39 pages • 1 hour read
Swim Team
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Chapters 3-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 3 Summary: “The Deep End”
In the car on the way to the pool, Bree and Etta talk about swimming. Bree comments that “Black people aren’t good at swimming” (78). Etta says that she, like all Black people, comes from a tradition of swimming. As the graphics transition to look like a completed jigsaw puzzle showing Black people around the world swimming, boating, and diving, Etta explains that Black folks have swum in every body of water.
When Bree asks why so many of her friends can’t swim, Etta notes that it’s complicated, and the illustration shifts to an unfinished puzzle. Etta explains that in the United States, laws restricted African Americans’ access to pools, beaches, and lakes. This meant that fewer people went swimming, so fewer children learned, making it harder to pass the skill down from generation to generation. When people resisted the racist laws, violence occurred. A Black man was killed on a Chicago beach in 1919, and someone poured acid in a pool of protesters in Florida. People like John Lewis and David Isom continued to protest, even as fewer and fewer people learned how to swim. Pools in Black neighborhoods were often small or not cleaned regularly, and discrimination continued in other neighborhoods. Etta experienced this firsthand. She adds that today, they’ll begin to bring Bree into the tradition of swimming.
They arrive at the pool, which is in an old conservatory. It’s where Etta learned to swim. When Bree returns to the pool in her bathing suit, she is wearing an inner tube, goggles, flippers, and other extra equipment. Etta tells her she won’t need all of that, so Bree removes everything except her arm floaties. Bree begins to get nervous, as the dark gray thought bubbles try to tell her that swimming is dangerous.
Etta goes over safety rules with Bree, and she begins to float. They stop soon after, and Etta reminds her that they’ll go step by step. Etta will pick her up the next day.
The next day, Etta helps Bree learn to float without floaties. Then, they start working on strokes. They go to the pool each day, building on Bree’s skills. She starts to like the pool and goes back to her swimming class at school, though she still feels shy. Bree also sees less of her dad because they’re both so busy with work and school.
When Bree practices treading water in the deep end, she starts to sink. However, she sees the bottom and realizes that “[i]t’s not as deep as [she] thought” (102). When she resurfaces, Etta declares that she’s “a swimmer now!” (104).
Returning to the apartment complex, Etta tells Bree that she was honored to teach her how to swim, ending their lessons.
Chapter 4 Summary: “Sink or Swim”
Bree learns that she got a C in swimming class. At the same time, her teacher discovers that only one person has signed up to try out for the swim team. He offers Bree extra credit if she tries out, raising her grade from a C to a B. She starts to get into the pool, and her nervous thoughts make her doubt herself.
The tryouts begin with a race, and the panel shows Bree surrounded by her doubts. As she swims, they begin to disappear. When she emerges, she realizes that she came in first. She realizes that she had fun, and she makes the swim team.
She signs up for the swim team instead of math club, though she’s worried that this will disappoint her dad. When she gets home, her dad fills out her permission slip, reminding her that it can’t affect her studies.
The next day, Clara teaches her how to do a flip turn to push against the wall and get a boost when completing laps. Bree struggles at first. She also meets the other members of the swim team, including Phillipa, who warns her against messing up their medley relay. The medley includes the butterfly stroke, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle. Clara emphasizes that the best teams are always working together.
Chapter 5 Summary: “Go Manatees!”
Etta comes to Bree’s first swim meet. The coach invites her to help him train the team. The race begins, so he rushes back to the team, asking her to think about it.
Some of the kids from Holyoke tease Bree, and she reminds herself to breathe. The race starts, and Bree comes in third, beating the swimmer from Holyoke Prep. However, she’s tired and comes in eighth in her next race. Clara wins all her races. Afterward, Bree realizes that her dad didn’t come to the meet.
As Bree walks out with Phillipa, they see the coach from Holyoke Prep dismiss a student from the team for losing, declaring that she only wants winners.
Etta also talks to Bree’s coach, reminding him that he needs to believe in the girls on the team. She agrees to help.
When Bree gets home, she sees a note from her dad that says he’s going to try to be at her next meet.
The next day, Bree walks home with Clara. When Clara opens her mail, she runs inside. She reads a letter from Holyoke Prep accepting her to the school if she passes the math entrance exam. She begrudgingly tells her mom.
Chapters 3-5 Analysis
The theme of The Lasting Effects of Segregation and Discrimination is introduced immediately in Chapter 3, as Etta gently contradicts Bree’s notion that Black people can’t swim and breaks down the stereotype around Black people and swimming. The author depicts Etta’s history lesson in large, two-page panels that look like puzzles: The one depicting the history of Black swimmers around the world is complete, but the one depicting segregation, violence, and discrimination is missing pieces. This highlights Etta’s point that discrimination and violence deterred Black Americans from learning to swim and passing the skill on to later generations, symbolized through the missing pieces of the fragmented puzzle. In learning to swim, Bree is helping to complete the puzzle again. Etta also tells her that she will learn how to swim in “the same pool [she] learned to swim in as a girl” (86). In doing so, Bree becomes part of a larger history of swimming, fitting into this history just as she is fitting into her new school and new life in Florida. Additionally, Etta’s recounting of the history of segregation and how many white communities responded by cutting off Black access to pools foreshadows a later anecdote about Etta experiencing this firsthand from one of her own swim sisters, Mari. It’s clear from the photographic puzzles Etta does that she cares for remembering her past, but she has yet to share precisely what happened or why she does not spend time with her swim team now. Eventually, Bree will put the pieces of this particular puzzle together.
Additionally, Etta’s swim lessons remind Bree of the importance of Breaking Problems Into Manageable Steps. As a teacher, Etta emphasizes, “Remember, everyone learns step-by-step. Learning a little more each time” (90). For Bree, breaking problems down helps her confront them and manage her feelings of being overwhelmed. As a result, she becomes a more confident swimmer, surprising everyone at the swim tryouts. The moment in which she is in the pool at the tryouts and recognizes that she “can outswim these thoughts” of doubt and fear is critical because it shows how far she has come since the beginning of the novel (112). She will later apply this same strategy when she tries to defeat Holyoke Prep at the state championship and when she brings together Etta’s swim sisters.
Finally, the theme of Friendships as More Important Than Competition builds through the introduction of Phillipa as one of Bree’s swim teammates. Bree, at first intimidated by Phillipa, comes to appreciate her and her sense of humor. Phillipa will also learn to value herself and her skills more, overcoming her shame at feeling like “the Anchor” (123). Furthermore, Keisha is introduced as a member of Holyoke’s swim team, but because she loses to Bree, she eventually ends up joining the Enith Brigitha team. When Keisha is chastised by the Holyoke coach for losing, the coach says, “Winning is the ONLY option at Holyoke. And I’ll HAVE winners on this team, one way or another” (140). Unlike the coach and supporters at Enith Brigitha, winning is all that matters to the Holyoke coach, and it comes before friendship. Bree, Phillipa, Keisha, and Clara’s friendship will be tested due to the competitive nature of swimming, but their friendship will later inspire the students at Holyoke Prep.
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