Swimming

We've embarked on a new venture this summer. Swim team.
CE has been more reluctant than Z But both are benefitting from three times a week spent in the pool doing drills and laps and perfecting their strokes. They also get to compete in low key swim meets every couple of weeks. Each meet offers only two strokes for the kids to compete in.

They are designed mostly to give the kids experience standing on the blocks,
starting at the gun, doing flip turns and
stopping at the wall.

One of CE's friends didn't know that touching the wall was important and couldn't understand why everyone was yelling at her during her first race--the officials couldn't stop the clock until she touched the wall. At the last meet, one of the littlest girls thought she was racing a 50 m (it was a 25) and the official was heard asking her to return to the finish line because she was already done. One entire heat of small girls uniformly didn't start at the gun and instead looked at each other and cannonballed into the water to start their race. It's moments like these that give us giggles in the rarified, humidified air of the indoor competition pool. Other incidents (like the extra 10 seconds forced onto CE's breaststroke time because of the girl in the lane next to her who crossed CE's lane as she was approaching the wall--because she was done and so completely self-absorbed that it didn't occur to her what her action would do to the other racers) help me to remember that the lesson of sportsmanship at this level of play is just as much about being forgiving as about being gracious in winning and losing.

So far, I like swim a lot better than other team sports we've tried. Since their efforts are theirs alone, my kids are learning to focus more on their personal record improvements and less on the wins, losses or goals scored that are more apparent in team sports. Since their efforts are theirs alone, they let no one down but themselves when they fail to show for a practice or a meet.

From a spectator standpoint, swim meets aren't exactly a picnic. Usually DH is unable to attend, so it's me and the kidlets at the swim meet circus. Our meet last Friday gave us the following climate choices: sit outside (in between races) in 115 dry heat or inside in 90+ exceedingly humid heat. Neither choice was terribly appetizing and we all had heat induced headaches by the time it was all over. But both CE and Z had new PRs in each of their two races. I love that part of the meet. The other part, where I pack snacks and water and the portable DVD player and notebooks and coloring books and hope for the best is not my favorite, but it's worth it. I love to see my kids develop a skill that helps them to care for their body. I love to see the gleam in their eyes as their muscles become more coordinated and they gain strength as they plow through the water. At times swim is another thing on the list of things the mom fights about: that list peopled with piano practice, sweeping the kitchen floor and cleaning rooms. This is a list I feel passionately about--that some skills are valuable enough to fight for their mastery. I'm glad though, that swim is not always on that list, that sometimes swim is fun, it breeds power and skill. I'm hoping swim is something our family will continue for years to come. I don't have delusions of Olympic grandeur, but I do have hopes of health and well being, both mental and physical, that come from training both body and mind. And I'm willing to bet the sunscreen, spandex and fears of green chlorine hair that come as a result on it. Wish us luck!