The First Swim Meet

I wish I could say this summer has been relaxing, but the truth is that it has been busy. Busier than when Chloe is in school. There is little down time and besides Kung Fu twice a week we are at the pool twice a day for diving lessons and swim team practice. We're home just long enough to throw wet towels in the washer/dryer and to let Oliver nap. Diving lessons end next week and we will just have swim team practice going forward so the back and forth at the pool can end.

Chloe's very first swim meet was Wednesday. It was my first experience at a swim meet and it wasn't the best introduction to competitive swimming as it was chaotic and disorganized. I can't even begin to describe the confusion and chaos at the meet. The meet was supposed to start at 5: 00 p.m. but after an hour of standing around trying to find someone that knew what was going on and where we should be I had enough and stepped in to organize swimmer check-in while three other moms obtained the master swim list and began organizing the swimmers by using pens to write the event, heat and lanes on the kids arms so they would be able to know what they were doing. We did get an apology letter from the head coach and staff this morning apologizing for the chaos--which was really her passing the blame on the pool for staying open during the swim meet. She promises the next event will start on time and be organized---lets just say I have my doubts. For someone that has been coaching this team for 15 years she should have it down like clockwork regardless of whether half the Olympic sized- pool is open for general swim (especially when the event was in the 25M pool, not the Olympic-sized pool).

All the chaos and confusion put stress on the kids and Chloe began whining that she didn't want to just "sit around" while this all got figured out and kept asking to go to the playground. Not knowing when the event would start or the order of the event, I couldn't let her run off to play for fear the event would start at any minute.

When the time finally came for the event to begin (almost 2 hours after the original start time) I was totally stressed and on "high alert". As Chloe stood at the side of the pool waiting to compete I didn't know how she felt or what she was thinking. She kind of looked like a "deer in headlights" not quite sure what was going on.

And, she got a little miffed when she learned she was only swimming 15M because she swims in the 5-6 age bracket because of her June birthday (even though she's 7). She's been in swim lessons (both group and private) since she was 11 months old and can currently swim a 25M pool back and forth for 45 minutes straight).  I'm not bragging when I say the kid is good, really good for her age, and that she should be in the 7-8 age bracket but the coach told me those are the rules and then quipped, "she'll do really well and win all her heats, " which seems unfair to me & Matt. I was still a nervous wreck when it came to Chloe's first event, the 15M freestyle and the "Tiger Mother" may have come out in me. Chloe won handily over the others--2nd place is to the right of Chloe in the video.



Chloe went on to win backstroke too. Its hard to read her sometimes and what she is thinking. After the backstroke, she got out and asked, "Did I come in first?" to which I said, "Yes!" to which she responded with, "Can I go to the playground now?".

Its all good fun.

So, what does Oliver do during all this swimming? Well, he stays with our babysitter for the swim meets but is in tow for diving lessons and swim team practice. He spends his time in the kiddie pool area.

Have a great weekend, I'm off to diving practice with the kids....