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Black History month is a time to recognize not only history, but those today who continue to push through barriers...

National Hispanic Heritage Month recognized in the USA for all Hispanic/LatinX achievements and recognition of Hispanic/LatinX culture, we celebrate our diversity especially in Northern California and applaud all of Hispanic/Latinx Swimmers! Here is a reprint of a statement from our USA Artistic Swim Federation: USA Artistic Swimming Highlighting the current Hispanic and Latina individuals that are a part of our national team program! Anita Alvarez represented this community at the Olympic Games.🎉 Did you know classification of Hispanic/Latina isn’t as straightforward as it may seem? Many resources classify Hispanics as people with lineage to Spain or those from Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America and describe Latinos as people from Latin America regardless of language. The Census Bureau relies purely on self reporting and lets people identify as they see fit. By these measures, about 19% of the U.S. population is Hispanic. (Source: Pew Research) #HispanicHeritageMonth #WeMoveAsOne

Ever since 'Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion' found its way into our language in sports, business, and everyday life, many of us 'feel' a sense of 'comfort' knowing that we have re-defined ourselves with a changing attitude and behavior with being 'up to date' with our changing times. The realities of the world in which we live, play and work, and the challenges that we have to navigate leads us to think about how we can 'diversify' our diverse clubs/teams so that we can establish a balance of harmony at our events, training, and when we gather for practices. I often hear people say, 'we are more diversified' or our team is 'diverse'. Well, now that we have some of the 'numbers' to show that a club/team is 'ethically, racially, culturally, etc.' diverse, what have you done for your club/team to ensure that the 'Diversity' you sought has/is now 'diversified'? Just because you have 'different faces' of color, culture, ethnicity, abilities, etc, what about the issues that occur within those same groups of people? I don't believe many people have advanced themselves in their thinking about this. What is happening in our 'own backyard' with regards to how do we study and understand 'diversifying the diversity' of our clubs/teams? The Bay Area has seen and learned about incidents where people of the same race, ethnicity, cultural, etc. background are NOT 'diversified' to respect each other. I saw a news report on NBC Bay Area recently about the East Indian culture and the ideologies of the 'caste system' that many have brought with them to the USA and this 'silent' ideology and practice is now showing up in the Bay Area. This is really nothing new. This and the ideologies from homogenous societies (and from the USA) have manifested itself here in the Bay Area for years, with the 'height' of it becoming prominent when Facebook, Google, Yahoo, and other big silicon valley tech companies were born. They brought with them a boom of many people from different countries (and from other parts of the USA) for great job opportunities with companies and sports teams touting themselves as 'diverse', but did not take into account the issues that would eventually come up that could and have in some respect cause issues for others within the same race, ethic, cultural or abilities, etc. background. How do we as a sports organization with clubs and teams start that discussion to resolve those issues? Unfortunately it may take years to 'resolve' because we are speaking of generations of practice of a racial, ethnic, cultural, or ableist 'system' that was born (here) or in another country and such practices 'silently' taught or brought here and imbedded with the people who believe in those systems or ideologies. Changing that to fit what we do for our own freedom (and in sports) in the USA is not, nor will be an easy task. What we can do, is to continue to have discussions about it and learn more about how something that generationally 'worked' in one Country (or the USA) for years, but may not 'work' with the generational shift currently happening in the USA. Especially if it becomes racism and discrimination within their own groups. Education is key to start the discussion to be familiar what those practices are and why it may not be OK to practice it here or to continue that practice if manifested in the USA. We all know that racism and discrimination affects every race, ethnicity, culture, ability, age, gender and sexual orientation. But it is our responsibility to identify and learn about what affects each group, especially when we have a diverse club/team with those groups. If we leave it at just being 'diverse', not knowing or identifying issues that are problematic within the same groups, the problem grows and we lose the ability to balance our club/team culture. Keep in mind, 'Diversity' extends into athletes with disabilities, gender, athletes who are LGBQT and athletes who are aged, and all of these with those that are identified as 'intersectional' which is generally defined as people with the same issues but with multiple backgrounds. I coach athletes with disabilities, many who have an intersectional background and all have been affected individually or together yet others fail to recognize that those within the same group are not immune from discriminating against each other. When discussing education of racism and discrimination with the same groups, this is can be an overwhelming topic and may even give some a headache, but if you are going to tout and be proud of your diverse group of athletes or diverse team/club, then please ensure that you EXPAND and VARY your range of understanding (diversifying) that there are other issues that need to be mitigated within your various groups before you claim that your club/team is 'diverse'. For more information about discrimination, please read the CDC information: https://www.cdc.gov/eeo/faqs/discrimination.htm For more information about DEI and broadening your understanding of diversifying the diversity, especially expanding what this means in terms of socio economic status of your groups, please read for an expanded perspective: https://avtarinc.com/diversity-digest/dei-leaders/diversifying-the-diversity-strands/

