Inclusiveness in the Water with Hideous Swims!

This episode focuses on the transformative power of swimming and inclusivity within artistic swimming communities. Steph from Hideous Swim shares personal stories, the importance of creating safe spaces in aquatic environments, and how swimming can empower individuals of all abilities to connect and thrive.

• Exploring how swimming serves as a form of living meditation 
• Personal reflections on building a relationship with water 
• The role of Hideous Swim in promoting inclusivity 
• Creating supportive environments for swimmers with disabilities 
• The impact of swimming on self-confidence and community 
• Encouragement to challenge societal norms in aquatic spaces 
• Final thoughts on purpose and self-discovery in swimming

Transcript

Speaker 1 0:09

Welcome to Raw Podcast. I am super excited to have somebody returning to Raw Podcast, but I'm going to start with a little something first. So if you're listening to Raw Podcast whether this is your first time, your millionth time I just wanted to recommend to throw some, I guess, headphones on. Maybe that's old school, but if you have kids around, sometimes swearing is involved and we don't hold back. This is Raw Podcast, so just throw those on. That's just a little heads up before we get started. And also just a big thank you to everybody for supporting raw podcast. Um, and yeah, just continue helping us. And if you know somebody out there that's a swimmer or a water lover, um, or is creating a new like initiative, or is created, has an initiative that you want to share and they think to be awesome, please share it to us. So today we're diving in. So I am bringing back from Hideous Swim all the way from the UK, steph her pronouns are she, they and welcome back, steph. Thanks for being here. Thank you for inviting me back.

Speaker 2 1:16

It was a lot of fun the first time and I'm glad to be here.

Speaker 1 1:20

Yeah, I'm so glad we're going to take a little different spin on this as your returning guest. But yeah, can you, can we just start off with like a recap or just let's just start over, because life changes. Like, who are you? Let's for the people that haven't heard from you or they have listened to you before.

Speaker 2 1:38

OK, hello, I'm Steph Me. As a person, I grew up in the pool. I was a swimmer and an artistic swimmer, with a break when I went to university for medical reasons and then I came back as a master's swimmer and artistic swimmer and teacher masters swimmer and artistic swimmer and teacher um and so I'm still in the pool a lot. I'm in open water now. I, um, I swim. I was a European uh ice swimmer last year. Um and me, as Hideous um, were a company set up to help bring together people with their aquatic goals and to bring them together in a way that makes their life, as a big picture, a better thing.

Speaker 1 2:37

I love that and, steph, thanks for sharing who you are, and I just kind of want to just to dive into that a little bit more. Um, just as a refresh, like where did this start?

Speaker 2 2:50

like the your love for water, for swimming, being around water, and maybe there's more to that too um, I wish I could say that I was one of those little kids that loved being in the water.

Speaker 2 3:06

But I was definitely that kid on the side of the pool when I was four or five years old, fiddling with my goggles and seeing if I could do that for 25 minutes out of a 30 minute lesson. But as I grew up, as I was going through swimming lessons, I moved into swim club completely by accident, because I happened to be the right age of swimmer when the coach was on poolside one day, and artistic swimming because I needed a hobby, because I was too intense about swimming, too intense about swimming. And then I became an open water swimmer because there was COVID and lockdowns and I was going to go insane if I couldn't swim at some point. And that led me to some amazing open water communities and I've just sort of fallen from one place to another. But, um, swimming is it's like living meditation. If you've got the right sets, um, or no set at all, and you're just up and down and you're thinking about the next stroke, it's just a really nice place to be I love how you said that it's a living meditation.

Speaker 1 4:28

I love how you said that it's a living meditation, yeah, and so when you say that it's a living meditation and you just talked about like swimming back and forth and what else does that do? Like cause, when I say that to people, Steph, and they're like meditation, what are you talking about? Like no, but I'm like, but it's like. Can you explain more of like what that means for you?

Speaker 2 4:48

it's can like. Can you explain more of like what that means for you? Yeah, um, I, my mind moves quickly a lot of the time and it's jumping from one place to another and I'm calming my life a little bit at the moment and so the thoughts are calming with it. But you know, there's always something else to think about. There's always something else you could be planning and your mind falls into it, and then you go to the pool and you've got your. You know, my favorite one is just 16 100s. That's one six, not six zero um off of a time, and I've just want to keep that turnaround going. So I'm thinking about one stroke in the next and the next, and does this feel like the last one did? And I can't think any further than the end of my fingertips. And I don't want to think any further than the end of my fingertips, and it's just. You have to be present in the moments and that's a nice quiet space to be.

