Stephanie Akakabota, an Olympic qualifier and 17-year-old high school senior in Seminole, Fla., made a big splash at the Gifford Youth Activity Center during a recent visit with GYAC and Boys & Girls Clubs of Indian River County participants.
Her visit was hosted by Float Hope of Indian River County as a way to engage and motivate swimmers at an early age. The nonprofit teaches swimming as a life skill and a sport to more than 100 children, starting at age 6, as a way to “embed an advantage to disadvantaged children.”
Jeffrey Powers, Float Hope founder and CEO, said that swimming is more than a life-saving skill. He said it can also enhance confidence, build friendships and open doors to college scholarships – and it’s fun.
He shared that Freddie Woolfork, GYAC director of public relations and facilities operations and a well-known and respected Gifford Community leader, had only learned to swim about two years ago.
Powers relayed that Woolfork had a near-drowning in a creek when he was a child and had sworn he would never enter the water again. After persuading Woolfork that he needed to set an example for the children at GYAC, Powers was finally able to get him into the pool and swimming.
“Swimming allows the young children in the Gifford area to broaden their horizons. It’s more than just swimming that they are going to gain,” said Woolfork, adding that they also learn discipline and teamwork – “great attributes that will help people when they apply for college.”
Akakabota, currently hailed as the fastest swimmer in Florida, is a USA All-American swimmer, Olympic Trials qualifier and a University of California, Berkley top recruit. She is also a three-time Carnegie Hall performing concert pianist.
Akakabota told her audience that great swimmers aren’t born with innate abilities; it takes hard work and dedication to excel.
“When I asked my coach what to do to get faster, he told me three things, ‘Work harder than everybody else in the pool, come to practice every single day and study the sport,’” said Akakabota.
Explaining that practice helps with focus and builds muscle memory that takes over when you compete, she said “when you start to overthink, your brain works too hard and you end up going slower.”
The inspirational swimmer related that she hadn’t learned to swim until she was 5 years old and hadn’t begun to take the sport seriously until about four years ago.
Statistically, she said more than half of the people in America don’t know how to swim, noting that it is more difficult to learn as an adult. She shared that her mother is only just now learning how to swim.
Akakabota said she hopes to inspire other Black students to take up the sport.
“The first day I started competing, I noticed that there weren’t a lot of people that looked like me when I was swimming. When I went to varsity, there were only three out of 40 swimmers,” she recalled. “It changed how I thought about swimming; I thought swimming maybe wasn’t for people that looked like me.”
However, she was able to look at some of the best Black swimmers – Simone Manuel, Lia Neal and Reece Whitley – for motivation.
“I was so happy to see someone that looked like me doing such great things in swimming. It made me believe that I could do it too. I want to spread their message and inspire young Black swimmers and all young swimmers that they can reach whatever goal they want to,” said Akakabota.
The next evening, some 100 swimmers from the Boys & Girls Clubs and GYAC dove into the Float Hope Friday Night Lights Swim Meet at the North County pool – the first in more than a year – with renewed vigor.
And regardless of what place they took in their particular races, everyone went home with their heads held high, knowing they had given it their all.
“Jeff and Float Hope have created an opportunity for our kids to learn how to swim. Teaching these kids how to swim is critical, and they love it. A lot of them didn’t want to get into the water when they first started. They were afraid of the water, but now you can’t keep them out of the water. It’s been a wonderful partnership,” said Elizabeth Thomason, B&GC executive director.
Coaches Scott Barlow and Holly McClean of Treasure Coast Swim Team oversee the weekly swim lessons at the Gifford Aquatic Center and North County Pool. Interested children are invited to give it a try as they gear up for the summer program.
For more information, visit floathopenow.org.
Photos by Kaila Jones and Brenda Ahearn
