SwimSwam sat down with Trevor Freeland, the 2nd black man to ever win an ACC championship in swimming. Freeland was a member of the famed PDR Swim Team of Philadelphia coached by Jim Ellis in the 1980s that was immortalized in the Lionsgate film Pride. Freeland spoke candidly on his time at PDR and the adversity he faced being on the first-ever all-black swim team. However, Freeland emphasized that he focused on the positive interactions he had with people, and learned from a young age to brush off micro-aggressions from...

Jim Ellis was inducted into the American Swimming Coaches Association (Hall of Fame) at the annual ASCA World Clinic in Dallas, Texas earlier this month. Ellis was notably the subject of the 2007 Hollywood film Pride, starring Terrence Howard as Ellis. For nearly 50 years, Coach Ellis’ leadership has provided and developed competitive swimming opportunities to a diverse and inclusive community of children, challenging them to meet their potential and bringing to fruition in them his acronym for what once was known as the Philadelphia Department of Recreation and translate...

USA Swimming Announces 2019-2020 U.S. National Junior Team Roster By USA Swimming | Wednesday, September 11, 2019 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – USA Swimming today announced the names of 83 youth swimmers who will represent the 2019-2020 U.S. National Junior Team. The team increases in size by 16 swimmers from last year’s National Junior Team and is made up of 46 women and 37 men. "Looking at this roster, there is a lot to be excited about,” USA Swimming National Junior Team Director Mitch Dalton said. “In addition to the 19...

Congratulations to PDR Swimming Head Coach Jim Ellis and former Florida Head Coach Greg Troy on being inducted into the International Swimming Coaches Association Hall of Fame!

https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=9209658 The new film Pride is based on the story of math teacher Jim Ellis, who fought off racial prejudice in the 1970s to put together an all-black swim team in north Philadelphia. Ellis continues to train young black swimmers. TONY COX, host: And now from politics to pictures. The new movie "Pride" smashes the stereotype that blacks cannot swim. It's loosely based on the life of Jim Ellis, who built a swim team of national caliber in North Philadelphia. Nancy Greenleese of member station KUNC in Greeley, Colorado, made...

Joseph Santoliquito Facebook Twitter Facebook Messenger Pinterest Email print PHILADELPHIA -- Each swim meet, Brielle White finds a place to get situated, puts down her gear and usually sits alone by the side of the pool. She feels the eyes on her each time, the double takes as swimmers walk by. It's what comes with being alone, and often being "the only one." It's what comes with being one of the few elite African-American swimmers in the country. There are 300,000 competitive swimmers in the United States, according to USA...