No black curlers...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the 1950s swimming poster but maybe these are kids who grew up in households where the parents did not learn to swim. So the kids may be less likely to learn how to swim and go swimming also.

I'm black and this is the case in my family. I can't swim, but I am making a concentrated effort to make sure my children are comfortable in the water. I want to take lessons, but I am pretty fearful in the water (highest I feel comfortable is about 2').

I'm AA and I swim. Kids took swimming lessons when they were toddlers. If I knew about infant swimming lesson they would have taken them.

Swimming is skill that all should attempt to learn.

I'm also a black swimmer, but your response seems a bit unrelated to the PP's post. She related the story of how the segregation/discrimination of the 50s continued to negatively affect later generations (her), but that she was making a real effort to ensure that it stops with her kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the 1950s swimming poster but maybe these are kids who grew up in households where the parents did not learn to swim. So the kids may be less likely to learn how to swim and go swimming also.

I'm black and this is the case in my family. I can't swim, but I am making a concentrated effort to make sure my children are comfortable in the water. I want to take lessons, but I am pretty fearful in the water (highest I feel comfortable is about 2').

I'm AA and I swim. Kids took swimming lessons when they were toddlers. If I knew about infant swimming lesson they would have taken them.

Swimming is skill that all should attempt to learn.

Absolutely. It's a critical skill. AA kids drown at a higher rate than white kids. More swim lessons would help that. Cullen Jones and USA Swimming have been leading the way on this issue with the "Make a Splash" program. My old swim coach decided that this was a fabulous idea, and now after each season, the older kids and the coaching staff lead a two weeks of swim lessons for kids (of any race) who can't afford swim lessons otherwise.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/usa-swimming-foundations-make-a-splash-with-cullen-jones-tour-presented-by-phillips-66-promotes-importance-of-learning-to-swim-2012-05-29

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the 1950s swimming poster but maybe these are kids who grew up in households where the parents did not learn to swim. So the kids may be less likely to learn how to swim and go swimming also.

I'm black and this is the case in my family. I can't swim, but I am making a concentrated effort to make sure my children are comfortable in the water. I want to take lessons, but I am pretty fearful in the water (highest I feel comfortable is about 2').

I'm AA and I swim. Kids took swimming lessons when they were toddlers. If I knew about infant swimming lesson they would have taken them.

Swimming is skill that all should attempt to learn.

I agree (which is why my children are taking lessons). I still have some ways to go to overcome my fears.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not the 1950s swimming poster but maybe these are kids who grew up in households where the parents did not learn to swim. So the kids may be less likely to learn how to swim and go swimming also.

I'm black and this is the case in my family. I can't swim, but I am making a concentrated effort to make sure my children are comfortable in the water. I want to take lessons, but I am pretty fearful in the water (highest I feel comfortable is about 2').

I'm AA and I swim. Kids took swimming lessons when they were toddlers. If I knew about infant swimming lesson they would have taken them.

Swimming is skill that all should attempt to learn.

This whole thread is bizarre. Regardless of the role genetics may play, who cares what the statistical average is for my kids' race? The relevant factor would be their individual body and its ability. If they are fast, maybe they should be runners. If they are tall, maybe swimmers or basketball players. And if they really love a sport, they should do it even if their body isn't ideal for it. Because for nearly every one of them, the benefit of sports is in the discipline, the hard work, the focus, the teamwork, and the body development.

So really I don't care about belly buttons, either my kids' actual belly button location or it statistical likelihood to be somewhere based on skin color. I want my kids to participate in sports.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:06:44 here. I obviously cut and pasted that tidbit. But there is plenty of scientific research on the subject.

From where did you cut and paste, and where is this scientific research? By whom?

It was the first thing I came across on Google at 6:44 while I was feeding my baby. I'm not going to waste my time googling for you. It is science, genetics, physiology, whatever. It's not racism or stereotyping or being a bigot. What, would you demand a link to scientific research if I told you that African Americans have darker skin than Caucasians (obviously there are exceptions)?

Oh okay. Well that proves everything. Dr. Google said it.

NP, wow you sound angry. No amount of evidence anyone shows you will convince you to consider something outside your own bias which you so clearly are clinging too.

Not the PP to whom you're responding, but-

What evidence? The PP admitted she just got the info from the first Google link that popped up. That passes as credible to you?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:06:44 here. I obviously cut and pasted that tidbit. But there is plenty of scientific research on the subject.

From where did you cut and paste, and where is this scientific research? By whom?

