Dahvier Alston is a senior swim captain at Northwestern High School in Rock Hill, South Carolina. He currently stands out on the pool deck because he has qualified for the state meet.
Four years ago, he nearly quit swimming, feeling like he stood out due to the color of his skin.
“You don’t see much diversity in the pool,” Dahvier said.
“Every time I step up to the blocks, there’s no one that looks like me around. When I look up to my parents to see what my time was, there’s no one that looks like them,” he said.
Coming off the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Dahvier decided to write about his perspective as an African-American competitive swimmer. He didn’t do it for a class but more for catharsis.
“My name is Dahvier J. Alston, the one black face in the blue water,” he said, reading aloud from the paper he wrote.
Dahvier’s paper, titled “Black face, Blue water,” not only elaborates on personal experience but addresses a larger topic about the lack of diversity in competitive swimming.
“When I originally wrote it last year, it was really not having anyone to relate to on the pool deck,” Dahvier said.
Alston isn’t only one of four swim captains at Northwestern High School. He’s also the marching band president and senior class president.
Ideally, he’d like to see diversity in the sport of swimming grow.
“I realize as I get older that a lot of my African-American friends don’t know how to swim. A lot of them ask me to teach them because they know I swim,” Dahvier said.
Dahvier said he learned to swim around the age of 8 or 9. He has swum for the Trojans all four years and his coaches say he’s earned his title of captain.
“To coach him is a coach’s dream because he does everything you ask,” Northwestern head swim coach, Gracie Magyar said.
“He’s extremely coachable. He always wants to do better,” Trojans assistant swim coach Susan Snyder said.
Dahvier says he’s never felt alienated while on the pool deck.
“Swimming is a family sport,” said Dahvier.
“They’ve always been accepting,” he said of his teammates.
But Dahvier admits, consumed by his own thoughts, he nearly quit swimming his freshman year.
“The first week of swimming I wanted to quit,” said Dahvier.
“I came home and complained every day. After the first week of conditioning, I cried. Like it was that bad,” he said.
Snyder played a significant role in Dahvier remaining on the team and overcoming his doubts.
“I guess I didn’t realize to the extent he was thinking of quitting,” Snyder said.
“We kind of got him channeled in and confident enough to start thinking that he was a good swimmer,” she said.
Snyder and Magyar agree Dahvier is a strong swimmer with potential to swim collegiately. After reading his paper they were impressed.
“I think he points out something that we should be more aware of,” Magyar said.
“We work in a school district like Rock Hill where we have so many different ethnicities and so much diversity, we would like to see that reflected on our team,” she said.
Snyder says Dahvier is always thinking and mature beyond his age. But she never knew Dahvier felt as though he didn’t fit in as a freshman.
“I really never thought he felt out of place being an African-American,” Snyder said.
“But that’s coming from me, who is perfectly comfortable and has never felt that,” she said.
“Sports are such a unifier and they build those skills that we want adults to have that it’s so important for us to try and address diversity within our sports teams as well,” Magyar said.
Dahvier said two other African-Americans are now members of the Northwestern swim team.
He doesn’t want people to take his paper too literally.
“I don’t want an onrush of African-Americans coming into the pool. That’d be great but if that’s not what you want to do then don’t do it,” Dahvier said.
“I just want to see sports come together. There shouldn’t be a predominantly black sport or a predominantly white sport. If you have the ability, go out there and do it. Feel accepted. I promise you they won’t judge you,” he said.
Dahvier has qualified for the state meet in the 200 medley relay, 200 freestyle relay and 400 freestyle relay.
Swimming aside, Dahvier’s message of inclusivity is clear.
“It’s what people need now,” Dahvier said. “Just diversity, to be able to feel comfortable around people that are not your same color.”