The Black Swimming Association<\/strong> has officially launched in partnership with Swim England<\/strong> to highlight swimming as an essential life skill and to encourage participation as well as prevent drowning in black and minority ethnic communities.<\/p>\n

Alice Dearing<\/strong> \u2013 who is seeking to become the first black female swimmer to represent Team GB at the Olympics in Tokyo in July \u2013 co-founded the BSA with BBC journalist and former swimmer Seren Jones,<\/strong> Ed Accura<\/strong> \u2013 who starred in and produced the film \u2018Blacks Can\u2019t Swim\u2019 – and Danielle Obe<\/strong>, inventor of swim scarves that protect the hair.<\/p>\n

The Swimming Teachers\u2019 Association, the Royal Lifesaving Society and Nike Swim have also come on board with the BSA at a time when figures released by Sport England show that 95 per cent of black adults and 80 per cent of black children in England do not swim.<\/p>\n

By comparison, 89% of white British adults and 70% of white British children between the ages of five and 16 do not swim regularly.<\/p>\n