In the land of 10,000 lakes, an upcoming sports center seeks to make swimming more accessible and bolster the local community.
The V3 Center at 701 Plymouth Ave. N. in north Minneapolis expects to open its doors to the first of two development phases in April.
“It’s important for us to be able to enjoy these amenities that we have in the state of Minnesota, but then also to be able to save ourselves if we get into a drowning situation,” said Malik Rucker, executive director of V3 Sports.
According to Rucker, V3 began as a triathlon team in north Minneapolis operating out of a YMCA on West Broadway Avenue. But after the YMCA temporarily shut down it became clear there was limited infrastructure in north Minneapolis for training, said Erika Binger, founding director of V3 Sports. After that, said Binger, she “pivoted from coaching and training to creating a space where our community could come together and have that access and opportunity.”
Near North, the neighborhood where the center is located, has a Black majority population. According to a 2022 grant request for proposals from the Minnesota Department of Health, Black men ages 15 to 24 had a drowning rate three times higher than other young men in the same age group. The rate of drowning for Blacks in Minnesota, the document also stated, was 2.2 per 100,000 compared to 1.2 per 100,000 for white Minnesotans. In the broader United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control, the drowning death rate for Black people in America is 1.5 times higher than the death rate of whites.
To explain what he describes as a “fear” of or aversion to water within the community, Rucker looks to historical trauma.
“Water is a scary thing in itself. But historically the Black community has years and years and years, hundreds of years, of trauma … people jumping off slave ships into the middle of the ocean because they don’t want to go to wherever they’re getting taken,” Rucker said. “Then you have segregation, and pools getting integrated and white people pouring acid and putting nails at the bottom of pools and (Black people) not having the ability to have access to pool water. Those are our grandparents (who) have experienced some of that historical trauma around water, which is passed down generationally. If the parent doesn’t know how to swim, there’s only a 19% chance of the child to get to know how to swim.”
And that’s where V3 comes in.
“So for some of our grandparents that didn’t get that opportunity, we’ll be a space for them to learn, and also for their kids and grandkids,” said Rucker.
To combat fear that may have been passed down, the swimming curriculum at V3 will begin with asking students how they feel about water today – a step that is “built for the Minneapolis and north Minneapolis community.” Before students even get in the water, those fears will be addressed.
Though swimming is a major part of the Center – which currently houses a 25 yard pool along with a hydrotherapy pool and will have a 50 meter pool added in the second phase of its development – it’s also going to serve as a community hub. V3 has partnered with Agape Oasis to bring a drop-in childcare facility to the center and there will be a 50 seat restaurant with catering capabilities, a space for the Boys and Girls Club, multipurpose courts and exercise rooms, along with other multipurpose spaces.
“The overall commitment to north Minneapolis is much bigger than this space,” Rucker said. “Ultimately, the community and the partnerships with other nonprofit partners is what’s going to make this place go.”
Chiropractor and community member Dr. Juneau Robbins, who lives two blocks away from the site, said he is excited about the V3 Sports Center’s capacity to have space for swim competitions with the Olympic pool coming in the Center’s second phase. As a father to a 13-year-old son, Robbins is also glad there will be a space for him to play basketball and swim.
“He’s (been) taking swimming lessons only one year, so he’s adequate, we’re comfortable with him in the water,” said Robbins. “I’m super excited for (the Center) from a swimming standpoint, but also from the community center standpoint … the basketball courts are gonna be there, he’ll be able to go over there (and) be in a positive environment.”
For Binger, whose family founded the McKnight Foundation in Minneapolis, where she is on the board, the V3 Center is different from the more traditional philanthropy she and her family have been engaged in.
“I think it’s gotten a lot better, but in the past, philanthropy doesn’t exist without challenges and issues,” said Binger. “So if you find solutions … philanthropy goes away. In the past, it’s been a very niche entity and has not done a good job with actually listening to voices of people who are most impacted and centering them and creating a place for them at the table to have their voices and solutions listened to and followed.”
And in the creation of V3, community members’ input was centered. For example, said Binger, the input of Muslim community members led to the addition of blinds that may be drawn so that those outside the pool are unable to look inside during women’s only swimming lessons.
“It’s been predominantly Muslim women who have been participating in (planning the women’s only swim),” Binger said. “And we wanted to make sure that they also felt they belonged and were welcomed in this space, so we worked with them to determine what type of screens and visual barriers we should have around the pool so that they would be able to be in the water and still observe their traditions.”
Recently, V3 triathlon alumni, board members and staff held a “splash party” at the building, where they were able to take a swim. The alumni are in their mid-twenties now, according to Binger, but still remember when the V3 Sports Center was just an idea.
“They’re like, ‘Coach, you talked about this building when we were training and now it’s here,’” Binger said “When you talk about vision and you talk about dreams and you talk about goals with young people … and then you accomplish it, they can see that they can do the same thing.”
Deanna Pistono
Deanna Pistono is MinnPost’s Race & Health Equity fellow. Follow her on Twitter @deannapistono or email her at dpistono@minnpost.com.
