PDR Swimming for Success

History 

In 1971, Jim Ellis formed PDR (Philadelphia Department of Recreation) Swim Team - the first African-American swim team in the country. The team originally practiced in West Philadelphia at Sayre Recreation Center, then moved to Marcus Foster Recreation Center in the Nicetown neighborhood of Philadelphia in 1979. Until 2010, Jim continued to coach swimming at the Marcus Foster pool, with the program qualifying swimmers for the US Olympic Trials from 1992 through 2008. 

In 2010, Jim moved to the newly built pool at the Salvation Army and started the Salvation Army Kroc Aquatics (SAKA) team. After nearly a decade as SAKA, Jim brought PDR back for the 2019 – 2020 season and since that time has continued to make great strides with the team.

Mission

PDR Swimming provides youth and young adults from diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds with access to competitive swimming to foster self-confidence, sportsmanship, leadership.

Vision

• Enhance the health and wellness of communities by increasing opportunities to swim at all levels of competition
• Change the face of swimming by increasing access to the sport for diverse groups of children and families
• Provide access to the sport of swimming from Learn to Swim programs and swim safety training to individual and team competition at the highest level of the sport

Values

PDR Swimming provides youth ages 5 and older with access to competitive swimming to foster self-confidence, team-building, sportsmanship, responsibility, leadership and academic achievement.

We provide a healthy and stimulating environment where young athletes build the confidence to both compete in the sport and thrive academically. We bring together families from diverse ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds to encourage a sense of community and commitment to one another.