Swim Team fun

This was the first year that we decided to do swim team.  And this was not a decision that was welcomed by all, but it ended up being a great learning experience.

Now my kids LOVE swimming...but their definition of swimming is far different than that of swim team.  They love to play and jump and splash in the water. Swim Team (by their definition) is..."HARD! All they do is laps back and forth!"  And really...that's what swim team is-work.  And that is why we told our kids that they had to do swim team-they have to be a good swimmer who has swimming endurance, and also do something that is good exercise.  So yes, we forced our children to do swim team. 

And when the first day came, they were ok with it...and then they went through prep week, and there were tears during the first practice.  Kennedy had a really hard time.  And granted, when you are tired, and on a field-you just stop and catch your breath.  When you are tired and in the middle of the pool-you could drown-so that added some anxiety to it all.  And with it being her first year, and her in the older group, she was doing hard workouts.  Now as a mom, I was torn.  I wanted to comfort her, but I didn't want her to quit and be a quitter...just because it was hard.  So I told her she could stop swimming her laps and catch her breath, but not quit swim team.  And she surprised me and kept going-with tears. The next day was a little easier (an easier stroke for her), but she was still not happy with me.

After the intial prep week-which really was a type of h**l week, she did better and was able to improve her strokes as well as her endurance.  Now Camden struggled too.  This was the first time that he wasn't one of the stars on a sports team-so he had a hard time competing in something that didn't come naturally to him.  Then they had their first meet.  They both were able to have a little success-and that made them more excited.  It was fun to see them improve and actually start to enjoy swim team!

By the end of the season, they had made big improvements.  They never got first in a swim meet-but they did their best and ended the season looking forward to a new year. We compared this swim season to the lesson we learned from the Turkeys-and it was a life lesson that Kennedy will never forget.

Coach McCall, ......, Chase, and Tim