Volunteers donate their time in communities across our region, whether at a homeless shelter, a food bank, or an afterschool program. Charlotte resident Connie Oliphant, 86, was one of those people — and she shared her passion until her final days. According to an American Red Cross Survey, just over half of Americans lack basic swimming skills. Over the past four years, the retired teacher worked to help change that.
A few weeks before she unexpectedly died last weekend, WFAE interviewed Oliphant about her coaching methods and why she loved the pool.
A group of four adult swimmers gathered one recent evening by the edge of the pool with Connie Oliphant at West Charlotte High School. They had their water bottles, towels and swim caps on their heads as they heard Oliphant explain the warmup.
“Listen up, you’re going to do 4-times-25, free swim,” Oliphant said. "Push off, dolphin swim. You all remember dolphin swim, our legs together.”
One after another, the swimmers stepped up and dived into the deep end with a few friendly words of encouragement from Oliphant. She shouted things like "keep going" and "don't stop" across the pool, and also giggled along with the swimmers. Those characteristics were some of Oliphant's key trademarks, that several swimmers often pointed out about being coached by the senior.
Oliphant volunteered at Evolutionary Aquatics, a Black-led swim club that helps adults build confidence in the water. She had been coaching here over the past four years and was often one of the first people at the door, welcoming swimmers as they arrived for their session.
“It gives me a purpose for living,” Oliphant said. "Also, it gives me a reason to maintain and share my skills with others.”
Backstroke, freestyle, and treading water are skills swimmers learned and improved with Oliphant. The volunteer would often give swimmers tutorials on the movements they needed to make with their hands outside the pool before she would get them to dive in. The skills swimmers learned with Oliphant are the same skills that the Red Cross says people need to be considered competent in the water.
“It makes me feel like I’m worthy,” Oliphant said. "I have been able to do something for someone. To teach someone something that they wanted.”
Oliphant learned to swim at age 12, during the Jim Crow era when pools were segregated, and access for Black families was severely limited. North Carolina didn’t open its first integrated public pool, the Revolution Swimming Pool in Charlotte, until the 1960s. That’s when swimmers like Oliphant could finally dive in.
On the recent swim day — Alisha King stood on the edge next to a lifeguard, giving coaching tips to some swimmers in the water, focused on their side strokes.
“While you're doing it, though, assess what you're doing,” King said. "Think about what you're doing, that way, you know what feels good and what feels wrong.”
King is the assistant director at the swim club. She says Oliphant is proof that it’s never too late to follow your passion.
“It doesn’t matter your age when you start. Just do it!” King said. "Connie is a testament of just keep going and doing things that you love.”
A few lanes down, getting life-saving coaching instructions from Oliphant, was Marlisa Bullock-Durham. The 63-year-old nurse was learning to tread water. Oliphant bent down to the edge of the pool and offered Bullock-Durham some tips.
“She was looking at me dead in my eye. She told me exactly what to do,” Bullock-Durham said. "And she made me feel good. You know, she made me less fearful.”
For Bullock-Durham, feeling good and confident in the water is extremely important for a specific reason.
“Oh my God, it's massive because I do a lot of international travel,” where she often encounters water, Bullock-Durham said.
The confidence Bullock-Durham gets from her coach is something Oliphant said she felt right back by showing up to teach.
“I had stopped driving at night, but then I drove down tonight, and I’m saying, ‘Aw, that wasn’t so bad.’" Oliphant said. "I drive now and then in the dark, but it just really pushes me to live life.”
Oliphant died last weekend, while this story was in progress. She was still sharing her passion and her skills. On Saturday, a memorial service in Charlotte will give many of the swimmers and coaches she trained an opportunity to thank the volunteer who spent her final years providing lifesaving instruction.
