Swim season 2011 is officially over. We have been at the pool almost everyday since June 1st for 2 hour practices. I have sat (or ran!) in 90 degree temperatures for 6 hours each Wednesdays during their meets... to watch them each in the water for about 3 minutes! We've had rushed (and sub par) dinners, super quick showers, and hoarse throats from cheering everyone on for the past 2 months. Some parents hate it, but there are those of us that love it! I enjoy my social time with all of my friends while the girls swim. I enjoy watching the girls work hard at something and see the results. I love watching the joy on their faces when they do well as well as when their friends do well. Swim season is certainly not a pace I'd want to keep up year round, but I will miss it in the winter and look forward to next year!
For some swim is about the end result... the time on the clock, the ribbons at the end, the winner of JSL championship.
Yep, that's Laurel in 1st place for freestyle!
And Sierra in 2nd place for freestyle!
For a lot of people, the meets are about a lot more too...
Goofing around and constant eating (usually LOTS of sugar!)
Cheering on the new swimmers who, although they have the longest times, are the ones that work the hardest to get there!
Giving others some support to get through the meet
But one thing that everyone can agree on, one big plus of swim season is the friends!
Great blog post! After the first swim meet I thought I had made a big mistake signing our kids up. It took forever, the kids were running around crazy and I was hot, sick and pregnant. From the second one on I was so thankful that we stuck with it. All of the reasons you wrote above made me fall in love with swim team. I'm going to miss it. *It is crazy that Sierra swam exactly 10 seconds faster than Laurel. So proud of all the kids as fun as it was...it was a lot of work.
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