Black Swimming Association partners with Sport Wales to break down barriers in the sport
WELSH swimming is looking to increase diversity as Sport Wales partners up with the BSA to boost involvement by black communities in the sport.
The partnership, which was agreed this week, represents a commitment to get more Black and Asian people to swim and will establish the BSA’s presence in Wales for the first time.
“As someone who is Welsh and who grew up as an athlete in Cardiff, I couldn’t be happier about our new partnership with Sport Wales,” said BSA co-founder, Seren Jones, 27, who swam competitively for the City of Cardiff Swimming Club.
The BSA is an organisation which seeks to educate members of African, Caribbean and Asian heritages on the importance of swimming.
They work with partners to raise awareness of the importance of drowning prevention, water safety and learning how to swim.
Sport England also have a partnership with the BSA and the groups been working together to improve diversity in English swimming where 98% of black adults and 80% of black children do not swim.
The BSA is looking to break down barriers which might limit participation in swimming among these communities and will now look to do the same in Wales.
The BSA is striving to improve participation out the water as well. Currently, less than 3% of UK lifeguards, swimming coaches and volunteers are from African, Asian or Caribbean communities.
The partnership comes just a year after the Tackling Racism and Racial Inequalities in Sport Review by Sport Wales and the other UK sporting bodies which said more needs to be done to make sport more diverse and inclusive at all levels.
Brian Davies, Acting Sport Wales CEO, said: “In order to make sport more welcoming, inclusive, and diverse in Wales, we want to broaden our networks so that we are working with more experts who have a better understanding of the communities that we’re seeking to engage with.
“We’re therefore thrilled to create this new partnership with the Black Swimming Association to improve opportunities for people of African, Caribbean and Asian heritage to engage in aquatic activities.”
The partnership will see the creation of a BSA Programme Delivery Manager job based in Cardiff.
This will enable the BSA to engage with communities in South Wales and tackle issues such as education and accessibility within the sport.
For more information on the BSA please click here.
