Ann Smith and Madeline Murphy Rabb are 82 and 76 years old respectively, and nothing — not age, not race, and certainly not Chicago’s notorious weather — will stop them from meeting with their trainer Derrick Milligan.
The two women are getting ready for their fifth and third National Senior Games respectively, where they will likely be the only Black women competing in the swim events in their age groups. Both are used to breaking barriers and defying stereotypes. Age nor retirement has slowed them down.
In the short documentary film TEAM DREAM, we follow the best friends in their final weeks of preparation before the competition. While they train, we learn that they are not only up against the clock, but Covid and, in the case of Madeline, her older son’s concerns that she is pushing herself too hard. We see the women experiencing joy not just in competition but in community with other Black women, of all ages and socio-economic groups, who have come to Team Dream, the Chicago based organization that Milligan started to train women of color in swimming, biking and triathlon. As the Dreamers ride their bikes along Lake Michigan, we catch snippets of them swapping stories and advice, making wisecracks about Coach Derrick, laughing and reveling in the moment. And we meet Misha, a new addition to the Dreamers, a young Black college graduate who is still trying to find her way. A former Division One swimmer, her career is over but she has been hired to help Madeline and Ann with their turns. But, it’s really the two older women who help Misha outside the pool to overcome the micro-aggressions of college and the overwhelmingly white art world she is trying to break into.
