IN CONVERSATION: SWIM DEM CREW
Sport
IN CONVERSATION:
SWIM DEM CREW
On a dark and drizzly Monday evening I holed up away from the cold in the cafe area at the London Aquatics centre. Awaiting me, deep in conversation were the beaming grins of Peigh and Nathaniel: best mates, business partners and front crawl fanatics.Swim Dem Crew, first set up in 2013 was born out of a love for swimming, an unfortunate injury and bonds of friendship.
The Crew has grown and morphed and reached new heights and is now involved in events, brand activations and even film production. What was abundantly clear to me, was that despite all the success and spotlights, the sense of community and fraternity that brought the Crew together in the first place remains key to everything they do.Check our the full interview with Peigh & Nathaniel Co-Founders of Swim Dem Crew below:
Words:
Luc Hinson
Imagery:
Luc Hinson
BB: What drew you guys to each other, what’s the origin story of your friendship?
Peigh: We met at Run Dem, but we never actually spoke that much there, actualIy I don’t think we spoke at all.
Nathaniel: We came in through different ways that’s probably why, I came through the youth programme so I was always like Nathaniel the younger, then Peigh would come in later everyone would be like oh look there’s Peigh he’s big on road.
Peigh: So when I came in, I used to have a music studio on curtain road and one of the girls from Run Dem, who’s a music manager she actually invited me to Run Dem and obviously if a hot girl invites you to go running you’re gunna go. So, us two, we met through Run Dem but we never properly spoke to each other there you know, swimming is definitely the thing that brought us together.
Nathaniel: Swim Dem was actually my first WhatsApp group; it grew from that and became like a community. Initially for a year it was every Saturday at London fields, go swimming then eat at our friend Emily’s – She’s an insane cook by the way, and then hang out it just became a routine.
BB: So, Swimming, tell us why, what drew you guys to swimming?
Nathaniel: I’ve acually always been a swimmer.
Peigh: For me personally it was circumstantial like I mentioned I was doing Run Dem, I was running a lot I was doing a half marathon a month, and then I got injured in month 10. I got injured in that month at the royal parks half marathon, and I got into a bit of a dark place.
The woman I was running with Alex, we were running because one of her parents had fallen ill so we were doing it to raise money for them. I thought this sounds like a sick initiative I’m going to join her in this. But then, I got injured and then from October to December I was in a dark place because running was my vice and then when I couldn’t run anymore I felt like I’d let down Alex, her mum, all these people in Run Dem and I felt like I’d let myself down. I was in a really dark place.
Then New Year's comes and I’m like right I’ve got to do something new, got to make a change now, new year new energy. So I go to see the Doctor and he tells me, right long story short, to help rehabilitation you’re going to have to swim.. And I was like I don’t know how to swim bro. He didn’t obviously say that’s not my problem.. but he was like it’s just what you’ve got to do. SO I went to my local baths at forest hill and I just started practicing.
At the time when I look back now what I was doing wasn’t swimming, but for me I was just moving through the water, that was an achievement in itself. The easy thing with swimming is that it’s easy to measure success because you can actually measure it, I’ll go from this end to that end and build on it, forget technique for a moment it was about building consistency. Then I met these guys and technique started to matter.
Nathaniel: It was funny because Peigh was honest he was really determined, he was swimming every day his technique wasn’t great but he was determined. Its funny because when you swim no one watches you, you’re on your own. When Peigh was swimming, he was all over the lanes like moving from left to right, left to his own devices he would swim in a circle the whole time. With us we coached him a bit better and he kept on going and going and he lost a whole bunch of weight, his knee got better he started going gym, and then at this point a couple of other friends started swimming with us.
We got a book from our friend Danny. At this point me and Peigh and Emily had become really good friends then Danny comes along we all start swimming together and Danny gets this book by Jenny Landreth called Swimming London. We’d open the book and be like bam today we’re going to swim there. We actually ended up meeting Jenny once, and now she’s a mate, and Peigh said to her we’re here because of you, that book was our bible.
