Processing

Warning: I haven't blogged much this swim season, so this recap of the season, and especially this last week, will be lengthy.  I am using the blog today to process my thoughts on an interesting season and on sports and parenting athletes in general.  It will be long, and there will be lots of pictures.  

2017 Swim and Dive Season

A little team history to start: Julia swims for a huge team.  What started as a big team some 20 years ago has grown into, well, a hurricane with 325 swimmers.  This team connects with each other like none I've ever seen before.  It's a true community.  The older kids show up for the younger kids at their quals to cheer for them.  The team has a list of team cheers that they do regularly.  It's a six week summer swim team in a city league, and for 15 years straight, this team sat atop the league.  We were unseated in 2015 and became runners up. We regained our championship title in 2016 and ended this season as runners up again.

A little bit about our coaches: My kids have experienced coaches whom I believe should be banned from coaching for the way they treat kids, okay coaches, and great and phenomenal coaches across several sports.  This team of coaches is phenomenal!  They not only are great swim coaches, but they are great life coaches (more on that later).  It is important to know before reading my thoughts further on this season that our coaches make a point of teaching the kids how to be gracious in defeat.  "You will get out of that pool and tip your hat to the opponent and congratulate the winning team."

Enough team history- onto the season.

Julia has loved summer swim in the past.  This year has been different.  Entering the teen years left her feeling like the team is less fun than it has been in the past.  Because she only swims in the summer, and her opponents are often year-round USA swimmers, she gets less and less competitive every year.  That puts us and her in a difficult spot.  Julia is competitive by nature, and her coach has pointed out to me numerous times that her potential in this sport is amazing. This has led to many discussions between Andy and me.  What would God have us do with this?  He has gifted her with athleticism.  Do we push her to pursue it when she's feeling burned out? Do we back off?  What is the right thing to do?  This year Julia commented many times that she thought this would be her last season.  When pressed, she expressed that it's competitive and no fun anymore.  Julia is willing to work hard for a sport.  She wants to compete, but she feels like, unless it is school, nothing in life is worth doing if there isn't some fun involved.  

This team is a super fun team, but Julia is caught in the age group where they are beyond the fun of seeing what they can do with swim and not yet to the fun the crazy teenagers get simply because they've earned more freedom.

Julia's season report card:

Julia's top three strokes are back, free, and butterfly.  The way the league works is that the kids work all season for times that will get them into quals.  The top 14 in each event advance to champs.  No athlete can swim in more than three individual events at champs.

50 back - 1st meet of the season: 43.34,  best time 41.18  finished 11th in champs holding her spot from quals with a PR (personal record)

50 fly 1st meet of season: 40.99, PR at quals with a 39.11, finished 6th at champs holding her spot from quals

50 free 1st meet of the season 36.17, best time 35.28, finished 12th at champs moving up two spots from her 14th place finish at quals and with a PR

100 IM She swam that once all season with a 1:33.07

50 breast 1st meet 54.48, best time 53:00

Julia was also part of the medley relay in champs.  That team was DQ'd, and I have to give it to these girls.  It was their first event, and they all rallied in spite of it and did well for the rest of the meet.

She also raced in the free relay.  Her team moved up from their 7th place seed to 5th place in the champs meet with a strong last race.

I chased a good shot of the butterfly for three meets.  I never expected to achieve it at the champs meet because of the crowds, but I got three!

Relay teams trying to rally each other and themselves after hearing the announcement that made it pretty clear we would not win this meet.

Julia got extra coaching on her starts and turns this year.

I love this pic from the dive pep rally.

Goofing off with a  friend at the dive pep rally.

Fly, baby girl, fly!!

coaching advice at dive champs

Quals: 

As I mentioned before, quals is split into two meets.  The older kids swim on Monday night of champs week, and the younger kids swim on Wednesday.  We hosted the older quals, and it was pretty standard stuff.

Our older kids showed up for the younger quals, and I immediately thought there might be a problem.  The older kids took up about 1/4th of the pool deck and were there to cheer for every swimmer on our team in every race where we had swimmers.  It was announced before the meet started that because the pool deck was small, parents needed to watch their events and then leave the pool deck. Um, that's a problem for a team that brought a cheering section.  I have mixed feelings on how this went.  I don't want any parent from any team to miss seeing their child swim, so I understand the frustration with having teammates on deck to cheer for the younger kids.  However, the parents were nasty to our kids.  Physically moving them, telling them to leave, basically stating they weren't welcome.  Our parents had to become a shield and actually engage in some altercations with parents from the other teams over this.  As Andy pointed out, "what are you hosting?"  Are you hosting a sporting event?  Some people love sports and will watch every race because they love the sport.  Or are you hosting an event for parents to watch their swimmers and nothing more?  If you are not equipped to host a sporting event, then don't call it one, and definitely don't host it!

Let me add that our kids do not boo other teams or kids.  

quals night - swim fast, ladies!!

A small part of the cheering section for younger quals.

