Swim Team

When we bought our house in April I put the kids on the neighborhood swim team. I thought they would be excited about it as they love to swim and have always enjoyed taking lessons. Additionally I knew we were going to be putting a pool into our back yard, and I wanted to have full confidence in their swimming before it was finished. The confidence in swimming really was more about Levi, but a little extra practice never hurt anyone.

With great expectations for lots of fun times, I was sad when the kids were less than thrilled about the team. Naively I thought they would be ready for it because of their lessons each summer. I soon learned swimming in lessons and swimming on a team are two very different things. Seth and Abigail struggled to keep up - they were starting at ages 9 and 11, and most kids they were swimming with had been on the team since age 5 or 6. Levi was more on target with his age group, but he wasn't so sure about having to swim all the way across the pool.

Randy and I discussed the turn of events, and we told the kids they needed to stay on the team for the season. We decided this would be a good learning experience for them - they would have to work hard at something they weren't naturally excelling in. We told them it would be character building. Although I don't think they really believed what we were saying, we held our ground.

We enrolled Seth and Abigail in two weeks of stroke clinic with one of the coaches, and that helped their technique tremendously. We could see immediate results in their strokes. Levi built up his stamina and could soon make it across the pool very well. His speed improved and his competitive side came out. At his last meet I think he missed winning his heat in freestyle by tenths of a second. All three worked hard and improved, and they also learned they can't give up on something just because they aren't excelling at it. A good lesson since there will be plenty of things in life they will have to do even if they aren't as good at it as someone else.

Seth, Abigail, and Levi - we are proud of you!

Here are a few pictures at the last meet. I didn't get good ones of Seth because he seemed to be busy every time I had the camera out, and he isn't so much into posed pictures these days when friends are around. And I am pretty sure he would not be very happy if I asked him to put his suit and team shirt back on for a picture now. Ha!


Seth in the water


Abigail about to dive in - she has the black swim cap on


Levi