Warner Bros. Studios partnered with the Howard University swim and dive team to host a special practice and day party to help promote their new movie Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.
The practice took place at Burr Gymnasium on Dec. 9 and provided the team the opportunity to have fun amid the grind of the season.
Warner Bros. made this move due to the recent success and media attention that the Bison have garnered over the past couple of years, Nicholas Askew, head coach of the Howard swim and dive team, said. The studio provided free movie tickets to the Dec. 22 premier of the new movie to attendees at the event.
Askew spoke on team successes – specifically last year’s Battle off the Burr versus Georgetown University and the men’s first conference championship in 30 years playing a part in presenting the opportunity for the program.
“They chose us because of our profile with our Howard University swimming and diving program and how well that they have done in the past couple years,” Askew said. “A lot of our team are big movie fans and definitely love the DC universe within it with Justice League and Aquaman and things like that. So, I was excited to see what we could do.”
The open practice featured a DJ who narrated the practice while playing live music for everyone to enjoy. The team wanted to stay within the normalcy of their day-to-day practices as they are now less than 70 days away from the NEC conference championship. Langston Weddington, a swimmer on the team, spoke on how it felt to show fans a different aspect of the sport they normally don’t see, while also being able to inspire the young swimmers of the future.
“It was a great feeling because we got to showcase the exciting aspect of the sport and we were able to do it in front of a lot of kids that came out and aspire to be swimmers for Howard in the future,” Weddington said. “It was also great to be able to get a slight break from the regular ole come in and hurt and go about your day. It was a big success for everyone involved from the team, to the coaching staff, and our supporters that came out and got to take part in the action.”
Tristan Stevens, also a swimmer on the team, would describe the support from the outside the community as “something that motivates and makes the team happy and ready to put out for the Bison.”
The event took place on a Saturday, a day that the team usually uses to take data and learn what swimmers and divers need to improve on throughout the season.
“You’ve got to adapt and still perform under high (intensity) circumstances. So we tried to simulate that environment on Saturday. That helps us with information about who’s going to compete in the next competition and what events that they’re gonna compete in. So Saturday is all about competing and racing,” Askew said.
With the team so close to conference competition in search of bringing another championship to Howard University, Askew believes that an increase in the team’s level of competition this season has served them well heading into conference play.
“I think we’ve managed the season really well. We tried to make our schedule a little bit tougher for us this year off the success that we had last year. Just kind of pushing the envelope every single season, seeing where we are and then saying, ‘can we be better?’” Askew said.
“We definitely identify that adding some stronger teams to our schedule is gonna give us an opportunity to keep pushing that envelope and use it as fuel to train even harder to do even better throughout the year,” Askew continued.
The Howard University swim and dive team will begin the NEC championships on Feb. 20 in Geneva, Ohio.
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