R is for Reward

     Today was the awards banquet for my daughter's swim team.  We actually held it at a banquet hall this year.  This was really nice because it meant that we didn't have to do as much actual work and could enjoy the banquet as well as time with our kids and their team.

     This was also the last time our team will be together in tact before everyone goes off in their own directions.  It was strange and there are some things that felt uncomfortable to those of us staying, but it's all water under the bridge and it's time to move on.  So much so that the woman who has agreed to be vice president of the parent board and I did some campaigning.

     Our parent board has 8 positions that require parent volunteers.  Terms are usually 2 years long.  I have served on the board as secretary for the past two years.  I have volunteered to take the president seat for the next season.  This meant we still needed 6 people to volunteer to fill up our board.  We managed to get volunteers for all positions during the banquet.  I am so proud of us!  And, I'm even more proud of those parents who are staying for stepping up to the plate.  I think we're going to have an awesome season next year.

     Before I end this I must brag that my daughter got "Most Improved" swimmer award (reward) this year.  I was so excited to hear her name called for this.  She's worked so hard all season.

H is for Heartbreak

     I mentioned a few days ago that my daughter's swim team is going through some major changes.  All three coaches have resigned.  It's become a very emotional time for everyone involved with the team.  YMCA teams tend to become a family.  We spend enormous amounts of time together.  Being a parent of a swimmer means you are very involved in what is going on because you have to be part of running the meets.  Even at away meets, teams have to provide timers to help run those meets, too.

     Losing one coach is hard.  Losing two coaches really hurts.  But, losing three (and in our case, all) your coaches is heartbreaking in so many ways.  All three coaches have been part of the team for many years.  Two of them since they were swimmers, themselves.  So, it's very emotional for them to leave something that has been such a big part of their lives.

     But, it goes even deeper than that.  Since our Y has not yet hired any new coaches, the uncertainty of what will happen has driven almost all our swimmers and their families to different teams.  It also means noone has volunteered to be part of the parent board next year.  Basically, it feels like our team is falling apart.

     I have been part of the parent board for the last two years.  This is a board that has worked endlessly to grow a team that was starting to struggle into a thriving team.  We more than doubled the number of swimmers on our team.  We had the two most profitable years our team has ever seen.  And, this year we took more swimmers to "state" (a meet you have to qualify for) than the team has taken in about a decade.

     Now we are down to probably less than 10 swimmers staying to see what happens.  My daughter is one of the swimmers that wants to stick it out.  It's so hard to take her to practice and see so many people missing.  Not only has my daughter made friends and grown close to her teammates, but I have grown close to and made friends with so many of the parents. 

     This is the place my daughter found her passion.  It's where she learned to love a sport and found a place to belong as part of a team.  It is where I watched her come alive as an athlete.  Something that I did not find until I was in my second year of high school.  And, because of this I fell in love with the sport myself, even if I don't actually participate in the sport as a swimmer.

     So, now I keep swinging from complete saddness, to reminding myself that things always work out and feeling hope back to saddness. And, in between, I fight anger that really has no place to be directed towards.

     No matter what, I know, what will be will be and our time with the Stingrays will always be a special time to remember.  I just hope it's not over entirely.  It just really is a heartbreaking situation right now.

Blogging A to Z



Being a Swim Parent

     This past weekend was the YMCA Area Championship Swim Meet for my daughter's swim team.  A swimmer must swim a qualifying time at their Districts Swim meet in order to participate in this swim meet.  My daughter's 200 freestyle relay team qualified, so this was her first year swimming at the area championships.

     This is the part where I get to say, Soccer Moms have NOTHING on swim moms.  The things we do for the love of our children.  This was our road to watching our daughter swim for 32 seconds at an area championship.

     Three years of practices and swim meets.  This includes Y membership fees, swim team fees and meet fees.  Each year our daughter has participated in at least eight meets each of the three years.  Half of these are out of town meets and require hotel stays.

     Meets usually are two days long.  You can spend up to 20 hours in one weekend at a pool to see your child swim a total of about 3 minutes, unless they swim distance and then it could be about 6 minutes total.

     A swimmer must compete in and swim an area time at the district swim meet to qualify for the area championship meet.  Our district meet is held  in a town that is 2 hours away.  It's a two day meet and requires a two night stay in a hotel because it is necessary to be at the pool before 7:00 a.m. the first day.

     A swimmer can either swim two individual events and two relays, three individual events and one relay or just three individual events.  This year our daughter swam two relays and two individual events.  One of her relays qualified for the area championship.

     So, this past Friday we all got in the car after work and school and headed out of town for the third time in two months.  This time instead of driving a couple hours we had to drive 4.5 hours north.  We got to our hotel around 10:30 on Friday night.

     In order to make sure we had a spot in the crash area (the place where all the swimmers and parents sit and wait for their turn in the pool) we had to be at the pool no later than 6:30 a.m.  The crash area can get insane.  You have hundreds, sometimes thousands (as in our district meet) of people all in one space.  Everyone is vying for a spot with their fold up chairs, blankets and paraphernalia, and of course you sit with your team.

     Not only did our daughter only qualify for one event, it's also an event that is always towards the end.  In this case, it was the second to last event of the day.  Her relay team hit the pool deck around 12:30 p.m.  Yes, that is six hours of waiting to watch her swim the second leg of a four person relay.  Her split was 32 seconds.

     We did spend part of the time cheering on her teammates.  So we got to enjoy the camaraderie of the team, because a swim team is NOT just the swimmers.  As parents of swimmers we spend an enormous amount of time together, so we are part of the team, too, as are the siblings who are not swimmers.

