The End of an Era

I had a surprise find its way into my schedule and my heart last week.  Tuesday The Boy was back to school after a long fall break weekend of golf in St George.  It had been his final tournament for the season and the first he allowed me to come watch.  But that is another story.

Following the season closure of golf, he was prepared to segue into the next sport, swimming.  He had spoken with our swim coach, Coach Lisa, prior to the swim season beginning and asked if he could join the team as soon as golf was over. He had rearranged his school schedule to the point that he has no A4 class assigned making it a seamless transition to the pool once his commitment to golf was over.  I had a very firm talk with him about only doing on sport at a time, but doing it 100%.  He agreed that last year his heart wasn't really into the swim season and was really there only for the friends and social aspect.  I told him that his team and his coach deserved more from him.  So this year's schedule and level of commitment was prepared to make that happen.

Tuesday last week he headed to school with a swim bag in his truck and a willing and ready hear to get into the new season with the swim team.  About 2:30 or so that afternoon I got a text from him asking if I wanted him to bring me a drink at work.  I texted back "Aren't you supposed to be at practice?"

The next thin I knew was The Boy arrived at my office with a diet coke in hand.  When I asked him about practice, he said that he'd been uninvited from the team.  I asked what happened and he said he didn't really know.  Coach Lisa asked to speak with him before he got into the water.  He complied.  She told him that since he wasn't there for the 2-a-days "hell week" of practices he couldn't join the team this season.

His teammates, when asked what was going on and The Boy told them he was off the team, began to demand a team vote.  The other two high school teams that share the pool jokingly asked their coaches if they could "adopt" him to their teams.  At least he knew his friends wanted him there.

I'm still not completely sure what happened to make this the outcome fro a senior who, while not a state qualifying swimmer, one who still has swam since he was about 7 years old with this coach.  She knows him, and she knows our family.

It stings a little when I think that my participation as a parent wasn't wanted enough to let him stay on the team.  It stings even more that even though he spoke with the coach before the season began, the coach can hold a grudge over something as simplistic as his choice to play another sport before hers.  No student athlete should be penalized because they give their all to another sport, during another season.

I don't understand, really. 

The Boy didn't expect to be a team captain, as a senior this year.  He didn't expect to be a member of the A relay team.  He has been happy to do his little part with the team, for the team.  He just wanted to be a member of this team he has been with since he was a sophomore.  He wanted to hang out with his friends, go to meets with them, and enjoy his final year of high school with good friends.  That is exactly what I hoped for him too.

 But just like that, we are no longer a swim family.  And that is what hurts the most.

Losing Interest

I never thought I'd say it, but I am losing interest in swim team.  The Boy is swimming for the high school and for the first time ever I am a little sad about that.  When The Girl was in high school, she swam all four years and did great.  It was her "thing".  For The Boy, his "thing" is really golf.  He only agreed to swim because I wanted him to do it.

He doesn't have room in his schedule to have the "swim class" the first semester and so he swims with the team when he can--usually at the night practices that begin in November.  Consequently he is just not that dedicated.  And with the graduation of the many kids I knew, I am not that interested either.  The kids who swim now aren't part of the group that I have worked with and loved because of the summer swim team.

The other reason I feel my interest waning is that I just don't want to do it any more.  The team ALWAYS needs help--usually timing, which is fine, but not every family does their part.  So some of us do it more than we fairly should.  This year I did my allotted meets early int he season and I really haven't been to a meet since I got sick in December.  At least with the summer team, a parent volunteer can work WITH the kids--which I love--when we work the bull pen. Even then, not everyone does their part of the work needed.

Maybe my interest us waning too because I just want to go home and veg out after work.  I'm dressed for work--not to freeze in the bubbled pool, or to get soaking wet from the boys who slam into the walls on their races.  Plus I never can make it to see the start of the meet.

For whatever the reason, I am losing interest and with The Boy deciding NOT to swim next year, I am really OK with that decision.  I even think that I may not push him to swim this summer.  The Girl doesn't age out of that one yet--she could swim one more summer season--but I may not encourage her either.  Or maybe, I'll let them do it themselves and not mess with helping anymore.

