Swimming is finally over for the summer. I'm so proud of the kids. We had some really long days - two hour afternoon practices and then back to the pool that night a lot of times for the night practices. A few days the kids hung out with friends in the morning at the zoo or a park and then after practice I would bring home a car load of boys for the rest of the afternoon then take them all back to swim at night. It was fun to look outside and see 6 boys running around my neighborhood on scooters or bikes playing a nerf war in their speedos! Swim kids think nothing of it! It was so fun we did it several times that week. Our neighbors have asked when the swim team kids will come again.
This is really our first week all summer for lazy days and its 4pm and Joel has yet to get dressed. We are enjoying the slow pace this week!
Colin worked so hard to get on the A team relay. They have an A, B, and C teams and you have to be the fastest free times for the A team. Our A teams usually makes it to All Stars and Colin would LOVE to make All Stars. He worked so hard in practice for weeks. The last meet he requested to be put in free so he could try to beat his time - he needed to drop 0.20 seconds to beat Owen or Max to get his spot on the team. He just needed to beat one of them. The two other swimmers were already determined - they were 12 year old boys with much faster times. Colin, Owen and Max were all trying to get the next two spots on the relay team. Everyone knew Colin was trying to get on that relay team. The other moms and I were talking how we were all torn because whoever was the 3rd boy wouldn't make the relay team. We all knew one boy would be heartbroken at the end of the race. They were all swimming it together in the same heat so we would immediately know who was on the relay team. Well his event came and Colin requested me to go down to the end of the pool to yell at him when he did his flip turn.
(Side note: I would go down and yell at him when he would do his turns to help him to get off the wall faster. He asked me after a few meets why I kept yelling at him - I do yell for him pretty loud - but I said to get you off that wall faster. Did it work? He thought about it and said yes and then usually will come find me and ask that I'm at the end of the pool each race)
He came out strong but as soon as he came out of his turn he was behind Max and Owen. My heart sank. There is nothing like seeing your hopes crushed while you are still swimming. Owen was next to him and Colin knew Owen was beating him. But he finished strong and dropped TWO seconds which is huge! Unfortunately Max and Owen dropped over two seconds and Colin was not going to be on the team they took to Divisionals and then All Stars. He was crushed but I was very proud how he handled himself. Sometimes its in the disappointment where you learn the most. I teared up watching Colin handle himself, another mom teared up, even his coach came to find me and said how he knew exactly how Colin felt. We are part of a really great team! Max came up to me with a handful of money and asked if it was ok for him to buy Colin some candy at the concessions. Sweet Sweet boy. A brownie and skittles eased the pain a little - but he and I were up well past midnight talking about the race that night and just sitting with him while he cried.
So he didn't make Divisionals in the relay but he made it in 50 Fly and 50 back. He actually went to Divisionals in the 13-14 boys 50 back and did really well! So proud of him. Backstroke is not his stroke. He usually keeps his head up way too high. He also cheered his hardest for the relay team he wanted to be on. And that made me very proud because I knew how badly he wanted to be swimming in that relay. He missed All Stars by less than a second in butterfly but I told him he finished 15 place in the entire league - out of 21 teams and when our team is 150 swimmers and one of the medium sized teams he should feel very proud of himself. We are very proud of him. He's not wanting to do year round swimming - I think his first love is still basketball but we are looking into a rec league for the winter and also will continue with our teams conditioning practices all winter.
This boy didn't make Divisionals or All Stars this year. After they posted the list he came up and told me and said "thats ok - I didn't want to do practice anyways" Ha! He has however been wearing his All Stars shirt A LOT the past two weeks (hahaha)which is sometimes hard for Colin because Colin is dying to make All Stars just once and puts so much work into it and his brother made it two years in a row and doesn't work at all. Joel did however turn it on the last week of practice. I have never seen him work so hard in practice - he usually slacks off big time but he also dropped a ton of time the last meet. I told him I had never seen him swim so hard. I think he's glad he didn't stay retired this summer and had fun swimming with his friends.
When you leave a swim meet at midnight because your mommy is on the swim team board and has to clean up. I will say bedtimes are super easy on nights like that. Everyone just crashes and we all sleep in late. Back to school is going to be hard on all of us adjusting to early early mornings.
I've always loved swimming and swim teams but now as a parent I love it even more. There's nothing more encouraging than seeing friends cheer for each other - even if they are on opposite teams. Also parents are always cheering other kids on and its nice for the kids to have others tell them what a great job they are doing. For other people to notice when your child drops times and has been working hard. It helps build their confidence a lot since its not just mom and dad telling them. Colin tried to beat Shaun all year yet Shaun would be at practice helping Colin with his strokes. Colin helped this boy Aaron drop 7 seconds in butterfly even when it made Aaron a second away from beating Colin in fly. Colin just commented that swimming Aaron would just help push him to go faster.
One mother commented to me at the end of the season that Norah was the most popular kid on the team. And I don't doubt it! She loved hanging out with her friends and also all the older kids as well. She dropped about 30 seconds from her freestyle and backstroke this year. I can't wait to see what she does next year.
Oh hey! a friend is cheering for her before the race
It was a good season and now we are looking forward to next summer when all the kids will be at the top of their age groups. Joel is retired again but I'm sure he will come out of retirement to swim again.
And now lets hope for a great football season!