Speaker 1 5:42

Yeah, that's so true. I got goosebumps Like I do when I hear things, and it's like it is, and it teaches you so much more Like that living meditation. I really like how you said that, and it's like it teaches you so much more about yourself out of the pool, too. It teaches you how to pause and be in the moment, like I love, though, though you just said like you can't like past your fingertips, like, yeah, it's, that was beautiful, so I mean something that, um, I've had a lot of people to say to me is that my gonna say nice things about myself now, um, that my swimming looks really nice and it feels it's.

Speaker 2 6:23

It's nice to watch, and I've sort of shrugged it off a lot of times and always just because I don't like moving my arms very fast. So we've got to be efficient. But I guess that's a lesson as well, because, you know, do you fight the water or are you working with it? And if you can bring working with things to your wider life, then things suddenly become a lot easier it's so true.

Speaker 1 6:50

It's so true. Um, I was uh coaching on the pool deck yesterday and we were doing like we were doing like not I don't like to call them time trials, I like to call them even more like benchmark or something, so it doesn't feel as pressured, because this is about seeing where you're at and it was beautiful to watch how how people are pacing themselves and not like going all out. They were learning how to build into like a strong set and they're like oh, I actually swam faster during that because I was more patient with myself instead of like exploding at the end and that that really does not feel right.

Speaker 1 7:26

When you do that, does it stuff like when you can't breathe.

Speaker 2 7:29

Yeah, this is uh what I was saying earlier, with hideous um. You know how can you take these things that you're doing in the pool and apply them to your wider life so that everything improves? Yeah, learn to pace yourself, learn to feel the water, you know?

Speaker 1 7:45

absolutely I just fight for the sake of fighting yeah, so I'm gonna bring it back to a couple things that you said, so we'll hunker into a couple things. So, um, when you we talked before we got came on here and you mentioned to me that. So now you, you really have a business now, so you've started a business, so can you tell us more about hideous swims? Absolutely?

Speaker 2 8:09

um. So when I was on last time, we were talking about hideous swims and at that point it was still sort of a pipe dream to be a real thing, and it was just, uh, an idea that the hideous, most hideous swims are the best ones, and for us that's a lot of butterfly, because butterfly solves many, many things and it has now sort of turn into a business. Um. So the idea is that, um, hideous swims can connect you and your aquatic skull together, um, whether it's through our queen of hideous swims program, uh, open to all genders, um, where you set yourself your goal, you like, what is the thing that you don't think you can do, but you're determined to do it and why is it going to be good for you and you have the hat to prove it at the end. Or whether we're connecting, uh you with, um a coach or a teacher who can help you to develop the specific skills that you're going to need to achieve what you want to do um and we.

Speaker 2 9:25

It was a really lovely bit of timing. Uh, towards the end of last year, I suddenly had, out of nowhere, a bunch of people from different directions go. I want to know how to do this and could you help me with this? Okay, well, I guess now is the moment and we jump and we did that's amazing.

Creating Inclusive Spaces in Artistic Swimming

Speaker 1 9:45

Yeah, congratulations, too, on bringing like. I love it. I love it when I see like other humans in the world like bringing their dream to life, because it takes a lot of courage to do that. So congratulations. And now you're doing something.

Speaker 2 10:00

You know you have a business and it's something that you love to do yeah, um, and it's been really nice that, organically, we're going along and um finding people who can help us along the way. Um, and hideius is going to help, hopefully, help them in some way. So, um, I have been chatting with an amazing dancer and choreographer, um, and they would like to get more involved in making artistic swimming, specifically, a more inclusive space. Um, and they've struggled with how to do that and I've got some access to the disability space within aquatics, and so we're now going to work on how we can make that dream a reality and hopefully benefit a lot of people.

Speaker 1 10:55

I love that. So, okay, can we dive into this more? So, artistic swimming, just for people that are listening right now is Kate? Correct me if I'm wrong, steph, but this is synchronized swimming.

Speaker 2 11:04

This is synchronized swimming, so we had a few years back, yeah, but it's one and the same.

