CJ & AK began their competitive swimming careers yesterday with their team's practice meet & time trials.  I never took anything other than swim lessons as a kid so I had no idea what to expect as a parent in a swim meet.  What a chaotic, but surprisingly organized frenzy of swimsuits, towels, chairs, heat assignments, announcers, stopwatches, sunscreen, and swim caps!!!  Fortunately, I didn't have the younger two to worry about as BW had stayed home with them.  I had to coax my little swimmers to allow the coach to write their lane assignments on their hands (in permanent marker -- a big no no in our house!! Amazing what rules they choose to remember and obey).  Then amid the chaos and shouting, get them to sit in their chairs in the order of their heat.  Then walk hand in hand with the other swimmers to the edge of the pool where they were expected to jump(perfectly dry of course) into the pool and swim across.

CJ was in the very first heat of the morning, age 6 & under freestyle.  One teammate began crying when she was taken to the side of the pool and chose not to compete so CJ was assured of at least a second place finish.   She took her position at the end of the pool, and jumped in(rather than dive in) holding her nose and began to swim.  Her other teammate was anxious about jumping in and it took some coaxing to get her into the pool.  Because of this, CJ was halfway across the pool by the time anyone else jumped into the water.  She won easily (resting from time to time on the lane line) and was awarded a See's candy cane at the end of the pool.  She was so proud of herself -- "Mom, can you believe I won the very first race I had ever been in?"  In my mind, I heard Han Solo from Star Wars saying "Don't get cocky, kid!"  I wrapped her in her towel and set her on a step while I went over to my other swimmer.

AK was another story.  He said he didn't want to race.  He just wanted to swim in the pool.  He did not want to hold hands with the other boys to walk over to the pool.  Fortunately, his coach noticed his face, and went over to talk to him.  After their little pep talk/conference, she ordered one of the teenage coaches into the water in his lane.  At the sound of the starting "gun", he jumped in to her and held on for dear life as she helped him to kick across the pool.  He got out upset that he hadn't won and with a perfectly dry head of hair. 

Then we got to wait while a bunch of other people swam.  I learned that I need to bring some snacks for these down times.  Then it was time to enter the chaotic frenzy of heat seating once again.  CJ's second heat was the backstroke.  She doesn't like the backstroke.  Her coach told her that she could start off with the backstroke and then turn around and swim regular the rest of the way.  She was good with that.  Because her other two competitors did swim the backstroke she won her second heat easily(I think it could be called cheating, but they gave her another piece of candy and told her that she won so what do I know?).  She was so excited!!!

AK again swam with a teenage coach who guided him along in the water.  In the next lane, another boy with a teenage coach.  The two teenage boys began competing with one another and were pretty much pulling their little apprentices across the pool.  In the end, AK won the race by a few strokes -- and without getting his hair wet!!!!  He was beaming as he received his candy.  Unfortunately, the one boy who actually swam by himself came in third??  Again, doesn't make sense to me, but...

My kids won 3 out of 4 races they competed in their very first swim meet ever!!  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.  Looking forward to a fun swimming season!

-J