Lia Neal and Jacob Pebley started the Swimmers for Change initiative, looking to unify the sport and promote diversity and equality.
The goal was mobilizing the swimming and sports communities to raise funds to support the fight against systemic racism. They achieved this by hosting two weeks of live webinar content for free, led by many of the biggest names in Olympic swimming. This took place from June 15th to June 26th. The main goal was to allow a point for conversation that could reach a broad audience, but also encourage swimmers to have those conversations with each other and raise money for organizations that are helping develop change.
The result was a webinar series that included 30 U.S. national team swimmers having conversations about our country’s racial in equality, as well as other issues within the sport and the country.
On Wednesday, July 1, co-founders Lia Neal and Jacob Pebley will be hosting a final “wrap up” episode to share their experience, lessons learned and what’s next for Swimmers For Change. They will also be taking questions from the press and audience (done via live chat or submitted in advance through the crowdcast webinar platform).
Throughout the series, audience members could support by making donations or purchasing Swimmers For Change t-shirts (all proceeds go to charities that support black communities).
Topics included important discussions about race in America, in sports, how to drive change as well as tips on nutrition, technique, mental performance, mental health and more. Olympians such as Cullen Jones, Anthony Ervin, Natalie Coughlin, Nathan Adrian, Lilly King, Gary Hall Jr. and many more participated in Swimmers For Change.
Find out the thoughts of co-founder Lia Neal and Jacob Pebley on how the series went.