Speaker 1 11:10

Okay, so for other people that are listening, just in case, so I want to dive into more of like, so around the artistic swimming and the invisible disabilities that you had mentioned to me earlier, and I love. This is just incredible what you're doing. Can you tell us more about? Like what does that vision look like? Like the future of that?

Speaker 2 11:29

Okay, so let's. The background is going to take a moment, but I think it's worth explaining. Yeah, so at the moment I teach synchro within two different spaces. One is in a traditional queer but otherwise traditional masters synchro club environment. We have a mixture of adult beginners and people who've been doing synchro for a long time and generally, um, there's no visible disabilities there, but we're a master's club, um, which means that there are age-related considerations, people's bodies that just start working differently. We've got a number of neurodivergences, we've got a number of other invisible disabilities, like arthritis, and not necessarily in our older swimmers, and so there's lots of adaptations that could be made and are made when we become aware of things, to try and make the space more inclusive.

Speaker 2 12:41

How do we give instructions? How do we adapt practices? Do you need to be doing exactly that thing? What is the purpose of you doing that exercise? Is it to learn a specific skill, or is it? Could it be achieved in a different way? And so that's's one side of things.

Speaker 2 13:00

And then, on the other side of things, I work within a disability swim school, so it's as much as anything a social club. Everybody turns up once a week to swim, with or without volunteer supporters and I teach artistic swimming on a one to one basis there, because we found-one works uh better for uh the swimmer that I'm working with, um, and one of the things that I noticed over the period of time working with him we've been working together for about five years now is that um not only has his synchro come along a really long way and he's put in an incredible amount of work, but the difference in his coordination. He has autism and one of his struggles can be to put together a series of instructions, one after the other, and he has now, uh just recently, done a performance uh, a minute and a half's worth of choreography, perfectly performed, with all of these um steps and minor corrections happening, which is brilliant, and so it's having that impact on him and his confidence uh as a person outside of the pool as well. But there's not much provision and if you've got invisible disabilities in a mainstream space, that person needs to disclose that it's happening sometimes for accommodations to be made and that's putting a lot of onus on the synchros. So within the disability space with obvious disabilities, there's not always a space for people um, and there are some people doing amazing work with there's um, a group called the electric eels here in the uk.

Speaker 2 15:02

Uh, that runs a synchro club for people with down syndrome and they look like they're doing amazing work uh, and their swimmers are off winning medals, but it but there's not a big joined up picture, and so I guess one of the things we're wanting to do that was a very long preamble is to do more work with more people with different types of disabilities, visible or invisible and create this bank of knowledge that coaches and teachers can use.

Speaker 2 15:34

Bank of knowledge that coaches and teachers can use and um so that they can adapt their practice to work for the people in the pool if they don't have the confidence of they. It's the first time they've come into contact with um someone with a particular disability or needing particular help that they can do that, and we can increase the provision of artistic swimming for the people who want it. Um, yeah, that's that's us. Um. The physical uh manifestation of that is we are trying to um pull together some grant money at the moment to run a series of one-to-one sessions with people uh across the disability swim clubs in the uk and build this bank of knowledge and um it's essentially um turn it into a qualification at the end of it. That's amazing. If it works, it will be amazing.

Speaker 1 16:30

Yeah, um sorry, that was a lot of talk no, that's, but you needed to do that, you needed to explain that and like wow, the UK is lucky to have you and all the swimmers are to create the space, and what I'm hearing is like like you're creating a safe space and a safe environment where people are feeling comfortable, right yeah, and I guess one of the things.

Speaker 2 16:54

I am quite lucky. Sorry, I've got a dog in the background, he's just jingling oh, don't even worry about it.

Speaker 1 16:59

I'll probably have a husband walking in the house sooner or later, so I'm in quite a privileged situation.

Speaker 2 17:07

I have an acquired neurodiversity, so I have brain damage, which is relevant, because I have done synchro um, growing up without brain damage, and I have then come back to synchro and I teach now and I swim now with that brain damage and so I've been able to see things from lots of different perspectives and all those things that you don't think about when it, when a situation works for you, you suddenly become very aware of and go, oh, we should do something about that.