It was the first thing I came across on Google at 6:44 while I was feeding my baby. I'm not going to waste my time googling for you. It is science, genetics, physiology, whatever. It's not racism or stereotyping or being a bigot. What, would you demand a link to scientific research if I told you that African Americans have darker skin than Caucasians (obviously there are exceptions)?

New poster.

I don't think anyone is expecting a scientific journal article on DCUM, but when you're talking science, you don't sound very credible when you post the first thing you came across on Google without even posting the source link.

Maybe it's not racism or being a bigot, but you are being ignorant.

Anonymous wrote:
The navel is the center of gravity of the body, and given two runners or swimmers of the same height, one black and one white, "what matters is not total height but the position of the belly button, or center of gravity," Duke University professor Andre Bejan, the lead author of the study, told AFP.

Did they not look at women in their study? Because while this may be true of men, my center of gravity is 2-3 inches below my navel.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks. It's all about the programs that certain countries have to develop athletes for specific sports. Duh!!!

Adding to my post above, it's also about the programs that communities have for certain sports. I used to live in Chicago near the projects. The african american kids there would take an old mattress outside and do acrobatics that would rival an olympic gynmast. However, there was no formal gymnastics program but there were tons of programs for football and basketball. Society usually determines which sports are dominated by each race. It's not genetics.

Yeah but if your population is 1.3 billion seems like a gold medal athlete could be developed for every sport competition in the Olympics, winter and summer.

One of China's biggest stars is a sprint hurdler. Chinese women have also done well in the marathon. China also
came in 1st and 3rd in race walking (and they move pretty fast).

Anonymous wrote:Folks. It's all about the programs that certain countries have to develop athletes for specific sports. Duh!!!

And a bit of geography. XC skiing and downhill skiing and snowboarding are going to be pursued in places that have snow. Skating is much more common in cold climates despite ice rinks because many kids learn on makeshift rinks on frozen ponds. My college used to flood the green in the winter to make a skating rink. Hard to do that in Florida or South America or Africa.

I think there is an element of genetics though. The Chinese have picked the sports their athletes can be the best in and developed kids in those. Track is probably not their thing so they focus on diving, gymnastics, table tennis, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DS runs track but focuses on middle and long distances because the black kids are too good at and dominate the short distances. It's not about avoiding it, it's about finding what you can be good at. Look at the Olympic track athletes.

I think this is more it than anything. Black people are so naturally good at certain sports, that it can be initimidating - and maybe the white kid knows (or thinks) they don't have a chance. Less about not wanting to integrate.

Naturally good? Is this a genetics argument? It's in their genes, the way they like fried chicken and watermelon?

Could we see some scientific evidence of this natural goodness?

Scientists have found the reason why some athletes dominate on the running track and others in the swimming pool: It's in their belly buttons, a study published Monday shows.

What's important is not whether an athlete has an innie or an outie but where his or her navel is in relation to the rest of the body, says the study published in the International Journal of Design and Nature and Ecodynamics

The navel is the center of gravity of the body, and given two runners or swimmers of the same height, one black and one white, "what matters is not total height but the position of the belly button, or center of gravity," Duke University professor Andre Bejan, the lead author of the study, told AFP.

"It so happens that in the architecture of the human body of West African-origin runners, the center of gravity is significantly higher than in runners of European origin," which puts them at an advantage in sprints on the track, he said.

Individuals of West African-origin have longer legs than European-origin athletes, which means their belly buttons are three centimeters (1.18 inches) higher than whites', said Bejan.

That means the black athletes have a "hidden height" that is three percent greater than whites', which gives them a significant speed advantage on the track. ...

In the pool, meanwhile, whites have the advantage because they have longer torsos, making their belly buttons lower in the general scheme of body architecture. ...

Asians have the same long torsos as Europeans, giving them the same potential to be record-breakers in the pool.

But they often lose out to whites because whites are taller, said Bejan.

Read the whole article here: http://news.discovery.com/human/belly-buttons-sports-athletes.html

Anonymous wrote:Folks. It's all about the programs that certain countries have to develop athletes for specific sports. Duh!!!

Adding to my post above, it's also about the programs that communities have for certain sports. I used to live in Chicago near the projects. The african american kids there would take an old mattress outside and do acrobatics that would rival an olympic gynmast. However, there was no formal gymnastics program but there were tons of programs for football and basketball. Society usually determines which sports are dominated by each race. It's not genetics.

Folks. It's all about the programs that certain countries have to develop athletes for specific sports. Duh!!!