SO yeah we met, and kept swimming with each other and grew. Then this sort of moment happened when influencers came along and we had to decide whether we wanted to stay as a three or whether we should open it up into a collective like Run Dem. Peigh didn’t want to open it up, he wanted to keep it exclusive, but me and Emily thought it's done a lot for us so we should open it up and help other people. We opened it up and put some messages out there to get people involved, we started off with maybe 10 people, and now it’s really grown. We’ve got Saturday sessions, Monday sessions and we used to have Wednesday morning sessions too but they were killer. We still do the same thing, we help people, we work with brands, we do events we use swimming as a way to bring people together. Swimming brings people together and brings them out of themselves, out of their shells, it’s just nice to see people grow.
Peigh: I am glad they twisted my arm, but let me be honest for one second I was the shittest swimmer, that’s why I didn’t want everyone to see me!
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WE STILL DO THE SAME THING, WE HELP PEOPLE, WE WORK WITH BRANDS, WE DO EVENTS WE USE SWIMMING AS A WAY TO BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER.
PHOTOGRAPHY: LUC HINSON
PHOTOGRAPHY: LUC HINSON
BB: How can traditionally solo sports like swimming help to bring people together?
Nathaniel: Before you even get into the water you’re coming into a place where you meet people basically in your underwear. It’s a very welcoming space, you don’t have to have abs to be in Swim Dem in fact the people who have abs get the piss taken out of them, in a nice way obviously but you know they’ve got abs so ... who’s the real winner.
It works in a couple of ways, so on Monday it’s a proper coaching session we tell people how to correct their technique what they’re doing but on Saturday, it’s a swim, its breakfast and then you might go to a museum or whatever. We create an environment where it’s easier for people to just be themselves
Peigh: That’s what I was going to say, the atmosphere that me and Nat have created, there is no ego there’s nothing like that, you’re safe to just be yourself. It’s a safe space to be whoever you are we don’t really care about shape, colour, creed, size the doors are open to anyone. Community is at the forefront of what we do and people want to be a part of that. And you know, It’s hard to make friends in London unless you’re going out, and drinking all the time.
Nathaniel: Our boy Josh is a really good case study for this, because that’s how he used to meet people, he used to go out, he was either at work or going out to Fabric and everywhere and that’s not the best environment to meet new people. So, without us I don’t know what his life would be like, and he says that to us, he says thank you he didn’t think he would make new, good friends again in his life. He’s in his late 20s, he didn’t think he’d make real friendships again as an adult.
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IT’S A SAFE SPACE TO BE WHOEVER YOU ARE WE, DON’T REALLY CARE ABOUT SHAPE, COLOUR, CREED, SIZE THE DOORS ARE OPEN TO ANYONE.
BB: Who were your sporting icons growing up?
Peigh: I don’t even support Arsenal, but I’ve got to say Ian Wright, growing up, he was from the same area as me, and he was in the premier league. He was making it!
Nathaniel: I was a swimmer until the age of 15 and when the Olympics were on I would watch swimming I’d watch Phelps and Ian Thorpe but I knew I didn’t want to be a swimmer like that, growing up I’d follow those two. But for me Prince Naseem, when he was fighting the whole house was on the sofa watching he was just amazing to watch. I guess I just wasn’t the type to have posters on my wall...
Peigh: Wait can I say Tony Yeboah? Just cos I’m form Ghana he’s from Ghana, my dad used to get gassed and every time he’d score he’d say you know he’s from Ghana you know he’s from Ghana right. I guess because I came into swimming late at 27, I had no idea of swimmers growing up.
BB: As young Black men, have you two ever encountered any stereotyping when it comes to swimming?