Speaker 1 17:48

So I'm very privileged in that respect and you're doing something about it. And yeah, I feel like, do you know, steph, if there's like, have you? I know you're just starting and I don't mean to like overwhelm you with something here but like have you start thought about doing this like outside of the UK, like, or is somebody else doing it like around in the like, let's say, canada right now? But have you heard or anywhere else in Europe.

Speaker 2 18:15

Yes, yes ish, so, ish, um. So there's pockets, as there are with all sorts of movements. There's pockets everywhere. So, um, there is a group in the bay area, san Francisco. My US geography is not great, yes, just checked Bay Area, san Francisco, yeah, so there's pockets of it around, like other, and they're campaigning for it to be a recognized Paralympic sport and they're trying to bring together people around the world.

Speaker 1 18:48

And then, yeah, there's pockets of us that are doing things, but I don't think anything particularly joined up in an area it's interesting because I um I'm not gonna say who it is, but like I swim with someone once in a while at the pool that is quite involved with the Paralympics in Canada in some way. So, yeah, it's, yeah, it's interesting. Like there's something about what you're saying, though, like also like that I want to dive into, if you don't mind. It's around like we've talked about this inclusiveness in the water and I feel like that could go like even more. Like I feel, like in our community here, just for example, like I run a squad here and I, I, I want anybody to join. However, I know it's very much so on the women's side of thing, but it's, um, I feel like that's something that's missing and you're creating that moment, that that movement, if you want to call it right. You're creating a movement of that, and I, I feel in my community there there are people that would want to take part in something like that for sure.

Speaker 2 20:03

Um, because I hear it and maybe they don't know it's swimming yet um, but it's a confidence piece too, where, yes, absolutely um like I was saying before, um, you see the transfer, the transfer of of skills, and just how the swimmers feel in themselves as a person, and that comes out as well yes and yeah absolutely um, we're, you know, we're studying in the UK, but we will see where it goes to, because if something works, I think it should be shared um, I also feel like there's something here too, and I'm just gonna dive into it.

Speaker 1 20:45

Um, and my knowledge is is is not huge on this area, but like, but it surrounds me and I feel like there's an opportunity here as well, and maybe this is part of what you're doing as well as like with the community, um, like, when someone's transitioning from, like another gender, right so, and that is like, you know, coming on the pool deck once you're going through. That is that I I don't know what that feels like, right, but I feel like there's an opportunity there. I don't know what that feels like, right, but I feel like there's an opportunity there. I don't know. I'm just bringing this up because I'm just going with a feeling right now of where there could be some sort of swimming is beautiful, right, and it can transform you, and it depends on who the coach is in the atmosphere and how that person feels, if they feel safe. But I'm just gonna land that one with you. What?

Embracing Inclusivity in Aquatics

Speaker 2 21:34

are your thoughts? Yeah, um, you ask a question at a good time. Um, so, um, I said before I work within a um, a queer masters swimming club. Um, we also, we do the artistic swimming, we do the artistic swimming, we do the water polo, and having that space for trans swimmers, non-binary swimmers, swimmers who aren't 100% sure that they're going to feel safe and welcome on poolside, is something that we're really looking at at the moment, and so we're putting together some sessions at the moment, in the same way that we run women's only sessions. It's not to say that if you are a woman, you can only attend that session, or if you're trans, you can only attend that session. But if you'd like somewhere to step into that feels a little bit safer to start with, then here's your session and then if you want to go to the others and the spaces you recognize and you're not going to be alone on poolside, then please do that. But it's interesting speaking to swimmers, like whether there's disabilities, whether there there's gender presentation, anything. If you don't exist in the space, you don't necessarily understand what's missing or what is there. That's creating a barrier.

Speaker 2 23:04

So we found that, in the case of transformers, simply providing the information on what are the changing facilities like at your pool. Do they have cubicles? Is it all open changing? Is it, uh, mixed gender changing, like? Um? I don't know for where you are in canada, but we have here sometimes all cubicles, but any gender can be in there. They're changing villages, um, or there's other times it'll be male and female, um, are there any gender neutral spaces? Um, do the pools have any interesting rules on what they consider appropriate swimwear? Um, that sort of thing? So sometimes it's as easy as providing the information so that people feel comfortable making their own decisions yeah, yeah, it's very true.

