Swim Team

Last night I took Zach, Chase and Emma to their first practice with the Rolla Fins swim team. Being relegated to the pool myself for the past few months inspired me to sign them up and give it a go.  (I've gotten to know the coach of the team and found out that the practices are held at the same time for all three of them!!  What a bargain.  No more driving to three different fields, five nights a week for soccer.)

The kids went to two private workouts last week with the coach to spiff up their stroke technique and let him determine which group would be best for their abilities but last night was their first night actually swimming with the team.

Let me just say that I am SO PROUD of them for hanging in there.  I can say Zach honestly had no idea what he was in for and it was MUCH more intense than he was prepared for.  It was an hour and 15 minutes of constant swimming (except when they were out on the pool deck doing pushups and sit-ups).  Poor Zachy was swimming with kids who have been on the team for months if not years.  There were times I thought he might break down and cry he looked so exhausted and overwhelmed but he didn't.  The coach often looked over at me and asked if I thought he should take him out early but Zach just kept pushing off the wall and doing what the other kids were doing as best he could.  He was a trooper.

Chase and Emma's groups were also much more advanced then their current skill level but they just did their best and didn't give up.  Emma kept going even when her goggles broke and she had to swim half blind.  Emma seems to be a natural at breaststroke (the proper form of that stroke can be tricky for some people to get the timing right but she takes right to it) and Chase is quite good at and likes to swim butterfly of all things.  

Driving home the car was filled with talk about how "brutal" that was.  Zach said it was the hardest physical thing he's ever done in his life and I believe him.  It was fun to see how they glowed with pride as the exhaustion abated and by the time we got home they were talking about how they were going to work hard like that every practice and get to be "way better swimmers than Dad and Dunn".  

It'll take them a few years before they can compete with Mommy ;-)