Champs:

We came into champs hated by every other team.  For the teams that knew they could not take one of the top two spots, they cheered for our toughest opponent.  I am no pollyanna.  We have 325 kids on our team, and I am sure that we probably have some poor sportsmanship and meanness among that group.  Our team, however, is not characterized overall by that.  Again, we do not boo the other teams.  Our team has been booed every time they took the top spot at champs.  We are a loud force.  Parents and swimmers fill the stands and cheer for our swimmers.  Sportsmanship is not a characteristic of some of these other teams.  I offer a few examples of what we experienced at champs.

1. A parent approached two of our older kids as they were getting places to cheer the races and told them that we could not win this meet and that's all our team cares about.  She went on to say we were obnoxious and should not bother to cheer since winning is all we care about, and we and could not win this meet.  

Seriously? This is how an adult talks to kids?  She was apparently relentless and did not stop at a couple of short jabs..  Baiting them perhaps, trying to get a reaction out of them that she could call poor sportsmanship?  It did not work.  She happened to be talking to a very respectful and polite girl who simply told her that our team is not all about winning, and that we cheer for each other because we are family.

2. Andy timed for half of the meet and had to listen to opposing coaches call us cheaters, claim that we recruit kids and offer discounts to strong swimmers.  Um, where's my discount?  I am the parent of one of those strong swimmers, and we are swimming for a public pool, so any kid can join the team.  Some of the other teams only allow members of their neighborhoods to join.  If that puts them at a disadvantage, then they need to talk to their neighborhood association.  Andy did say that the coaches of the winning team were a class act. 

3. In an unprecedented move, the hosting team announced the team results right before the relays started.  Maybe that was always planned, but it certainly did not look good on them.  Here's why...

in years past scores were announced at halftime and at the end of the meet - not any other time. This announcement was made just prior to the last 10 events which were all relays, and our kids were lining up for the relays at that time.  The point spread between us and the winning team was great enough at that time for us to realize that we could not win the meet.  I witnessed in that moment the deflation on the faces of our relay teams.  Just because of the way we were being treated anyway that day, it seemed like a jab aimed at our team and an attempt to discourage our kids from swimming their best in their last races.  It almost worked - except we had the fans in the stand encouraging and pushing our kids to do their best, and our kids did swim their best!  

As Julia's team headed to the pool, one girl in particular was really struggling.  I racked my brain for some way to encourage them.  I believe God gave me these words to speak over them as they headed to the pool.  I said to them, "You are the reigning champions! Go out there and swim like it!"  I have to hand it to the parent (from an opposing team) who was leading them to the pool.  She said to them, "That's right, girls!" She raised her fist and started pumping it while chanting, "Champs! Champs! Champs!"

4. As the results were being announced, the winning team held up the "L" for loser directed at our team.  Kids will be kids, and while that can't be addressed this season, they have coaches who are typically pretty classy, so hopefully, that will be addressed going forward.  In fact, their coaches sent our coaches a letter commending the team on how our kids acted in the face of defeat when they beat us two years ago.

medley relay ready to race at champs

the banquet

Per tradition we gathered for our banquet on the day after champs.  The banquet is a nine hour event complete with senior speeches and a dance party.  What I love about this team and sports:  one senior after another acknowledged that the unity of this team makes them winners regardless of their standing at the end of the season.  They were not bemoaning the fact that we did not land on top.  They celebrated years of success, camaraderie, comedy, and fun.  The seniors admonished those following them to soak up every minute and noted that they regretted the things they missed whether practices or events.

all grown up and beautiful for the banquet

Mom, I am tired and don't want any pictures!  Stop already! 

Dive awards -most improved and subtle sass award.

I will cooperate if you will just let me go to bed.

Final thoughts on swimming/sports

I encourage every parent to allow their child some time on a swim team.  I paid for session after session of swim lessons before finally putting Zach on a team.  One thing I learned was that a swim team is the best way for a child to learn to swim well.  In my opinion swimming is a necessary life skill.  Of my four children, one of them did not swim and is not a strong swimmer and regrets not having a swimming background.

My only regret regarding this team is that I did not discover it in time for Zach to join as a sixth grader.  It would have been very good for him on many levels.  

Swimming requires a big commitment, but the other nice thing about it is that the team runs from three year olds to eighteen year olds.  The swimmers get the best of both worlds because they can enjoy the sport as spectators and as athletes - all in one meet!  Swimming is also great cross-training for just about any other sport.  It's probably my favorite sport in which my family has been involved.

Sports have much to teach our kids. I realize they are not for everybody, but they encourage a healthy lifestyle.  They encourage kids to persevere even when it's tough.  Sports encourage kids to work together, and sometimes they are a reminder that there are bigger things in life.  Just in the past year, I have witnessed opposing teams come together to let a hurting child experience the thrill of getting a touchdown and love on him days after he unexpectedly lost his mom.  I have witnessed a team raise money to research juvenile diabetes in honor of a teammate living with it.  I have seen older kids on a team be excellent role models for younger kids.  If done right sports can teach kids how to graciously accept success and graciously accept defeat.  Many lessons are learned in sports' arenas.