Go Orcas!

Suited up for the first meet!

We signed the girls up for our neighborhood swim team this year. It's a great program, but man has it been intense. All through the month of May (only one of the busiest school months of the year) the girls have had practice every evening, Monday through Thursday. It's forced me to be very organized and diligent about not wasting time at school in order to get out the door on time! 

The girls have loved getting in the pool every day. Considering this is Violet's first time being exposed to official swim strokes and techniques, she has jumped right in with enthusiasm, and I've seen major improvements daily. Annie is on the Junior Orcas swim team and is basically receiving swim lessons. There is a head coach and then tons of middle school and high school helpers in the water and she loves jumping into the pool, practicing blowing bubbles and getting her head wet. She's one of the youngest on the team, but even if she doesn't learn to officially swim this summer, it's great for her water confidence.

And they're off!

Thursday, the day before our last day of school, was our first swim meet. All week I had been more consumed with this upcoming meet that I was by anything going on in the classroom, which says a lot. What a crazy day to pick to kick off the swim team season! It had rained and poured all week, and although the sun broke through for the event, it was a chilly high-60s forecast. It was a mock meet, meaning we were the only team, but it was a great practice run for the real deal. Violet swam all four strokes (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly). At first she didn't seem to realize the importance of actually touching the wall - she would stall out about three feet from the end, once the water got shallow enough to stand up. But then her competitive nature kicked in and by the last heat, she hit the wall in first place! Annie also got to participate by jumping in from the diving block to one of her teachers, then "swimming" one lap across the pool. Although both kids seemed to enjoy their 47 trips to the concession stand most of all.

Parents are strongly encouraged to volunteer during meets, and by encouraged, I mean I received three or four emails/texts requesting, asking, and then straight up demanding that I sign up for a slot. I was hesitant to volunteer at first. Being our first time on swim team, I didn't even know what half the jobs were. Bullpen? Shepherd? Concessions seemed safe enough, so I spent my time making popcorn with one ear open for Violet's events to be called so I could dash up to the pool to watch. But there were plenty of other people volunteering and it was a great way to meet other families in the neighborhood. Everyone is super nice and it was cool to see how supportive everyone is of the swim team.

Annie "swimming".

Our first real meet (versus another swim team) is coming up this Thursday. Now that school is out (for kids at least... I'm heading back for two days of post-planning), the girls will have practice every morning Monday through Friday through the month of June. It sounds so time consuming, but honestly my kids are up so early, we'll be itching to get out of house by then anyway. But I might need to invest in some more beach towels!