Speaker 1 24:00

Yeah, now, I appreciate you sharing that and keep doing what you're doing. Stuff I'd like to know like out there, like is there. Is there anything that that I can support you with from here? I know that maybe that's a big question, but like is there.

Speaker 2 24:18

Should have put together a wishlist. Yeah, I think, in the first instance, it's really great just to be in situations like this where we're having conversations and more people get to hear about what's happening. Conversations and more people get to hear about what's happening. Um, once I started searching to see what existed within Disability Synchro. It turns out it it does exist. It is in some places. There are some people and they're doing amazing work, and I'm going to go um meet the Electric Eels in March to find out how they coach on a club basis. Um, but being able to have these conversations and get the word out there that you're doing something is already a great thing.

Speaker 1 25:02

Um, and I don't know when we spread to canada yeah, come to canada one day or come there one day. I will like, yeah, I'll come out there and visit sometime. But so I just want to dive into, like another question here. I want to know like I'm going to reframe this a bit so what is water? Or it's not even with the water Like what are the people like that are showing up to your artistic swimming? What are they teaching you?

Speaker 2 25:36

your artistic swimming. Um, what are they teaching you? Um, I will, in a minute, have something very deep about how to approach life. Um, but just on the face of it, it has been the most incredible learning journey, and you must have experienced it yourself, as as a coach. Um, there's so many parts of a stroke or a skill that you'll do, and you don't necessarily know how you do it, you just do it um.

Speaker 2 26:06

And so there's lots of things within the artistic swimming where, well you skull like this and it does this. I'm having to rethink how I teach everything, how I um give instructions. And again, why do we do it like this? Is there a functional? Can we achieve it in a different way? How do we adapt this? Um, and it's really lovely.

Speaker 2 26:39

I spend a lot of time having to listen to my swimmers, um, and because they can give they give the most amazing feedback on what works, what doesn't. Why doesn't it work? Um, and this one of the swimmers I work with is just, he started synchro in his 50s. He's got a whole bunch of disabilities to work with that don't necessarily make synchro very easy, and he is so honest about when he's scared. It's just um, um. I humbly think it's a trite word, maybe, but it's. It's difficult to be that honest with someone in the moment that you're being vulnerable, and he does it week after week, and he will tell me exactly when he's scared, when he's going to give it a go. Anxiety is high. But I want to try this and there's my deep answer for you.

Speaker 1 27:57

I am able to be honest with yourself and about yourself. Thanks for sharing that stuff. I just wanted to kind of like end this with what's something you just like, something just really quick that you just want to leave with others who are listening to, just really to consider when they're out there, like, or maybe this is a movement, like what's one thing that you would like to see other people take this, take away from our chat together quickly.

Speaker 2 28:32

Why are you doing what you're doing? Um, remember to ask yourself why you're doing what you're doing. Is there a reason? Is it going to help your life as a big picture thing, uh, or are you just doing it because you think you should? I love that you can help your longer way.

Speaker 1 28:56

Thanks, steph. Thanks so much for like taking the time and saying yes to coming back on Raw Podcast. I know you'll be back again. Let's do it another year. You'll come back and you'll have even more. So thank you so much for being on Raw Podcast, thank you.

Speaker 1 29:19

Thank you, steph, for being on raw podcast and for returning as a guest. It was almost just under a year ago. We spoke and met. Uh, thank you for sharing, uh, your new ventures coming up. Uh, you're an absolute inspiration and a gift to the uk, to the swimming industry. So keep doing what you're doing, keep making those dreams happen, and I know other people will feel the same way listening to this.

Speaker 1 29:43

I just loved diving into the conversation around inclusiveness in the water and how you're doing that through hideous swims and in the artistic swimming world. Keep doing that. You're doing that through hideous swims and in the artistic swimming world. Keep doing that. You're going to keep growing it and you've inspired me to do something as well. So, thank you, thank you so much for being here and I look forward to connecting again. Thank you everybody for listening to Raw Podcast. Whether it's your first one or millionth one, we greatly appreciate you being here. Please share this with your communities or someone who would love to listen to Raw Podcast and leave us a rating and a comment. Those really help us grow out into the water swimming world. Help us grow out into the water swimming world, um, and if you would like to be a guest on raw podcast or you know somebody that would be just amazing reach out to us. So thank you so much incredible, rad active water women. Keep being the beautiful souls that you are.