Monday, August 1, 2022
Sunkist Head Coach Mathew Mixon is Changing Kids’ Lives with Outreach Program
Photo courtesy of Sunkist Swim Team & Joe Mixon
Over the course of eight weeks this summer, 360 children in Jackson, Mississippi, will receive free swim lessons through the outreach program SPLASH (Students Practicing Life Altering Swim Habits) and will leave with a smile and the confidence of knowing how to swim. The program was founded by Sunkist Swim Team Head Coach Mathew Mixon and is aligned with the 100 Black Men organization and Operation Shoestring, with the aim of helping as many kids gain water safety and swim skills as possible.
The SPLASH program is offered completely free to all of its participants as a way of helping build up the community, and it gives many people the opportunity to learn to swim that they may not have had previously or been able to afford otherwise.
“The first two days of class are focused a lot on water safety, and then we start with a basic evaluation. After that, they are placed in groups and we start our learn to swim skills. The amount of confidence and happiness and everything that comes with the program has been very rewarding to all the swimmers, instructors, parents, the 100 Black Men organization and the other organizations that come in for the lessons. It’s been very exciting to see the impact,” Mixon said.
Mixon, who has a water tattoo on his left arm to show his love for swimming, has always had a passion for serving others. He first developed the outreach program curriculum when he was in Warren County, Mississippi.
“There were two years when I was able to run all the second and third graders in the school district through this program,” he stated.
The SPLASH program then gained recognition when Mixon partnered with 100 Black Men last summer to provide the opportunity to teach the Jackson area youth to learn to swim.
“We started with a basic two-week program. It was a pilot program for us to get it off the ground,” he said.
And now, the program nears its end for the summer, as it took place from June 1 to August 1. Mixon said he combined a Red Cross curriculum with his years of coaching experience and condensed it into the current SPLASH program, which contains lifesaving swimming skills.
The program accepted students ages 8 to 18 and had its programming take place at the 100 Black Men facility. The students participating in the program are bussed to the pool if they do not have a parent or grandparent to bring them. Students are taught front float, back float, glide, glide and kick, transition from stomach to back, treading water, jumping into the pool and getting back over to the side and beginner freestyle.
“At any given time, there’s no more than 15 swimmers in the water, and I’ll have three instructors in the water and a manager on deck. With college and high school age workers, I have a different staff that rotates in every two weeks. I have a syllabus and a color-coordinated system, and I go over it with them so they know on a day-by-day what they are doing with each group before coming in to teach,” Mixon said.
He added, “We are offering swim lessons completely free to the members and they are really taking advantage of it. They show up every day. Over the last three weeks, attendance has been solid. They come to every session. Just this week, I had swimmers that were rated at very beginner level. They were very nervous, had high anxiety about getting their face in the water, and just after three or four sessions I got some video of them doing some pretty good beginner freestyle. It’s just that they need the avenue and the opportunity and that’s what we are able to give them.”
Mixon said he believes there is still room for growth for the program with some afternoon sessions when more people sign up. 100 Black Men often collaborates with other non-profits such as Operation Shoestring and the Jackson Police Department, which offers a camp over the summer.
With more non-profit organizations in the mix, SPLASH is able to outreach its swim lessons to even more people throughout the city. In addition, the partnership with 100 Black Men has helped SPLASH greatly with funding, thanks to donors and local area businesses that see the need for swim lessons and the impression the program is making on the community.
The feedback from both swimmers and parents has been very positive as well.
“We have some swimmers that returned from last year, which we encourage them to continue the skills. We give each swimmer a skills check card at the end so they can kind of know where they are at and what they need to work on. But all in all, from the instructors to the parents to the swimmers, everyone is very supportive of the program,” he said.
Mixon continued, “We’re trying to get the students more involved in the swimming at the next level. At the end of each session, we introduce them to the Jackson public school system’s high school coach, and we also tell their parents about some local area pools that are either cost free or at a budgeted cost. We try to provide them with more information so if they want to continue swimming and keep on pursuing it whether it be competitive or just a continuation of learn to swim, they have the education on how to do that.”
Mixon is in his fourth season as the head coach of Sunkist Swim Team, which was founded in 1975 and has won a total of 37 state championships. The team is currently seeded second in their LSC with swimmers ages ranging from 4 to 21.
Mixon, who has won Age Group Coach of the Year twice and Senior Coach of the Year in 2021, mentioned that they will probably have some swimmers from SPLASH transition to the swim team after the last session.