Or maybe, I'm just tired today and really ready for the weekend.  Yeah.  That could be too.

Swim Team Getting Cozy

Last Saturday was a swim meet at another pool, so I didn't have to work it.  Consequently I saw a lot of my kids, and the other high school aged swimmers on our team.

This is mostly what I saw:

 The Boy is the center of the attention here....

 But, The Girl is getting attention too, just in the shade.

 I had to be really covert to get these shots....The Boy was suspicious.

In all honesty, I think the kids were just keeping each other entertained until it was their turn to swim again.  And it was funny to sit in the midst of all this teenage energy.  This meet was the final regular season one before the County Finals, the first weekend of August.

Back in the Saddle Again

Today we were nearly back to normal.  The Girl headed to swim at 6:30 AM, I headed to the pool to help with swim team gear and to purchase the kids' new summer suits.  I headed up to the high school to drop off a Viking sweatshirt to  a teacher's box who decided that she wanted a little one for a cousin after all and to drop off a thank you note and gift card to our fabulous custodian for helping at our all-night party last week.

The boys are the only thing abnormal.  They are in Alabama this week for The Boy to attend a kick camp for football kickers.  Genius Golfer went with him...and I guess has had a chance to watch him at practice.  I haven't heard much at this point, so I hope it is useful and helpful.  But since I am the "killer of dreams", I am also somewhat skeptical.

Sounds like a typical summer beginning around here.  Let "normal" begin!

The Final Countdown

This week marks the last week The Girl has until the Region Swim finals which are to be held on Saturday.  For four years she has swam for the high school team.  And for four years she has gone tot he Region finals.   This year is her best shot at some great times.  Being a senior does has its advantages.

The two-a-day practices, the night practices, the exercised-induced asthma, the club team practices, the weightlifting, the dry-land...all boils down to this week and her focus, determination, and endurance.  I am just hoping she stays well and doesn't get a cold or something.

I'll keep you posted, but I--for one--will be happy this season is over for the amount of time it takes, but I will also miss it.  Being a part of a team is a big deal in building relationships in high school.  And I hope she has lots of good memories of these past four years in the pool.  But I'm tired and ready for some down time together with our family.

Wish her luck!

Choices Made and Lesson Learned, We Hope

I meant to write yesterday and then the day got away from me and my mind was full of wonder and worry.  Without giving up the guilty, I thought I'd try to tell a story that taught me--and most hopefully the kids--a good lesson about making good choices and only listening to friends who do the same.

A very sweet boy on the swim team made a really dumb decision yesterday.  I happened to be visiting with his good mom when she passed up a couple of phone calls from the team's coach, who is also our friend, and then decided she'd better take this son's text message he sent...that all came in about 5 minutes' time.

It seems that this otherwise good boy--one who is smart and clever and funny and bright--was egged on to "moon" the cars behind the bus as the team drove to the nearby covered pool for their A4 class time practice.  And he gave in to the peer pressure and did it.

Now, here is where the story gets a little dicey.  This otherwise very good, smart and clever boy was seen and a call was made to the local police department who then met the bus at the nearby recreation center and questioned the boy about his "reckless" shenanigan.  This good mom, upon reading a text from her son that in essence expressed "Mom, I made a dumb mistake and now the police are here to talk to me and I'm scared", called the coach back and got her take on what was going on and then appropriately, immediately left our group to go to her boy.

The team had a swim meet later that afternoon, so while my own kids (who don't have the A4 swim class) weren't on the bus for this incident, they were meeting the bus afterwards to go to the meet.  On the bus to the meet, they heard from the other kids about what happened and also heard the coach tell the team how very disappointed she was in them for encouraging this good kid to do something so stupid.  The Boy said that the other kids just seemed to think it was funny and while not a GOOD choice, wasn't that big of a deal.  But The Girl heard from her team friends that they felt really bad for this boy and were worried about him.  They also said there were some kids who tried to convince him NOT to do it.