While we may often not understand the 'root causes' of people's behaviors at sporting events, we can understand what their behavior caused for the rest of us to continue the discussion and identify ways to improve the 'club/team culture' especially if it's an athlete, athlete's family and friends, coaches and those directly involved with the sport. Understanding the Sociology of sports can give one the insight on how to make changes within the culture of our sport. For the first time in the 83yr competition history of our sport of artistic swimming: diversity, equity and inclusion has been moved to the 'forefront' of changing the dynamics of who makes up our sport from athletes all the way to the spectators. Diversifying a sport takes it into the future with keeping the sport 'alive and well' for generations to enjoy. Our sport of Artistic Swimming is one of the smaller Team USA sports, but one that packs a punch with its growing popularity. This past weekend (May 13-14-15) I had the amazing and proud opportunity (as a Coach of Color) to be represented with my athletes with disabilities (who are also athletes of color) who were formally invited to participate at a Regional competition held at the Santa Clara Haines Int'l Swim Center in Northern California. Our athletes had never been invited to participate or categorically included to compete in this level of competition. While there, I experienced 2nd hand, two incidents brought to my attention that were with racial undertones. While our team has gotten use to adversity whether intentional or not, we keep our composure and start another discussion about how to address these issues when they happen. The first incident was about my swimmers families in which they were told, after being loud in the bleachers, including cheering on their swimmers, that their behavior is why nobody wants 'them' at competitions. Of course they were loud. They were proud to be finally represented. This had nothing to do with obnoxious or publicly unacceptable behavior but everything to do with race in my opinion. The 2nd incident was when one of my African American coaches for our team, tried to enter the pool deck, and although she had her coaching uniform on, was physically blocked by the 'gate keeper' (maybe a volunteer parent from another team) who stood directly in front of her and challenged her as to "who she was". The person blocked her from entering the pool deck to assist me, and explained to her that 'She doesn't look like she belongs here' (at the competition). Again, who was she suppose to look like? the other coaches who were white? Coach Tulisha and myself were the only coaches of color coaching a team with athletes of color with disabilities. Apparently that may not have 'sat well' with some folks. But, this is not the first time we have experienced this nor unfortunately will be the last. Until the club/team culture is addressed, not much will begin to change and if we do not learn from and understand the past transgressions with racism at sporting events, it will be repeated and here we are...AGAIN. I feel that the weekend's Regional competition went well for our athletes, however, myself and our team and families left with the feeling that more will always need to be done and addressed by our Federation until the archaic belief (stereotyping, ableism, etc) system is dismantled. It starts with strong leadership and those not afraid to address and not tolerate the issues that affect the entire culture of clubs and teams. We do have that hope for the future of our sport. For more information about Sociology in sports, read this article: http://www.actforlibraries.org/what-is-sports-sociology/

Welcoming the Aqualillies to the Northern California Artistic Swimming Alliance website. This Internationally acclaimed artswim performance group embodies diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and showcases women and men of all racial and ethnic backgrounds rich with culture and includes athletes with disabilities!

Celebrate our athletes with disabilities in artistic swimming! April 30th is the day we celebrate the upcoming year of AWD in competitions, exhibitions and camps. If you are a club or team with AWD, please post pics of them on your social media. If you hold Try It sessions, please include AWD and ask for them to come and try out for your club or team!

In the USA, National Hispanic Heritage Month is celebrated every year, from Sept to Oct. In Northern California, we are especially PROUD to have a diverse mixture of Hispanic/LatinX races in our population. We asked one of our Club Coaches and the moderator for NCASA, what it is like to be a part of the Hispanic and Latina Heritage: Coach Tina: I am very proud of my mixed background and privilege to be a part of the population here in Northern California where I can celebrate being Hispanic/Latina while being a black woman. Being black does not always mean 'African American'. We may be descendants, as many of our population are, but with a mixture of peoples around the world, Hispanic/LatinX come in all races (colors) and are found in backgrounds of black, brown, yellow, and white. (did I miss a color?) I grew up in a household where our culture was of Panamanian (Panama) and Colombian (Colombia) traditions from dance, dress, food, music, and with lots of laughter, 'attitude'. I am a citizen of Panama and also have residency in Colombia. I was born in San Jose, Calif and also proud to be an American. I love the USA and every opportunity provided to me for my success. However, more needs to be done in terms of recognition AND opportunity in our sport of Artistic Swimming. Outreach begins with our USA Artistic Swim Federation and to provide more opportunities and to empower those of us with a voice for inclusion, equity and diversity to bring to the forefront people of color so that our next generation will know that they have, are, and will be a part of this sport forever. Please reflect on the featured photo post for this blog. The Photo embodies who we are and what are facial features include from all races. Thank you for recognizing our heritage this month as it brings attention to who we are and our contributions and struggles.

Raising much needed funds to support the sport of artistic swimming in the USA.

Bay Area Synchro Team wins Gold and Silver Medals at the Artistic Swimming Summer Jr. Olympics!

FIVE athletes from Northern California's Bay Area Artistic Swim Team, Bay Area Synchro, will join 10 other athletes to represent Athletes with Disabilities at the Jr. Olympics!

Claire Wang, an accomplished artistic swimmer and coach for athletes with disabilities shares her perspective on being an Asian athlete and how that impacted her in the sport she loves and appreciates.

Women in Artistic Swimming who have historically made significant contributions to the sport!