     It has been an exciting ride this year and I'm having a hard time believing that this weekend was the last meet of the swim year.  YMCA swim years last from September to March as far as meets go.  Practice will continue through May.  We still have a couple bonding events left, but the meets are over until fall.

      During this year she has discovered her love for swimming distance.  She is planning on working on her 500 freestyle next year with the hopes of maybe making it to area championships in that next year.  She will be in high school next year and be swimming for her high school team too, so hopefully that will give her a little more helpful experience.

      With three years of YMCA swim under our belts, we are already looking forward to next year with the craziness of home meets, the weekends out of town and the insanity of crash areas.  It's all worth in when we see our daughter's brilliant glowing smile as she prepares to jump from the starting block.

Amazing Adventures in Parenting

       My heart was pounding fiercely in my chest.  I could hear it in my ears.  My stomach felt like someone was twisting it an ringing it out.  I could hardly breathe.  It was hot and humid in the building so I was sweating like crazy.  I don't think I've ever been that nervous in my life.  And, all I was doing was sitting in the bleachers.

     We went to my daughter's district championship swim meet this weekend.  This is her third year on the team so, it was her third year at this meet.  Her events this year were 500 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 200 medley relay, and 200 freestyle relay.  It was a particularly exciting meet for her because it was only the second time she's swam the 500 and we knew that her freestyle relay had a good chance of making state time.

     I was nervous for her during her 500.  She's been training so hard for this for weeks, working on endurance and her form.  We were counting on her dropping time during the meet.  It's fun to watch a distance swim because it lasts longer than a sprint.  But, it can be nerve wracking when you know how much the results mean to the swimmer and that swimmer is important to you.  She did fantastic!  She kept her pace the whole 20 lengths of the pool and won her heat.  Her time improved by a whole 4 seconds.

     However, it was nothing like watching her 200 relay.  That event just about killed me.  I am not kidding when I describe how I was feeling watching the relay.  My girl swam the second leg of the relay.  They had to improve their time by 1.5 seconds.  I literally could not breath.  I was terrified to watch the time on the score board.  I did not look at that until the anchor swimmer was on her way back to the block.  It would have been very easy for me to lose control of my bladder at that point.

    When the anchor swimmer hit the wall I let out this very loud yelp/squeal/scream that probably sounded like a pig dying.  I almost collapsed.  Really, I am not being dramatic here.  They managed to improve their time by 3 seconds, making state time by over a second.  They also placed 7th in that event. My baby girl is going to state this year with an awesome relay team.

     It means a trip up north.  The place they hold this meet is about 4 1/2 hours from where we live.  But, to watch my girl participate in her favorite thing at a meet she's been working towards for three years is worth it.

     Anyone that misses out on this part of being a parent has no idea how empty is their life.  I can't imagine having lived without this type of experience.  I could never have felt those feelings that strongly for myself.  I can't wait to do it again, for/with both my children.

Basketball Games, Swim Teams and Vet Visits, Oh MY

It was a very busy Saturday for us.  Actually, it was a pretty typical Saturday for us.  I used my actual camera a lot today.  I've been kind of lax in using.  I've been depending on my cellphone camera way too much lately.  But, today I got some good shots.  So, I thought I'd share them.

Our first event of the day was a league game for my son's second basketball team.  Although, this is my son's first year playing for this team, the game was against a team that they had never beaten before.  Today, they beat them.

My son with the ball during the first half of the game

To make it sweeter one of the boys on the team they beat is a boy who abandoned our football team for "greener pastures."  It was an exciting game, too.  Our team ended up winning AT THE BUZZER... literally!

After the morning game, we had to split up.  One of our fur babies had to go see the vet.  She has a swollen, red paw pad and we needed to have it checked out.  So, my husband took her to the vet while my daughter and I headed to the YMCA.  Luckily, there is nothing seriously wrong with Izzy's paw.  Just some cream and antibiotics prescribed and she should be good as new very soon.

Izzy resting on the couch

My daughter's swim team had a pep rally/ swim practice today.  Next weekend is their big area district championships swim meet so they were bonding as a team today.  They had a special relay team practice, made posters to take to districts, and had pizza and worked on their "cheer" they will do on the pool deck at the start of the district competition.

My daughter and one of her swim buddies enjoying pizza

The swimmers all seemed to have a lot of fun.  This time of year is very exciting.  The district competition is when they can qualify to go to the "state" competition two weekends later.  It's also an extremely fun competition that takes place on the campus of Mizzou in Columbia, MO.

When the pep rally was over, my daughter and I had to meet my husband and son at the second basketball game of the day.  This was the last basketball game of the season for my son's first basketball team.  It is the feeder team for the high school that my kids will attend.  

My son in the white jersey

It was another very close and very exciting game.  Unfortunately, our team lost.  My son made a few really great plays, though, that led to scoring points.  They all played hard and received a trophy, but I'm still not sure for what place.  It was never specified.  

At this point we had a little down time.  We came home and hung out for a while.  My daughter decided to make brownies because she's obsessed with that after learning how to make them in her class at school.  

Then, we were off again.  We went to have supper out at a local restaurant before heading to the third and final basketball game of the day.  This one was a tournament game with the second team.  It was to determine who would play for first place and who would play in the 3rd place round.  

My son is #12

It was a disappointing loss.  Our team will have to play in the 3rd place round tomorrow.  The team made some mistakes and they seemed tired.  The refs were not great for this game, either, but I don't think they would have beat this team anyway.  It seemed everyone had fun, though.

Now, we are all home and the day is winding down.  The kids are showered and in bed.  I'm waiting my turn in the shower.   Even the puppies have claimed their spots on the bed.

Izzy in front, Livvy behind looking up

So now, I will say good night John Boy.

Good Night, John Boy!