In order to get started with swimming, you just need to find a local leisure centre or pool near you. At last count, there were 3,170 municipal pools in the UK, meaning that there’s probably one within walking distance of where you live. While some places may cost more than others, many offer deals for swimming lessons for kids.

Charities like the Black Swimming Association (BSA) exist to help educate Black people on the benefits of swimming, “aiming to challenge the negative stigmas, narratives and relationships that ethnic minorities have with the water”. The BSA has also partnered with Swim England to campaign for mandatory education and water safety measures for ethnic minorities – which is important given that 95% of Black adults and 80% of children don’t swim.

Too few of us in the Black community are afforded the opportunity to swim, and that has to change. The benefits are too great to ignore, and it’s through the work of the BSA and Swim England that I hope more of us start to splash around.

Swimming should be an accessible way to stay fit. Ethnic minorities deserve access to the facilities on offer and I’d like to see far more of us enjoying the fitness and emotional benefits that come from being in the water. Swimming has been fundamental to the way that I see and treat my body; it’s taught me self-respect, value and love.

They say that “health is wealth”, and if more of us swam, I think we’d be a far richer community.

Swimming benefits: “How swimming can help boost self-esteem for Black women like me”