As I texted his mom, that evening, I was told that this boy would, indeed, face some consequences for his actions.  He was to be suspended from school for a few days, would be benched from the next three swim meets, and lose his team captaincy for the rest of the year.  As far as the legal ramifications, that would depend on whether or not the viewer(s) of his little stunt pressed charges.  If that occurred, things could get increasingly worse.

My thoughts and worries for him included the potential for a postponed (at best) chance to serve a mission--which he was planning on at midsummer with the new age threshold.  If charges are filed it could take that opportunity away from him for good.  It could land him on the sex-offenders registry, and even in juvenile detention for some time, and probably a good sized monetary fee.  Now that is the worst case scenario, but I am quite sure that this usually very obedient, compliant, worthy, priesthood-holding young man didn't think about these potential consequences, or even just past the idea of "Ooooh, that would be do funny!"  Not a single thought past that.

This situation made for a very interesting--and hopefully impactful--dinner conversation last night at our house.  Everything we do is a choice, and for every choice there is some kind of consequence.  Even this morning, The Girl prayed that they would "make good choices and do what is right".  Those are more then magic words you say to get what you want...it is a plea for heavenly help to guide you to do what you know is correct.  Regardless of the other bozos who egg you into something really dumb.

At least, I hope that is what it means...since I, as their mom, pray every day that they will have good friends who will help them make good choices.  Choices and consequences...that is what life is made of for us here on this Earth.  And sometimes that makes or a better day than others.

Getaway Weekend

I have a chance to have a "getaway weekend" without leaving town.  The kid are instead.  The high school swim team is headed to Cedar City for an invitational meet this weekend.  The first two years The Girl swam I went down too to watch and support (and protect) my girl.  It was a lot of fun--and the other swim moms I went with were terrific! 

This year is the first time The Boy is going to go...so both kids will be on the bus tomorrow.  And Genius Golfer was talking about driving down to golf and also watch them swim...but I get to stay home.  And I have to say, I am pretty excited to have the time "off" from parenting.

I already have two movies with friends lined up...different friends...different movies.  And a possible lunch date is in the works with two other friends.  No pressure, no responsibilities.  My kind of weekend fun.

Sunday Video

And you thought they were only cool in their Olympic races....uh.  Nope.  The US Swim team members are awesome, anywhere!

You're The Exception?!

Today was the first day of swim team for the summer rec program.  As it is the first day, there was a little, informal parents' meeting to cover some basic policies that need to be adhered to throughout the season.  It is never fun, but necessary, nonetheless. It is also the first day the swim team gear is available for purchase.  We had a pile of new swimmers, so this is a challenge to just keep people from walking off with a suit they "forgot" to purchase..etc.  But I was floored today by one mom in particular.

Now, I need to preface this by saying that there are always families every year that think the rules don't apply to them.  Whatever the rule.  They are the exception.   So I don't know why this woman surprised me so much.

Well, about 7 AM the line for the gear was easily 20 people long already.  The new coaches had introduced themselves, and the kids were all headed off into the water to start their day's practice.  One young man--I'd say maybe 15 or 16 years old--was standing with this woman, who was  NOT in line for the team gear.  She butted her way into the boxes of stuff--fins, suits, goggles, etc.--grabbing what her son (the sad boy with her) would need.  Then she tells our team mom (who, meanwhile, is trying to keep track of said gear so it doesn't walk away AND answer suit fitting questions, etc) that her son "needs this stuff right now because he is supposed to be in the water".

He didn't have another suit to wear?  Even some trunks? Why is a kid that old needing his mommy to suit him out for the team?  I mean, moms of kids that age generally pay for the stuff, but the kids are much more self sufficient than that.  How is this kids going to find the blocks on a meet without her holding his hand?!

I wanted to tell her that there are several others in the line waiting fro their turn, and they also have kids who somehow managed to make it to the water this morning.  Instead I mentioned to her that she'll still need to wait and that her son will be fine whenever he gets to the pool, as it was only the first day.

But about then I put myself in time-out when I saw her expression (which read like I was a complete idiot) and I knew I was very close to saying something so snarky and nasty that I would regret it.

