Swish — with help from the Bulls — aims to grow confidence and acceptance through basketball for the queer BIPOC community
CHICAGO — On a Sunday afternoon at Harrison Park in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood, the members of the Swish basketball organization are guaranteed to clap for one play: an air ball.
An average Swish session follows the paces of a typical practice: warmups, dribbling drills, shooting exercises, scrimmages. But that’s not the point of the organization, which seeks to connect the queer Black Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) community with basketball.
For founder Jamiece Adams (she/her), Swish goes beyond scoring — it’s about creating a space that previously didn’t exist in Chicago.
“Basketball is about community at its core,” Adams said. “That’s what we’re about. Swish is committed to creating a brave, safe space where we think critically about how to make a space inclusive, about how we hold people, see people and value people in a way that makes them feel good.”
As an organization, Swish is centered on queer joy. It began in 2021
