What's good, y'all? Welcome back to another episode of Black in Aquatics: Freedom Through Swimming. Today, I'm here with Shana Lorde of Let Us Swim. How are you, Shana? I am great. Thank you for having me, Coach T. No problem. All right. So can you tell me a little bit about your swim background, um, and your experience in aquatics? 

I can. So I am, I've been swimming competitively since I was five. I am an international swimmer, meaning I started swimming internationally in Germany. I swam in Spain, Germany, Moscow, swimmed in Amsterdam. Yeah. Um, and of course here in the U S so  that was  Competitive swimming. I went to college to swim as well, but I really just got burned out and I quit.

Okay. Was that in college or? In college. Okay. And the reason for that was because I was constantly pushed by my dad to swim. And it's not that I didn't like swimming. Yeah. It  became work. Yeah. And when you're in school and you're swimming for school,  what happens is that you have a full academic load and you have a full training load. 

So we were swimming first thing in the morning, 5, 6 a. m. in the morning.  Hurry up and get ready because you have a two hour training. Two to three hours in the pool, in the water, and then your dry land. And then you had to hurry up and get ready for class. Yeah.  And then after your classes, you had more swimming.

And I was like, you know, this is for the birds. And you swam one and done, and you know,  So it's a very rigorous schedule that they got you on. So it's very rigorous, and I'm gonna say that those who are in college and they're swimming competitively, it takes a special person to do that. Mm hmm. It takes a special person who is not just driven, but they're focused on what their mission is and what their goals are. 

So, um, hats off to all those competitive swimmers that not only continue the competitive swimming, but also complete their academic goals. Yeah, it's definitely a feat. When  I was in college, I probably know I know for a fact that I couldn't have done it. That's for sure.  So yes, hats off to all those student athletes out there.

Um, so after you're burned out with swimming, did you kind of like, did you go into any other lanes? Did you take a break for a while from the industry as a whole? Or like, what did you do after that? Um, so after school, after college I went to, went into the military and I found myself not necessarily in the water like I was used to being in the water.

Mm-Hmm. . But, um, I was in the water. I would teach other people, I would see other people who we had, who had injuries. And I'm like, you know, swimming is a really good exercise, a really good workout. Yeah. In order to recover fast. If you want a fast recovery, get in the water.  And, um,  so we did. That and that was about it.

And I was doing that for free. Yeah.  Fast forward I got out of the military. Mm-Hmm. . And I still found myself getting back into teaching  for free,  you know? And I was just like, well, you know, this is crazy. Mm-Hmm. because I didn't want the commitment. And I had a lot of people who were telling me, Hey, why don't you just make it a business?

Like actually just do it as a business. And I was like, I don't want the commitment. If I do it as a business, I am now committed to doing this. I have to follow through. Yeah. If someone asks me, I can say no. That is true. Yeah. You know, if I'm doing it for free, I ain't showing up  , but if someone pays me to do it Mm-Hmm.

I have to show up. Yeah, that is, that is also true. You know, so, um, it actually came down to, um, some twin girls a few years ago, um, a few years ago that, um, actually passed away from drowning in Pompano in Pompano Beach, Florida. And that. That is, that was the straw that broke the camel's back. Because at that time, my son was around five, and these girls were also around five.

And this family lost two of their children on the same day.  And that, that was the birthing of Let Us Swim. Okay, yeah, I remember you telling me that. Such, you know, I feel like  Sometimes, like, when I talk to more people that are entering the industry or have been in the industry for like five, six, seven years now, you know, that's, unfortunately, that's something that has been their driving factor as to why they started their business, or why they started their non profit: tragedy, you know.

So, can you tell me what the goal of Let Us Swim is, or your mission? The, the goal for Let Us Swim is that we will be international. Um,  that we will be able to be a household name. When they hear,  when you hear British Swim School,  everyone knows who they are. They know they got the logo, they know what they do, you know, that they got the little funky hats that they go on their heads, they got the little inner tubes that they be trying to teach kids how to swim. 

And Let Us Swim needs to be a household name because we are teaching kids  differently. We are, we are trying our best and we're not just trying. We're actually accomplishing teaching children on a different level. We do things like, um, incorporating education into swimming. Meaning we have story time before pool time.

We do, um, and we talk about the different  athletes out there. That look like you and I,  that are also in the aquatic world, because a lot of the times when you get black kids and why they don't swim, first of all, you'll hear, Oh, black kids don't swim. We don't do that. That's not our thing. You know what I'm saying?

Yeah. We don't swim. Yeah. We play football. We play basketball. Yeah. We run track. But you don't swim, you know?  And, um, I try to educate them on the history of swimming and blacks, meaning where it came from. Like we were always swimmers. We were, yes. Yeah. We were all, you can't tell me that, you know, on the transatlantic, slave, slave trade that we were jumping off of these ships into an ocean and we can't swim.

Yeah.  Ain't no  way.  You ever seen a person scared of water?  Are they jumping into the water? I'm, I'm gonna, if I, yeah. If  I'm gonna stay on this  Yeah. I am not gonna go in there because I don't Yeah, yeah, yeah.  No, I definitely get that. Yeah. We have a.  A very long history of being  water people, but because of certain events, including slavery, a lot of our people, our youth especially, don't know that.

And so it's kind of like, that re education of that history and letting them know like, Hey, we have always been water people. You just have to find your way back. Exactly. You know, cause those are our roots. Exactly. Um,  so,  Whew. Is there anything else that you want to say? Um, about Let Us Swim and like, your mission?

Actually, I did have a question for you. So, I know that you also work with, um, special needs. Yes. Um, I am a adaptive swimming instructor as well. Um, so we, I specialize in children with Autism. Okay. Although when you're an adaptive swimming instructor, you can teach literally any, any  special needs, but I specialize particularly with children with Autism.

Okay. Is there a reason why you specialize with children with autism? Coming from the medical field, I see the children with autism all the time and I've always been attached to them. I used to tell people all the time, like, you know, So the reason why I'm attached is probably because I am like, I might be autistic.

Like maybe that's where that's the, the connection is. I don't think I am, but I might be because there's such a connection that I have with them because of the way they learn, their learning pattern is very close and very similar to how I learned. Like I need to see it. I need to, I need to feel it. I want to, I want to experience it.

You know, I want to see that it's okay. And that's very much like them. I love the feel of water. They love the feel of water. It's different. It's the relatability that I have with them, and I'm just drawn to how they learn. And not just how they learn, but to encourage parents to understand that they can learn how to swim. 

Even if they're nonverbal.  Because nonverbal does not mean they cannot learn. It means they're just not speaking to you. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. You know what I'm saying? I really think about it, and I'm like,  maybe they can speak.  They just don't want to. They chose not to. Yeah. There's nothing wrong with that.

Exactly. But they can still learn. Exactly. You know, they have all their, for the most part, like their other senses. Exactly. So. Okay. Awesome. And then is there any final tips that you want to leave the people or anything else that you want to say about, uh, let us, let us swim and making it global? Um, other than we will see you in Belize.

Yes, yes. And we will see you in the Bahamas. Awesome. Well, yes, thank you for being here today. Thank you for having me. No problem.