Nice way to begin the season.  Yikes.

Editor's Response

Here is what I heard back fro the Sports Editor of our local paper via email yesterday, following my letter--emailed--to him.

I first want to thank you for taking the time to send us such a carefully thought out email to discuss your point of view. I'm sure it required quite a bit of effort on your part as you attempted to express your disappointment in the lack of coverage for the swimming teams.

By way of response, let me assure you that I too am disappointed that we were unable to have a reporter at the event or at least have the results published in our paper. I sincerely appreciate all of the high school athletes and recognize that it requires incredible dedication and effort to be successful at any level. My goal as the sports editor (and as a former high school sports reporter) is to attempt to provide the most complete and exceptional high school athletics coverage possible.

There are, as you know, always scheduling issues to resolved as we attempt to utilize our few resources to appropriately represent what happens in Utah Valley. With schools belonging to at least six regions that include all five different classifications, it's a constant struggle.

I do, however, endeavor to make sure we get whatever we can from each event, particular region and state competitions. The problem in this case was that I wasn't aware of where or when the Region 4 swimming meet (or the swimming meets for any of the regions) was taking place. We rely on our network of coaches and athletic directors to make sure we have complete schedules but this particular meet was never brought to my attention.

As I'm sure you've seen, we also get a variety of results from coaches and parents that provide information on events we are not able to personally attend. In this case, however, none of the swimming results were called in or emailed to us, so we had no knowledge about what had taken place. If those had been received, we certainly would've gotten them both in the paper and onto our high school sports Web site.

With the upcoming state swimming meets taking place both this weekend and next, we are planning to have articles and coverage for every event. I hope your daughter qualified to compete there because it really is a great event to participate in.

If you have questions or comments, please feel free to call me so we can discuss the matter further.

Again, thank you for your time and your enthusiasm for high school athletics.

J. L.
Daily Herald Sports Editor

Letter to the Editor

After waiting all week to see ANYTHING in the local paper about our swim team's region finals, I got mad enough to write a letter to the editor of our county paper.  Here it is.  I'll let you know if any of it gets printed.

Dear Editor:

I generally appreciate all the coverage of local high school sports. I love to hear about the athletes who play their hearts out for their schools.  However, this week I was really looking forward to seeing the results of the Region 4 (5A) Swim championships.  This event was held on Saturday, January 28th at the beautiful South Davis Recreation Center aquatic facility. 

As you know, Region 4 includes Lehi, American Fork, Lone Peak, Pleasant Grove, Riverton and Bingham high schools.  Considering that 4 of those 6 schools involved in this championship swim meet were Utah County schools, I figured The Daily Herald would cover it.  I hoped, at the very least, the results would be listed in the “scoreboard” section of the paper on Sunday or Monday.  I have been wrong in assuming that, as not a single word was mentioned.

I am a mom of a high school swimmer.  My daughter and many other high school swimmers have spent much their spare time since September —including over their Christmas vacation-- in the pool.  In our team’s case, much of that pool time is only available because they swim in a neighboring city’s pool because our own city pool is not just closed, but empty, from October through April.  These kids have to be really committed if they want to swim for our high school team. The swim season is the longest season of any of the local high school sports, as far as I can tell.  Yet, there is minimal or no coverage of their achievements in your paper.

I understand that the basketball games are better attended and more frequently played and that football and wrestling are more popular.  But, as the big local paper in the county, I would hope that all sports within the season would be covered by the paper.  Every student athlete is giving their all.  Every student athlete who has committed to playing for their school deserves some recognition. 

There were region records shattered at the swim meet Saturday.  Student athletes made personal best times and helped their schools advance to the state finals.  Coaches watched their student athletes achieve their goals.  Parents and families cheered on our kids until our voices were gone. All these kids had a great swim meet!  And it was a lot of fun to watch.

