OUR STORY
CHANGING THE STORY AROUND WATER.
SWYMBLK Association was created with a simple belief: everyone deserves the knowledge, access and opportunity to feel safer and more confident around water.
But for too many families—particularly in communities that have historically had less access to swim education—learning to swim isn't always as simple as signing up for lessons. Cost, access, representation, equipment and even generational experiences around water can all stand in the way.
We're here to help change that.
HOW IT STARTED
SWYMBLK Association began with a realization.
Before there was SWYM, there was SWIMBLK. Co-founders Bri Bucks and Darius Mylik created SWIMBLK after realizing just how many of their friends, family members and people from similar backgrounds had never learned how to swim.
For Bri, that realization was especially eye-opening. Her father taught her to swim at an early age, and growing up, she assumed that experience was common. It wasn't.
When SWIMBLK launched its first adult swim lessons, they sold out almost immediately. But it was the response from participants—their stories, gratitude, newfound confidence and the significance of finally learning a skill many had gone their entire lives without—that revealed just how much bigger the need really was.
And the connection to water safety was also personal. Generations earlier, Bri's grandmother lost her brother to drowning when he was just a child.
As SWIMBLK grew, one question became impossible to ignore:
If so many adults never had access to these skills, what could we do to change that story for the next generation?
In April 2026, SWYMBLK Association was created to help answer that question—expanding the work beyond swim lessons to address water-safety education, access, resources, advocacy and opportunities for youth and families.
SWIMBLK showed us the need. SWYMBLK gave us a way to go further.
WE'RE JUST GETTING STARTED.
OUR MISSION
To expand access to swim education, water-safety resources and aquatic opportunities through education, community engagement and advocacy.
EDUCATION. ACCESS. ADVOCACY.
EDUCATION
Gives people the knowledge and skills to make safer choices around water.
ACCESS
Helps remove the financial, geographic and systemic barriers that can keep people out of the water.
ADVOCACY
Keeps water safety, drowning prevention and equitable aquatic opportunities part of the conversation.
MORE THAN SWIMMING.
Learning how to swim can save a life—but our vision doesn't end at the edge of the pool.
We want children and families to see water as a place where they can learn, belong, explore and thrive.
That means creating pathways to water-safety education, recreational swimming, competitive aquatics, employment, leadership and experiences that may once have felt out of reach.
WE'RE NOT SIMPLY CREATING SWIMMERS. WE'RE CHANGING RELATIONSHIPS WITH WATER.
MEET THE PEOPLE BEHIND SWYM
Bri bucks
Founder & President
Bri Bucks is the Founder and President of SWYMBLK Association and Co-Founder of SWIMBLK. After seeing the overwhelming response to SWIMBLK's adult swim lessons, Bri recognized an opportunity to address the barriers to water safety before they followed another generation. Her vision for SWYM is rooted in education, access and advocacy—and a belief that every child deserves the opportunity to grow up safer and more confident around water.
Teyanna Davis
Board Secretary
Darius Mylik
Advisory board member
Vacant
[Board Role]
WHERE WE'RE GOING
We're still at the beginning of our story.
Over the next decade, we envision SWYM growing into communities across the country—creating greater access to swim education, water-safety resources and opportunities in aquatics.
Our long-term vision includes establishing SWYM aquatic centers in multiple communities, creating dedicated spaces where children and families can consistently access swim education, water-safety programming, aquatic training and community resources.
We want to help build a future where fewer families experience preventable drowning tragedies, more children grow up confident around water, and access to aquatic opportunities is no longer determined by income, geography or circumstance.
Most importantly, we want SWYM to be on the frontlines of reducing drowning and changing the relationship generations of families have with water.