Who wants to go for a swim?
Mumford has swim team, but it’s small. So, for coach Antoine James, the focus is recruitment.
“Even if there’s one kid that comes, you’ve got to build with one kid,” James said. “That’s what building the program is about. You have to take one kid and turn that into 10 kids.”
Sophomore Colin Mack had a good season this year but said the team struggles because they are the smallest team in the league.
“It’s hard to compete with big schools since there aren’t that many swimmers here,” Mack said.
This year, the boys’ team had only three swimmers for most of the season. The girls had six, but they didn’t all show up all the time. The bigger schools usually have bigger teams. Cass Tech has a population three times the size of Mumford’s, and it has nearly 50 swimmers.
“Quality is what’s important in swimming,” James said. “Even though you have numbers, if you don’t have quality, you can lose.”
Still, James said a team can’t win without numbers, and it’s about the culture of our community about swimming.
“Our community is taught to chase sports like football, basketball, and track that are revenue-generating sports, but African American swimmers generate the same amount of money because there are very few active swimmers,” said James, who swam for King and earned a full-ride scholarship to Howard University.
The fall swim season is over, but James still holds practice after school.
“I have to make sure they understand that swimming is all year-round. If you don’t swim year-round, you’re not going to be able to compete with the other kids,” James said.
Students who might be interested in joining the team in the fall can start swimming now. Practices are Monday through Thursday from 3:30-5:30 p.m. and will continue throughout the summer.
