Tiger Sharks looking to build more history

by Scott Fredericks

Not many people know about it, but the Chicago South Swim Club (CSSC) has been in existence for 41 years.

But without the funding needed to keep it a float, Chicago’s only African-American swim club may soon disappear.

CSSC Board of Directors President Reginald Brock hopes it doesn’t come to that.

“It’s a tremendous program that helps build character in the kids who participate,” said Brock. “Keeping this going is paramount because swimming isn’t a big sport in the African-American community, and we need to create more awareness in terms of swimming and the world of aquatics.

“We’ve had this club for so long, and we hope to keep it going for a long time. One of our biggest hurdles is retention of swimmers because swimming is not an inexpensive sport. We have to do fundraising and find some creative ways to bring awareness to the program. Hopefully, we can draw some more kids into the program.”

Brock said the club once featured as many as 100 swimmers, but now the membership stands around 40.

The CSSC, also known as the Tiger Sharks, swims out of Olive Harvey College and Chicago State University.

While the club caters primarily to the African-American community, Brock said, it is open to any interested swimmer from any ethnic group.

CSSC is a member of the United States Swimming Inc. and Illinois Swimming Inc. (ISI) and participates in ISI sponsored age-group swim meets throughout the state and nationally. The club has participated in competitions in Atlanta, Washington, D.C., and North Carolina. The CSSC also participates in the South Suburban Swim Conference, which provides ample opportunities for the swimmers to showcase their skills in a variety of competitions.

Jeremy Walters is one of the team’s coaches, and he also competed with CSSC as a youngster.

“It’s a special club that’s well known in certain areas of the community, but then it’s not known at all in others,” said Walters, who swam in the program from 1978 to 1980 and is in his second stint as a coach. “It’s so rewarding to me that I’ve been able to be involved so long. I loved competing, and being on a team with so many kids who were similar to me was a rewarding experience. I used to work in social work, so I used to be stressed out until I came here to coach these kids. It was like a stress relief for me.”

The club, which swims year round in two different seasons, is focused on intensive training for kids from ages 4 to 18. The club currently has four 5-yearold competitors, Tayla Patterson, Rachel Brown, Bryce Griffin and Rebecca Wilson.

Each swimmer progresses at his or her own rate, and coaches assign each athlete to groups based on their skill level. Swimmers then receive coaching and instruction based on their needs.

Club officials said competitive swimming and water sports are a positive way to improve the mental and physical development of a child.

Under the CSSC’s mission statement, members are taught to think, plan and set high standards for achievement both academically and athletically. The training is a systematic process, which teaches self-control, respect, responsibility, sportsmanship and competition, officials said.

“I’ve seen so many sports programs in Chicago deteriorate into nothing. At one point, every park in the city had a swim team. We haven’t seen any bit of support to keep the program going,” said Walters. “It seems like every four or five months we are going to go kaput. What I try to preach to the people is that our goal should be that the club is still around when our grandchildren are swimming and then for them to do the same.”

For more information or to register for the program, contact CSSC Registrar Janice Alexander at (773) 263- 0721.

This is part of the February 3, 2010 online edition of The Beverly Review.

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