I urge you to please reconsider your coverage of ALL the high school sports.  Please include the lesser recognized sports each season and give those kids their due.  For most of these kids, their athletic career ends with their high school sports.  Please cover their achievements as well as those who may go on to sign with a Division I university.  Not every student chooses to play football or basketball. But they each have the same athletic heart and high school team spirit.  Please make it a point to celebrate those kids too.

Can You Hear Me Now?

With the summer swim team, I have found a comfortable place to volunteer my time:  the Bull Pen.  This is where we line up the kids in the correct heats for each event, giving them lane assignments and heat numbers.  It can be a very crazy place.  It can also be very loud.

Each summer swim meet runs in the same order.  The events have the same number at every meet, so the parents (and eventually the swimmers) get used to which event is theirs and will get their swimmer (or themselves) to the bull pen for these assignments. 

To help the parents (and swimmers) out, we try to walk around the pool deck calling for the event numbers we need to come to the bull pen.  Over and over and over.  By the end of a long meet I can easily loose my voice...and make me fully useless in any of these roles.

In a completely thoughtful and usefully generous way, I received one of the best birthday gifts ever--to help with this reoccurring problem.

Yes.  My family bought me my very own MEGAPHONE!!  Isn't that crazy?!  I giggled about it all last night, after opening their present.  But you have to hand it to them--they really came up with something I would use, but would never buy for myself.

Can YOU hear me now?!

Pool Tatts Are Cool Tatts

One of the highlights of the end of summer swim season finals is the creation of the fish tattoos on the kids' backs or shoulders.  This year, I spaced out and because The Boy was away at Flaming Gorge the week prior to the meet, I didn't contact our darling friend, Bill H, who has always drawn the killer fish tatts for us.

The Boy asked Friday afternoon if I'd contacted Bill about setting up a tattoo appointment.  DOH!  I forgot.  I called and left a really lame, and pathetic sounding, voice mail at his home.  I didn't expect to connect with him before we had to leave early the next morning for the swim meet.

But, bless his heart, he called me back at just after 6 AM Saturday morning.  He said he was getting up to go on a bike ride and could run down to the house for us if we still wanted.  Aw, man.  He is so good to us.  But when I couldn't get a hold of him the night before, The Girl took it upon herself to draw something mean and fishy on The Boy's back.

And so she did.  Not too bad for a tatt made from Sharpie pens?

This Just In

We just got back from the Gold Swim Meet, the county finals for the summer recreation swim season.  It was held at Lehi's Legacy Center, and the Lehi folks running the show did a terrific job.  The meet ran smoothly and, all things considered, rather quick too.  And I didn't have to do a dang thing but watch my own kids--and cheer for those on our team!

The Legacy Center in Lehi has a fantastic aquatics center, and luckily today it was closed to the public throughout the meet.  This gave us the whole place to spread out and make camp then we could walk in to watch our kids' events.  Much more enjoyable then being mashed into a viewing area that isn't big enough for two teams' families--much less all eight teams in our county summer league.

The Boy got back from a week long, high adventure camp at Flaming Gorge with his scout group yesterday afternoon.  He hasn't been at practice all week.  We weren't sure how he would do--physically or emotionally--considering the lack of sleep and nutrition this past week.  But he ended up doing really well!

The Boy swam the 50 yard freestyle sprint, the Medley Relay (4x50), 100 freestyle, 50 yard breaststroke and the freestyle relay (4x50).  Unofficially--meaning that these are the times I wrote down from the unofficial poolside scoreboard--he did better than his seed times across the board.

50 yard freestyle: 32.03 seconds
200 yard Medley Relay: 2.21.11  The coach tells me they took first place!!
100 yard free: 1.11.??
50 yard breast: 38.55 On this one, he dropped 3 seconds from his previous best time.
And I didn't get their relay time....we were all relieved to be almost done by that point in the meet.  But I think they took 2nd place.

The Girl has focused in to the county record for the breaststroke in her age group since she swam faster than the record at one of our mid-season dual meets.  She has a very natural stroke and since she swam year round this year, her technique has only gotten better.  Her Individual Medley--meaning she swims 50 yards of each of the four strokes herself (as opposed to a RELAY)--has really gotten a boost since her breaststroke time has improved.  An IM can be won or lost with the breaststroke leg of that race. 

