However, the formation of the BSA and the work that has already begun is taking huge steps in reducing the disparities in the number of Black people swimming in the UK. In Eds words, “It’s not going to be an easy process, but the main thing right now is that we’re talking about it. The moment we talk about it, it doesn’t become a racial thing or a sensitive thing.”