A girls in sport barrier broken! The Soul Cap

It’s not often you’ll find a current newsy piece on our blog but this is SO important that it had to be shared and celebrated!

A barrier for girls in sport was broken this week when FINA (the International Swimming Federation) announced that it would allow swim caps designed specifically for people with voluminous hair, such as afro, to be used in competitive races.

Credit - Soul Cap

The cap was designed by a company called Soul Cap and is different to normal swimming caps because its shape accommodates more hair. It was banned for use before the Tokyo Olympics because ‘it did not fit the normal shape of a head’ but after much deserved protestation, the swimming governing body has tumble-turned into giving these caps the go ahead.

Why is this important?

In the UK, 80% of black children can’t swim which is a worrying statistic, especially for an island nation. In the US, the same number stands at 64% and if you look at international swimming events such as the Olympics, Paralympics and World Championships, there are very few black swimmers, male and female, in the pool.

Alice Dearing has been making waves: she was Team GB’s first black female swimmer at the Tokyo Olympics, swimming in the marathon event, and is a founder of the Black Swimming Association, who have worked alongside Soul Cap to bring about the change in regulations. As she recently said on The Game Changers podcast, chlorine can damage black people’s hair and ‘it can be difficult to even get your hair in a state that you can get a cap over it’. This could be enough to deter women and girls going for a swim, especially if they have to go to school or work afterwards. As Alice says, ‘It might not be worth going through the effort in the first place.’

Alice Dearing for Soul Cap (Credit Soul Cap)

The future

The Soul Cap swimming caps are not just for black people but they do help solve the issue of a cap that covers all the hair. They have been available to buy for a while so hopefully more women and girls have dipped their toe into the world of swimming.

Longer term, we all hope that this progress in swimwear will mean that we see more black swimmers at international competitions, creating more fantastic role models like Alice and improving the diversity of the swimming pool and open water events.

Here’s to a barrier broken! Let’s break some more!