Williams Swim and Dive is hosting their last dual meet of the season this coming Friday, January 20th at 2pm against MIT and NYU. This meet will be the team's first Pride Meet: members of the Williams Swim and Dive team will race in caps displaying a pride flag in a celebration of queer athletes. The Samuelson-Muir Pool will be decorated with posters made by members of the team making statements of support and celebrating queerness, both in and out of athletic spaces. Additionally, before the beginning of the meet, a statement written by members of the Williams Swim and Dive team will be read about the importance and meaning behind this event.
The following paragraph presents an explanation of the meet from the perspective of members of the Williams Swim and Dive team:
First and foremost, this meet is a celebration of the beauty and joy of queerness. The Williams Swim and Dive team has come a long way in past years to create a space that celebrates queer people, but we still have a lot of work to do, and we must always consciously take steps towards inclusion. There have always been and always will be queer people on our teams, so making team spaces safe and welcoming for all people is of the utmost importance. By having this Pride Meet, we hope to take the next step to creating a space on our team, and in athletics broadly, where queer people feel safe, welcomed, and comfortable being their full selves. This meet pays homage to the queer people before us who worked to make our team a more inclusive space. It is also a demonstration of our commitment to our current and future queer members that we are a team that makes valuing and uplifting queer people a priority.
The Williams Swim and Dive team was inspired to run this event by the Amherst Swim and Dive team's annual pride meet, and they hope to inspire other teams, both at Williams and beyond Williams, to take their own steps towards the complete inclusion and joyous celebration of queer people.