Her times were very impressive!  Unofficially, of course, here is what I recorded:
200 yard Medley Relay: 2.11.20 (County record had been 2.14.51) First place, and a new relay record!
100 yard freestyle: 1.02.74--taking a surprising 2nd place.
200 yard IM: 2.36.51--she took first in this event!
100 yard breast: 1.19.80 (Previous county record was 1.21.80) First place, and new indivual record!!
And I didn't her free-relay time either...or the just for show "Coaches' Relay"...but both of these were fun to watch!

Our team's kids--overall--did a great job today.  Genius Golfer even heard another team's coaching staff talking amongst themselves who asked "How does their (meaning, our) team just kill us every summer but not carry that momentum into the high school season?!"  Good question, really.
Alas, for our high school swim season, it is really a quest for The Girl to achieve her personal best...and enjoy the team for what it is worth.  Too much politics, personality conflicts and teenage dramatics to make it worth much more than that to her.  Luckily she sees the advantage of swimming, despite all the high school hijinks.

But what a great day today!  I was so proud of both the kids and their efforts to reach their goals!  Now, The Boy's efforts shift immediately to football.  Two-a-day practices begin Monday morning!

Ahhh, the joys of parenthood!

Choose The Battles, Win the War

When the kids were little I remember kind people, seeing my near-nervous-breakdown-status, telling me to "Choose your battles".  At the time, they all seemed like battles that needed to be fought in order to "win" the war.

As the kids got older, I suspected that I was battling on too many fronts and therefore was exhausted and not prepared to win anything but some R & R, someday...whenever that was.

Last night I think I grasped the idea that not all battles were worth fighting.  In fact, with some battles, NOT fighting might actually help me win the war.

Yesterday's Battle #1:
The Girl had a swim meet last night in a nearby town's fitness center.  The Boy and I went down a little later to watch as she told us that she'd be swimming the backstroke and the breaststroke at this meet, as well as the regularly assigned relays.  Normally she swims the 100 yard breast stroke and the 500 yard freestyle (the long distance event for HS meets).  But at this meet, both of the events she was scheduled to swim take place later in the meet, so we went down a little later to catch them both.

It ends up that she was actually assigned to swim the medley relay (normal--as she swim the breaststroke leg of that) which is one of the first events of the meet.  Then she was also scheduled to swim the 4x100  freestyle relay (also normal, as she is the 2nd fastest girl distance swimmer), and the breast stroke (normal as that is her speciality).  But instead of the 500 which is event number 9 in the meet, she was plugged into the 200 yard freestyle--event number 4.

Now the difference of 5 events might not seem like much, but when your first relay is number 2, then the boys' version of that replay is number 3 and the girls are wanting to "cheer" for their teammates in that event, that number 4 sneaks up on you.  And it did yesterday.

She missed her event.

The Boy and I arrived just after this meltdown, and expecting her to swim the two we were told earlier, was surprised that she was upstairs in the spectators' box with some other swim girls, talking to their parents.  She wasn't on deck getting ready to swim.  That is when she told me she missed her event.

This is the first time in all the years of swimming she has missed an event.  She began swimming at about age 9--in the summer city rec program.  At first, she made all her events because I was the one seating them in the bull pen and would hunt her down if she wasn't where she was supposed to be.  But sooner than later she caught on, she loved this after all and she was where she needed to be.  Every time.  But not yesterday.

Now she has coaches that she must answer to.  She already felt awful about letting her team down, and being distracted by the boys relay team and she knew she's have to face the coaches with this mistake.  My work with this battle was done before it started.

I promise you that this will likely NEVER happen again.

Yesterday's Battle #2:
At this same meet, as the events finsihed I asked her if she wanted to ride home on the bus or come home with The Boy and me.  She chose the bus.  I am sure there is an element of "boys on the bus" that makes the choice over "Mom and the Brother" much more promising.  But I only have my suspicions.  So we left and headed home while she got back into the pool for a cool down swim.

