JOHN YANG: The sport of swimming is dominated by white athletes.

Today only 2 percent of all college swimmers are black.

But one school is trying to change that.

Since 2016, Howard University has been the only historically black school with a swim team.

Stephanie Sy has more on Howardús push to bring more diversity to the sport.

STEPHANIE SY: This week, Howard Universityús swim team is set to compete in their conference championship.

If they win, it will be the first title in more than 30 years.

Howard is home to about a third of all black college swimmers.

But the team hopes their success will inspire more black Americans to take the dive.

Howard swim Coach Nick Askew, you joins me now.

Coach Nick, thank you so much for joining us.

How are you feeling going into the conference championship?

NICHOLAS ASKEW, Director of Swimming and Diving, Howard University: Stephanie, Iúm feeling super good.

Right now our team has done the work.

And theyúre so excited to be able to be in Geneva, Ohio, at the spire Institute, and just have some fun.

STEPHANIE SY: I just want to ask you about this team.

And what makes it so special, because I hear that you have quite a crowd showing up at your means.

NICHOLAS ASKEW: Yes, our home events are just that they are events, we took a lot of time thinking about how can we get more people to come out and support this swimming and diving team.

Number one is music.

You got to have some music to keep the energy going in the crowd.

So we have an on deck DJ, for all of our home meets.

And weúve been doing that from the very beginning.

Number two, you got to offer some food.

So meats are hot, theyúre long, you donút want to lose your supporters because they were hungry.

And then number three, the thing that we work super, super hard on day in and day out, is making sure that we can deliver a product that people would be interested in.

Weúve got to be good enough to win.

We got to be good enough to compete against the top teams to make it exciting.

STEPHANIE SY: So youúre not just a coach, youúre a one man marketing team used to have worked.

I do want to talk about what is going on in the world of swimming when it comes to HBCUs.

Because from what I understand, itús only Howard at this point that has this program.

Why is that?

NICHOLAS ASKEW: Yes, weúre the standalone program.

Weúre glad to be that flagship.

Weúre hopeful, weúre praying that other HBCUs are taking note of the things that weúre able to do and capable of accomplishing and are inspired to bring their programs back.

Because prior to the 80s, there were 20 plus HBCUs that had swimming and diving programs.

There are so many young, black and brown children out there who are aspiring to swim at a collegiate level and want to have an HBCU experience.

STEPNANIE SY: Beyond HBCUs.

Why do you see such low participation in competitive swimming among black Americans?

And you kind of alluded to this, you feel like blacks have been shut out?

What do you mean by that go into a little bit of the history?

NICHOLAS ASKEW: Absolutely, we have to be honest about the lack of access.

You know, when there was integration, and people that live within the inner city were mostly minorities, and the people who moved out were mostly white.

And when they moved out of the area, the facilities that were there for public access, started to wear down to the point where they could not be operational.

Then on the contrast, you had country clubs opening up that, you know, the minorities were not able to get to.

And they were also denied membership.

You go even farther back, like people from Africa were swimmers.

They swam for their livelihood, because most of the civilizations were on waterways.

And then the transatlantic slave trade they were taking from their homeland, and they were enslaved.

And once they entered into the Americas, the civilizations were also in waterways, but they were seen as ways of escape by our ancestral people who could swim at the time, but they were threatened.

They were severely punished for trying to escape.

So as a loved one, of course, as a mother or a father or a sibling, youúre telling your family to stay away from the water.

And then, you know, fast forward into modern day history, being denied access on such a grand scale, really, really diminish the amount of people of color and other minorities that actually can swim, or will even pursue a competitive swim opportunities.

STEPNANIE SY It sounds like, Coach Nick, youúre on much more of a mission than just winning the championship next week, it sounds like you really have a point that you want to make.

NICHOLAS ASKEW: Yes, absolutely.

What we do and what we talked about as a program as an organization is we need to be that representation to dispel the myth that blacks donút swim, we actually do and we can do it very well, just like anyone else who has an opportunity and access.

STEPHANIE SY: What would you like to see the future be not only for the swim program at your college, but at other colleges?

And historically black colleges in particular?

NICHOLAS ASKEW: Yes, itúll swimming is based on time a fraction of a second.

So every little bit every small step in the right direction is success for us and weúre very exciting team.

We like to have fun, and weúd love for people to be inspired by that.

Weúd love for people to be able to see us as a representation of things that were not in our wheelhouse to be able to accomplish.

We want to be that inspiration for them in all aspects of life, not just in swimming.

STEPHANIE SY: Well, I wish you and your team the best of luck.

Coach Nick Askew, the director of tennis, swimming and diving at Howard University.

Thank you.

NICHOLAS ASKEW: Stephanie, thank you so much.