Peigh: I was always very determined in the water, when I first started I was going every single day. When I met Nat and Emily I was cycling to and from the Lido to swim, and because I was swimming and cycling every day I was like let’s do it, I’ll do a triathlon. So, it was up near Dorney lake, near Eton. Driving up there the security guard kind of stopped me and was like hey what are you doing here? I was like... parking, he said for what, I said the race, he said what race.... my mans there’s only race here, only one car park here?
I was looking around me at the race and there was only me and one other Black guy, out of like 500 people so that was the first time I realised, looking back I was like why did he treat me like that? Ahhh yeah that’s why. I never think of myself as a black man entering their space, I’m just doing this thing you know? I want to do it so I’m doing it.
Another time actually here, there was some beef with another swimming coach, because people aren’t used to seeing us in this space, their backs are up against the wall. I don’t know if they’re thinking oh you don’t belong here, you don’t deserve to be here this isn’t your space but that’s what it seems like.
Nathaniel: With coaching, it’s an old boys club, they don’t like change they don’t like newness. Swimming on the whole it’s based on class, there’s middle class upper class swimmers then lower class swimmers then under that it’s black swimmers you know? I was lucky growing up in east London going to a swimming club in east London, there was a good spread of people, my mum wanted me to swim for two reasons, one was not to be a stereotype and the other was to always be safe, if we were ever on holiday you know I’m not gunna drown.
Then this summer in Plymouth, we were involved with a brand doing some work giving tips on teaching telling people what to do with their arms and legs, then this guy came up to us and said shouldn’t you be teaching these people how to rap instead. Now, Peigh was recording something on the side, earlier but to no audience so I couldn’t work out if it was because of that or if he was just being purely racist. Then last year in Croatia we were shooting a film...
Peigh: This Is just racism full stop by the way not, even in swimming.
Nathaniel: We were shooting this film, at a beautiful outdoor lido with a drained indoor pool, imagine a massive Olympic pool but empty and the guy who was organising it who was letting us film was walking around with his little 2 or 3-year-old daughter, and it was me Peigh, and his friend Boya walking around, and we kind of noticed his daughter was just staring at us, Boya turns to us and says oh she’s never seen a black guy before. Then the dad turns to the daughter and says something and turn back to us and says "oh, I just said to her if you don’t wash your skin will look like theirs". We were just like wow. Okay. You’re a dickhead... but we still need to use your space, we still need to film, on the one hand you’re a dickhead I’m never going to speak to you again, but I NEED to record.
For me it’s come to be a power thing, people feel the need to say something, they don’t need to say anything but for some reason they choose to, to assert themselves above you. There’s so many times when people could be quiet but they choose not to.
Peigh: That guy in Croatia it’s a weird one, I don’t even know if he’s being racist, I think it’s more ignorance than outright racism.
Nathaniel: I don’t know, when I was in France this year we got lost and we were in a docking yard, this guy sees me and my friends, 9/10 of us are black and then he starts listing off famous black people, like Anthony Joshua, Thierry Henry.. so on the one hand there’s that there’s the oh I know black people vs on the other hand the you don’t wash.
Swimming can be diverse at the bottom, you know it’s not like there’s no Black in the pool signs, but there’s no Blacks in the boardroom, its institutional as with most things. We’ve won a few awards in the past and I can’t really tell if it’s because of the work were doing or if because were black.
BB: What opportunities has Swim Dem provided you with in your own lives?
Nathaniel: I don’t think I’d be able to be freelance without having done Swim Dem. We did a swimming project three years ago and that inspired me to change jobs, so I left that, became a swimming teacher, I’ve done a lot of jobs, I started working with Nike this year, it’s given me so many skills and put me in a place I’m so fortunate to be in. I wouldn’t have what I do now without Swim Dem
Peigh: It definitely got me in the door at my job now, it afforded me the opportunity to try things out, to get to do things you know, make a film write something, develop skills. I feel quite fortunate to have it there you know. A lot of people who call themselves Creatives aren’t really creatives; they’ve been through ad school and know how to be ‘creative’ in that fixed industry
Nathaniel: When I look at our portfolio of work over the last few years, I would never have been able to do that in a fixed creative role anywhere, we’ve done retreats, events activations and made a film. It’s just I wouldn’t have got that if I stayed in a creative industry in a design studio. It gives us a platform to try something if we want to try it.
