....if you know a fish that doesn't swim super fast and doesn't care how long it takes them to get to where they are going!
We decided to let Nathan try the swim team this summer. It's a pretty big commitment with practice 5 days a week and a meet once a week that lasts for 4-5 hours! We've tried soccer, karate (briefly), gymnastics and decided to add swimming to the list.
Nathan approached this new adventure the same way he approaches everything, like he couldn't care less! He could be found during practice hiding on the steps so he wouldn't have to swim his laps or splashing his teammates instead of swimming. I think he may be better suited for synchronized swimming because at the meets when it was his turn to race, he liked to get in the water and swim to the bottom, swim in circles, roll over and over...all with seemingly no real hurry to get to the other end of the pool. He always felt good about how he did even if he was the last one out of the water. Healthy amount of confidence or a total lack of competitive spirit? Not too sure. I think his coach summed it up when he approached me at practice and said "Nathan has a real good stroke and could be a good little swimmer he just seems to get distracted when he gets in the pool." Oh, if only he knew. Seemed funny to me that he sized him up so well after only spending a few hours with him
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The backstroke and Nathan are not friends. He swims most of the backstroke NOT on his back. Nuf said. But at the last swim meet I gave him a big pep talk about giving it his best just this one last time. He whined and complained, I begged and pleaded and then told him I would say a little prayer for him that he could swim the whole length of the pool on his back. After getting him situated in the lineup I made my way back over to our side of the pool and totally forgot about the deal we made, but he didn't. We almost didn't realize it was him in the pool because this child was swimming on his back, not flipping over, not stopping and coming across the pool pretty quickly. Before he could even get out of the water he was saying "mom, your prayer really worked, I was fast, I didn't flip over and I think the backstroke is my favorite now." I felt so quilty. I guess a prayer in my heart and his faith were enough.
Overall we enjoyed our experience. May even try again next year. Just too hard to say now if we will ever see him up on the podium at the Olympics receiving a medal!
We decided to let Nathan try the swim team this summer. It's a pretty big commitment with practice 5 days a week and a meet once a week that lasts for 4-5 hours! We've tried soccer, karate (briefly), gymnastics and decided to add swimming to the list.
Nathan approached this new adventure the same way he approaches everything, like he couldn't care less! He could be found during practice hiding on the steps so he wouldn't have to swim his laps or splashing his teammates instead of swimming. I think he may be better suited for synchronized swimming because at the meets when it was his turn to race, he liked to get in the water and swim to the bottom, swim in circles, roll over and over...all with seemingly no real hurry to get to the other end of the pool. He always felt good about how he did even if he was the last one out of the water. Healthy amount of confidence or a total lack of competitive spirit? Not too sure. I think his coach summed it up when he approached me at practice and said "Nathan has a real good stroke and could be a good little swimmer he just seems to get distracted when he gets in the pool." Oh, if only he knew. Seemed funny to me that he sized him up so well after only spending a few hours with him
.The backstroke and Nathan are not friends. He swims most of the backstroke NOT on his back. Nuf said. But at the last swim meet I gave him a big pep talk about giving it his best just this one last time. He whined and complained, I begged and pleaded and then told him I would say a little prayer for him that he could swim the whole length of the pool on his back. After getting him situated in the lineup I made my way back over to our side of the pool and totally forgot about the deal we made, but he didn't. We almost didn't realize it was him in the pool because this child was swimming on his back, not flipping over, not stopping and coming across the pool pretty quickly. Before he could even get out of the water he was saying "mom, your prayer really worked, I was fast, I didn't flip over and I think the backstroke is my favorite now." I felt so quilty. I guess a prayer in my heart and his faith were enough.
Overall we enjoyed our experience. May even try again next year. Just too hard to say now if we will ever see him up on the podium at the Olympics receiving a medal!
1 comment:
I'm glad you gave swim team a try. We hope you come back next year.
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