how do I switch to play as black?

Just joined but can't figure out how to play as black instead of white. help, please.

No no no. Play white first, then next time (rematch) you will be black.

Simples!!! 

There should also be a setting which allows a player to only play as a particular color if the player wishes.

If everyone wants to only play as white then that we would too bad, since there would be no games played. However, I don't think that would happen. For my part, I only wish to play as black and, unfortunately, chess.com does not seem to give me this option, as of yet. Hopefully, in the future, it will be able to do this, as a setting option.

I NEED to practice black. Do you really need to play white first and win?

before you play there is a choosing panel then u chose which colour u want to play as

Figured it out - choose adapatable chess and hit "Choose" then play

I doubt im gonna get an answer because the most recent was from 2 years ago but i want to be able to play black

You can choose color when playing unrated.

https://support.chess.com/article/1304-how-can-i-choose-my-color