Summer Swim Celebration a Hit with Midwood Residents
MIDWOOD, BROOKLYN. After a hectic five-week summer program where 160+ adults and children took swim lessons once a week with instructors provided by Inclusive Community Wellness (ICW), it was time to celebrate a job well-done.
And celebrate participants did, with a joyous final swim session earlier this month at the Philip Howard Apartments (PHA), located in the heart of one of Brooklyn’s most ethnically diverse neighborhoods.
Celebrants gathered at PHA pool. Photo: Richard DeBose
The 100 or so swim participants and their families who gathered at the PHA pool on Flatbush Avenue heard from Farah Louis, Council Member for the 45th NYC Council District, who praised their efforts while explaining why this free summer initiative was vital to a neighborhood with too little access to swimming.
Council Member Farah Louis. Photo: R. DeBose
“There are a lot of people in our city who do not know how to swim. It’s a survival technique to make sure we’re prepared for any emergency,” said Louis, citing the importance of the Elyjah Chandler and Christian Perkins swim for life program, a citywide initiative named after two local high school students who drowned last summer in the surf off The Rockaways. “Swimming is fun but it’s also a sport young people can learn, like basketball, soccer and golf. You can become a lifeguard and make money—those are opportunities for young people and families.”
In addition to Ms. Louis, other notable guests included Hercules Reid, Citywide Youth Coordinator in the Mayor’s Community Affairs Office, and Carl Quigley, ICW board member and former St. Francis College Aquatics Director and men’s water polo coach.
The summer swim program at PHA was a unique endeavor of public and private entities. Philip Howard Apartments is a private cooperative; it opened its doors to Brooklyn-based nonprofit ICW—all so Midwood residents could enjoy lifesaving lessons. The program successfully inspired swimmers young and old to get in the water and push themselves to be better swimmers. With 45-minute classes back-to-back three times a week—children ages 4 – 15 followed by adults—many locals, including those residing at PHA, participated.
Courage to change
All participants benefited from the program, but it was the efforts of adult learners that stood out. Many harbored profound fears of swimming. Almost all conquered those anxieties to not only get in the PHA pool but—following five weeks of lessons—to swim in as well tread water in the pool’s deep end (9’).
Swimmers enjoying great weather at PHA pool. Photo: R. DeBose
Young and old took advantage of the PHA program; on Mondays, Fridays and Sunday afternoons the pool was packed with learners. Participants not only reveled in their lessons but spent time afterwards to hone their new-found skills.
“This program has gotten me to swim and helped me get comfortable. Now I swim every other day,” said Travis Marshall, a student at P-Tech High School in nearby Crown Heights. In the fall Travis will join a Red Cross lifeguard and CPR certification class with an eye on being employed as a lifeguard next spring.
What comes next? A new pool for Midwood!
The Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center will open this fall in Nostrand Playground, a fifteen minute walk from PHA. In her comments, Council Member Louis cited the sparkling new facility that contains a state-of-the art pool. It will quickly become a hub for aquatic activity in her district.
The new pool at Shirley Chisholm Recreation Center
Important as a free five-week swim session is for Midwood residents, there’s nothing to compare to a state-of-the-art indoor pool which will provide full days of lessons and lap swim to a community that currently has none—despite a desperate desire for swim lessons and water safety.
There’s much work to be done in Midwood, but the summer swim at PHA was a significant step forward—and worthy of a grand celebration.