Peigh: Through that you learn other things, bit of production, bit of client relationships, bit of marketing you learn all of these things you might have not learnt in your day job because you’ve only got one specific role there. Here, we’ve got to be producers, handle client relations, be creatives, source talent, be project managers, e-commerce people all of that stuff. Nat’s recently set us up on payroll you know, I have no idea how he’s done that. But we’ve learnt so much from it.
Nathaniel: That was probably the hardest thing I’ve done all year
Peigh: I haven’t really thought about how much I’ve learnt through Swim Dem until I’ve articulated it to you just now.
Nathaniel: But it’s not just us who benefits from it. People within Swim Dem have benefited too, Molly left her job and became a stylist and has picked up a few gigs through Swim Dem because of that..
Peigh: Were not saying to quit your job by the way! Anyone reading this do not do that. Were just encouraging people to try more things to do more and become more creative. Everything I’ve learnt in my life I’ve learnt by doing, that’s my catchphrase now, Learn By Doing. All the things we just reeled off that we’ve done, we’ve learnt by doing.
Nathaniel: Yeah be a doer and embrace your inner child, it’s mad because when we were kids we used to dream big you know, we said when I grow up I’m going to be a dinosaur, and life teaches that out of you. When you’re a kid you’re so much more motivated and imaginative. You can still fail at your plan B so why not try your plan A.
BB: It’s funny because we get taught to grab the job that’s going to pay you, take the safe job that’s there to put money in your pocket don’t think about what’s going to be beneficial to you mentally and in your life.
Nathaniel: It’s about balance and the reasons why for me, some people kind of get lost in getting a job for safety but what are you doing to balance it out. You need the balance of the work that’s going to keep the lights on at home and that’s going to keep the lights on in your soul. Find that balance between the light work and the inside work.
BB: Why do you think community works in swimming?
Nathaniel: I think especially now, I’m not anti-phone, but I think people are craving a real connection, for us swimming offers a place to do that I know at least two times a week I’m going to get to see people and interact with people. I felt like for whatever reason when we started that women are more drawn to group classes and activities, in us it’s about a 70:30 ratio of men to women, men seem to just go to the gym by themselves and go home.
Peigh: I don’t think its swimming per say, but it’s the people that make the community, I like to think Nat and I are nice people and people come for that.
Nathaniel: it’s a very lonely sport, you can’t hear anything you’re all alone in the water, it doesn’t offer the opportunity to talk much. There’s no one in the water to put their hand on your back or tell you to keep going.
Peigh: it does feel lonely on your own, that’s why people come to us, for the community I guess, they come for the crew.
BB: What are your hopes for 2019 for Swim Dem Crew?
Peigh: Lessons!
Nathaniel: yeah lessons, it’s taken us a while to get our feet through the door, our name holds a bit more weight now, so yeah hopefully we can get through the door at institutions and get our lessons sorted for next year. Lanes in a swimming pool are like gold dust you know, there’s more to doing it than just wanting to do it.
Peigh: 2019, lessons retreats, building a bit of a bigger community, bring more people together
Nathaniel: empowering more people to swim...
Peigh: or do whatever they want!
Nathaniel: yeah find your thing, empowering people to do their own thing, whatever it is, find your thing and push it! Building on what we’ve done this year, brand partnerships events but get bigger and better.
Whatever we do though, we’ve got to keep the core, the community at heart, I could have more money in my bank account and no one to share it with, the community is key.
On the swimming front you can catch Swim Dem Crew at the London Aquatics Centre every Monday evening, follow their podcast 'The Current' here and keep up to date with all things Swim Dem on their socials below.
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