He discussed that he hopes to expand the outreach program to help as many people as possible learn to swim.
Over the course of eight weeks this summer, 360 children in Jackson, Mississippi, will receive free swim lessons through the outreach program SPLASH (Students Practicing Life Altering Swim Habits) and will leave with a smile and the confidence of knowing how to swim. The program was founded by Sunkist Swim Team Head Coach Mathew Mixon and is aligned with the 100 Black Men organization and Operation Shoestring, with the aim of helping as many kids gain water safety and swim skills as possible.
The SPLASH program is offered completely free to all of its participants as a way of helping build up the community, and it gives many people the opportunity to learn to swim that they may not have had previously or been able to afford otherwise.
“The first two days of class are focused a lot on water safety, and then we start with a basic evaluation. After that, they are placed in groups and we start our learn to swim skills. The amount of confidence and happiness and everything that comes with the program has been very rewarding to all the swimmers, instructors, parents, the 100 Black Men organization and the other organizations that come in for the lessons. It’s been very exciting to see the impact,” Mixon said.
Mixon, who has a water tattoo on his left arm to show his love for swimming, has always had a passion for serving others. He first developed the outreach program curriculum when he was in Warren County, Mississippi.
“There were two years when I was able to run all the second and third graders in the school district through this program,” he stated.
The SPLASH program then gained recognition when Mixon partnered with 100 Black Men last summer to provide the opportunity to teach the Jackson area youth to learn to swim.
“We started with a basic two-week program. It was a pilot program for us to get it off the ground,” he said.
And now, the program nears its end for the summer, as it took place from June 1 to August 1. Mixon said he combined a Red Cross curriculum with his years of coaching experience and condensed it into the current SPLASH program, which contains lifesaving swimming skills.
The program accepted students ages 8 to 18 and had its programming take place at the 100 Black Men facility. The students participating in the program are bussed to the pool if they do not have a parent or grandparent to bring them. Students are taught front float, back float, glide, glide and kick, transition from stomach to back, treading water, jumping into the pool and getting back over to the side and beginner freestyle.
“At any given time, there’s no more than 15 swimmers in the water, and I’ll have three instructors in the water and a manager on deck. With college and high school age workers, I have a different staff that rotates in every two weeks. I have a syllabus and a color-coordinated system, and I go over it with them so they know on a day-by-day what they are doing with each group before coming in to teach,” Mixon said.
He added, “We are offering swim lessons completely free to the members and they are really taking advantage of it. They show up every day. Over the last three weeks, attendance has been solid. They come to every session. Just this week, I had swimmers that were rated at very beginner level. They were very nervous, had high anxiety about getting their face in the water, and just after three or four sessions I got some video of them doing some pretty good beginner freestyle. It’s just that they need the avenue and the opportunity and that’s what we are able to give them.”
Mixon said he believes there is still room for growth for the program with some afternoon sessions when more people sign up. 100 Black Men often collaborates with other non-profits such as Operation Shoestring and the Jackson Police Department, which offers a camp over the summer.
With more non-profit organizations in the mix, SPLASH is able to outreach its swim lessons to even more people throughout the city. In addition, the partnership with 100 Black Men has helped SPLASH greatly with funding, thanks to donors and local area businesses that see the need for swim lessons and the impression the program is making on the community.
The feedback from both swimmers and parents has been very positive as well.
“We have some swimmers that returned from last year, which we encourage them to continue the skills. We give each swimmer a skills check card at the end so they can kind of know where they are at and what they need to work on. But all in all, from the instructors to the parents to the swimmers, everyone is very supportive of the program,” he said.
Mixon continued, “We’re trying to get the students more involved in the swimming at the next level. At the end of each session, we introduce them to the Jackson public school system’s high school coach, and we also tell their parents about some local area pools that are either cost free or at a budgeted cost. We try to provide them with more information so if they want to continue swimming and keep on pursuing it whether it be competitive or just a continuation of learn to swim, they have the education on how to do that.”
Mixon is in his fourth season as the head coach of Sunkist Swim Team, which was founded in 1975 and has won a total of 37 state championships. The team is currently seeded second in their LSC with swimmers ages ranging from 4 to 21.
Mixon, who has won Age Group Coach of the Year twice and Senior Coach of the Year in 2021, mentioned that they will probably have some swimmers from SPLASH transition to the swim team after the last session.
He discussed that he hopes to expand the outreach program to help as many people as possible learn to swim.