Later that night, as we gather for family scriptures and prayer, she casually announced that she thinks she might have left her team swim suit in the locker room at the nearby town's fitness center.  She had swam her cool down set and went to the locker room to shower and change before riding the bus home. 

She left the suit in the changing area.

I immediately called the fitness center where I had her talk to the receptionist and explain the situation.  She was told that the lifeguard do go through the locker room and collect lost and found items but they don't do that until the center closes--another few hours from then.  She left her name and phone number with the receptionist.  We all hoped that they would find it, or that another teammate might have picked it up--knowing it was a teammate's suit (they all match) and that she could locate it at practice today.

If it is indeed lost, she will have to buy herself another team suit.  This may involve me driving her to the swim shop this weekend, but it will come out of her money she earned working at the pool this summer and put away.  $65 or so will make a dent, to be sure. She has a solution before her, regardless of the outcome.  No need to fight this battle, as it will only make me crazy.

Let's hope she will remember her things a little more closely next time.  Otherwise this will be an expensive lesson to learn.  But better to learn it here as a high school student, than as a young adult who leaves her keys in her car and finds it stolen from the parking lot at college, or something.

If the war entails raising good kids, with common sense and full of responsibility for their actions--I believe these battles which I need not have fought--are helping me win that war.  Thanks goodness for natural consequences.  I need all the help I can get.

Exhaustion Defined

I did nearly six hours at the pool this morning, running on a bagel, and a bottle of water. I seated almost 250 kids in 82 events with the help of 4 other parents. I kept swimmers from age almost 6 to 18 in the heats & lanes they were assigned and only managed to lose one heat of 11-12 year old girls on their way across the pool deck to the starting blocks. (I wasn't any of those girls' mom.) We created an entire event of 9-10 year old girls with no entries in the space of 5 minutes. I got really chewed out by only one mother. One set of parents thanked me for my attitude and cheerfulness with the swimmers. And another parent asked if in my "real" life I taught preschool, because I "am so great with these little kids". (I told them no that at noon I turned back into the Wicked Witch of the West.)

I watched about thirty minutes of the USA vs. Ghana World Cup game while we ate lunch. That has been edge of my seat intensity. Good soccer. What a beautiful sport to watch when it is played well.

I got The Boy to collect his scout gear and be ready when the ride came to pick us up. Then rode shot gun with Dear Friend Kelly--my partner in running the bull pen this morning--to get three boy scouts to their Timberline Camp about an hour and a half away with Kelly's three your old stuck in the car seat with us the whole way.

Now it is nearly seven and the breakfast bagel, and lunchtime chicken strips have long since burned away, and yet I am too tired to care. Just.Want.To.Sleep.

Management Issues

Today we dutifully headed to the pool for swim practice as always, only to be turned away because the pool is too cold, and the management is keeping the covers on to try to get it warm enough to open for public swim at 1:30 this afternoon.

This happened last Friday too, but only for the second hour of swim team.

Yesterday the water was chilly, as there was some part that broke last week. However, we were told that the pool management received the part, fixed the problem, but someone forgot to turn on the heater yesterday. Thus, a cold pool today.

How is this good business practice? Is this why the city turns a deaf ear to our requests to finally add on an indoor competition pool, as promised, at the new city Recreation Center? Or, in the least, get our outdoor pooled bubbled for the off season?

You've already heard me whine about the fact that our High School swim team must be bussed to another city to practice--sharing the practice space and times with two other high schools and one elite club team. When we have a perfect--most of the time--pool right next door to the high school. The only problem is it is not fitted with a bubble, and therefore cannot be run through the winter season.

As an "older patron" who loves the water aerobics option for exercise, I sure wish we could have that year round. But once September or October rolls around, if I want to exercise in the water I have to schlep myself to the next town and use their facility.

I'm sure the pool management is doing their best, but really? Let's think things all the way through, people.

