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Firebirds 2025-2026

Life Skills in the Water

Welcome to Champions’ Coaching!

We believe that everyone deserves to learn how to swim. We are passionate about helping youth and underserved communities develop swimming skills and water safety awareness. Our mission is to support and provide financial resources for our competitive USA Swimming team, water safety, and our learn-to-swim programs. Our vision is to empower BIPOC people and athletes to dismantle systemic swimming hurdles by fostering exposure to aquatic sports while supporting inclusion, accessibility, and elite swim coaching.

We partner with local pools, schools, and community organizations to offer affordable and accessible programs that teach children how to swim and enjoy the water. Join us today and help us make a splash in the lives of children across Central North Carolina.

Fin Camp 2025, kids underwater
Fin Camp 2025 - More Kids Underwater

  • Zion Hall: From Childhood Dreams to Championship Coaching

    Champion’s Coaching, Inc. is proud to highlight history maker Coach Zion Hall. At just 20 years old, Coach Zion, or Coach Z as she’s fondly known, made history as the first black female under the age of 20 to start, lead, and maintain her very own USA Swim Team, The Firebirds. Her journey is as…

  • Fin Camp 2026: Where Confident Swimming Begins

    Learning how to swim is one of the most important life skills a child can have and Fin Camp 2026 is designed to make that first step into the water a positive, safe, and empowering experience. Fin Camp is our introductory swim program, created especially for: While Fin Camp primarily focuses on learning how to…

The intersection of aquatic activities and racism is deeply embedded in our nation’s psyche…A report as recent as 2020, conducted by the International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education, said these disparities are a lasting legacy of Jim Crow laws. For decades, Black Americans were barred from public swimming pools and beaches, preventing many of them from learning how to swim and engaging in competitive aquatic sports.

– Simmons University., Below the Surface: America’s Lasting Legacy of Racial Disparities in Swimming

During 1999–2019, 34,315 persons aged ≤29 years died from drowning in the United States, and drowning death rates decreased from 1.5 to 1.2 per 100,000 population overall. Compared with non-Hispanic White persons, the rate was 2.0 times higher among American Indian or Alaska Native persons and 1.5 times higher among non-Hispanic Black persons. Disparities in drowning death rates between non-Hispanic Black and White persons increased from 2005 to 2019.

– CDC., Persistent Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Fatal Unintentional Drowning Rates Among Persons Aged ≤29 Years — United States, 1999–2019

Swimming, both historically and present day, is a predominantly white sport. Chances are that if you were to attend a swim meet in the United States, the majority of athletes would be white. According to USA Swimming’s 2019 report, only 1.4% of year-round swimmers are identified as African American or Black and 3.5% identified as Hispanic or Latino.

– Ellie Martin., Racial Disparities in Swimming: What Can We Do?

…according to a national research study conducted by the USA Swimming Foundation with the University of Memphis and University of Nevada-Las Vegas, 60 percent of African American children and 45 percent of Hispanic children cannot swim, compared to 40 percent of Caucasian children.

– the YMCA., New Survey from the YMCA Takes a Deep Dive in Understanding Generational, Racial Inequities in Water Safety Education

“…children are less likely to swim when their parents can’t swim,” said senior author Dr. Michelle Macy…Fewer parents who identified as Latine and Black reported comfort with their own swimming skills (less than 25 percent and 28 percent, respectively), compared to white parents (56 percent).

– Northwestern University., Racial, ethnic disparities in swimming skills found across generations