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Michael Phelps Teaches Students to Swim
By Emily Gaines Buchler Photos by Chip Dizárd
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The noon-time event, held on July 14 in the natatorium of Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, kicked off a partnership between Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools) and the Michael Phelps Swim School to provide swim safety and instruction to students in the Summer Learning academy for the middle grades. The partnership provides 60 City Schools students with up to 20 hours of swim lessons donated by the Michael Phelps Swim School, with the goal of improving the
Students took turns asking Phelps questions—about what it felt like when he won his first gold medal, why he developed a love of swimming and what the future holds for him. One student asked him to name a favorite athlete.
“The athlete I really looked up to as a kid was Michael Jordan,” Phelps explained. “He completely changed the sport of basketball. If he was tired, he was sick, he would still go out there and get the job done.”
Someone else asked him to give advice to people who make bad decisions. “I’m the first to admit that I’ve made some bad decisions,” Phelps shared. “But as a good friend once told me, 'make as many mistakes as you want, but make sure you never make the same mistake again.'”
“I wasn’t at all nervous,” Jamirra said. “I was just excited he chose me.”
In a flawless gliding motion that called to mind the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, Phelps swam the length of the pool and back in a dolphin kick and freestyle stroke, without coming up for air once. He then made his way to groups of students eager to learn from the world record setter. Some students received one-on-one instruction, while others picked up tips from afar.
For teachers, meeting and working with Phelps was a golden opportunity. “My students got to meet a real-life person known to
When Phelps left the pool, students finished their lesson and talked excitedly about the day.
“I can only swim in water I can stand up in,” someone else said. “I’m going to make it to the deep end by the end of the summer.” |
“I didn’t even want to put my head in the water when I first started swimming,” said Baltimore native and 14-time Olympic gold medalist Micheal Phelps to students. Wearing swim briefs with a tropical motif—and standing casually on the edge of a pool—Phelps shared stories of going from a child “terrified of the water,” he said, to a world-champion swimmer.
comfort level of students around water and teaching them basic swim safety in a fun learning environment.
After the conversation, Phelps jumped in the pool and asked a student to demonstrate streamlining, a technique used when a swimmer pushes off from the pool wall, and the freestyle stroke. Jamirra Dunlap, a rising 8th grader at Beechfield Elementary/Middle School, was quick to volunteer, positioning herself into a perfectly straight line—and moving underwater that way for several seconds.
everyone all over the world,” Rochelle Woodland, a language arts teacher, explained. “He’s an example of someone who was once just like them. He put in so much time, energy and fortitude, and he made it.” 