How I Spend My Summer Vacation

This is post number 700, for those of you who are keeping score. That is crazy! I wasn't sure I would make it to number 70, and now look. It will be two years of blogging on June 23rd--not that I am counting. ;)



Besides being the Strawberry Days committee photographer [reading: THIS week is CrAzY], I also volunteer myself to the city recreation swim team. And THIS week, that meant two mornings at the pool at 6 AM to work with this lot of kids.

I work the bull pen--the staging area for the heats of swimming events. In a typical summer rec league swim meet there are 82 events. Broken down within those events are multiple heats, with a maximum of 8 swimmers in each heat. Our team has about 220 swimmers on it from age Under 6 to 18 years old. And a lot of a swim meet is "hurry up and wait" for the kids.

In the bull pen, we give them their lane assignments, (for the littlest swimmers) we walk them and physically place them at the lane they are assigned to swim in, shuffle the kids who scratch an event with the ones who are there to actually swim it, and deal with the poolside drama that comes--and it always does--with the swim team.

This sometimes requires impromptu stand up comedy, or breaking into a song or making up a cheer. I am happy to do what I can to keep these cute kids entertained and mostly happy to keep them swimming while they are forced to wait for their heat to go to the starting blocks.

This morning the thermometer read 43 degrees as we arrived at the pool. No, that is not celcius. That made the water feel fantastic, but these skin-and-bone kids were FREEZING between their races. All the more pressure to entertain them and keep their shivering minds off the brisk morning air and their crackling wet hair. That much entertainment is exhausting to produce instantly, particularly when I am running on only a bagel and bottle of water.

Makes the Strawberry Days assignment look pretty kooshy, right?

Oh, How Things Change

This is what was going on around here in 2005. Five years ago, already. Hard to believe.

It is not what is going on around here today.

Today, The Girl and I were at the pool by 5:30 AM setting up and them working the Triathlon today--a fundraiser for our summer swim team. The Boy got out of it because he was a scout leadership training camp out last night. Genius Golfer was golfing--no surprise--but today was the tourney to try to qualify for the State Amateur tournament coming later this summer.

I had put in an eight hour day before 1 PM today, and was so tried I just got up from a nap. The Girl had lunch and then went to work for almost 3 hours, before the pool closed due to bad weather. The Boy had all his camping gear drying out on the patio, but had to quickly bring it in when the rain began in earnest, and now he and GG (who shot an 80 today, but didn't make the cut) are off to get a new throttle cable for The Boy's dirt bike.

GG already has promised dinner out tonight, so we will all get a break and with any luck, we will all get to bed early enough to recover from a very busy weekend.

Life Goes On

In an attempt to fan the eeyore-like little black cloud away today, I'd like to tell you about our surprise at the Swim Team Awards Banquet.

Would it help you if I sing? ♫ Ob-la-dee, ob-la-dah, life goes on, la-la-la-la, life goes on. ♫ That helps me.

As you know, The Girl has been swimming on the HS team this year. She is a freshman, but our HS is only a 3 year school, as is the Junior High. So the ninth graders are housed at the junior high, but can compete (with help form many moms to cart them wherever they need to go) with the high school.

Well, as the evening went along Thursday night, we were pleasantly surprised that The Girl had done well enough all season to letter, on the varsity level, as a freshman! She earned a letterman's pin, in fact. I wasn't sure how that would work--especially as, in my own personal high school experience, I only ever lettered in choir. (I'll wait for laughter here.)

When the coach got up to award some special coach's awards, The Girl was named Women's team Rookie of the Year! Then the senior girls who were the team captains this year got up to present their captain's awards. The Girl received the "Only Freshman Girl to Ever Make Lane One in Practice" award.

Lanes at practice are numbered, with the fastest kids swimming in the lower numbered lanes. Kids who are slow, messing around, or goofing off end up in lanes 6, 7, or 8. For most of the season, The Girl was swimming in lane 2 or 3, then slowly improved to lane one where she was swimming with the fastest kids--senior boys, many of them--on the team.

We were very proud of her. She loves to swim, but seems to be liking this off season as well. That makes me very happy, as that shows she is fairly well rounded socially, emotionally, physically, academically. That has always been my goal for her: a healthy, happy girl.