Malakai: Swimming to Success
Alumni Agent Malakai created Fantastic Swimming School, part of The Agency London (produced by Battersea Arts Centre)
Malakai started swimming from a young age, initially motivated by wanting to keep up with family and friends on holiday. When he returned home and asked friends to go swimming, he noticed that more than half of them couldn't swim. That experience led him to look into the statistics, which revealed that only 2% of regular swimmers in Britain are Black, over 90% of Black adults in the UK can't swim, and over 80% of Black children can't swim. Those figures are what drove him to start the project.
The project raises awareness of the lack of swimming skills in the Black community, whilst unifying the community and increasing awareness about water safety and swimming as a lifesaving skill. He has upskilled himself and is now a qualified swimming instructor, supporting and teaching young people how to swim, increasing awareness about water safety and swimming as a lifesaving skill.
Malakai developed the idea through the Agency, where his project was selected for funding. With that funding secured, he went on to become a qualified swimming teacher through the Swimming Teachers' Association, and used the support to hire a swimming pool and set up Fantastic Swimming School.
Malakai describes the moment the funding came through as the point he truly believed the project could become real. For him, swimming is a lifesaving skill that everyone should have, and his goal is to help change the statistics by giving a new generation of young Black people the ability to swim.