Last Swim Meet

A beautiful day for a swim!

Violet wrapped up her first swim team season in spectacular fashion. I could not be more proud of this girl. At our last regular season swim meet, she posted her fastest times yet in both freestyle and backstroke. I volunteered to be the "shepherd" for her age group, so I had the opportunity to be front and center for all her events as I got the girls lined up on the blocks. With a season of meets under her belt, Violet is a pro. She was even telling me how to do my job! It's nice that she has enjoyed swim so much - I never have to drag her to practice or bribe her through the meets. She's happy to hop of on the block, wait for the whistle and take off for the other end. Even if she gets sloppy in practice and bobs the last few feet to the wall, she turns it on in competition.

So proud of this girl!

After we wrapped up our last meet, we had a pizza party to celebrate all our swimmers and say goodbye to our fabulous head coach Blaire. All the kids won a "paper plate" award, with everything from "Most Likely to Be a Princess" to "Best Attitude" and more. Annie got "best attitude" but I wasn't sure if they meant "best" as in having a good attitude, or having, you know, attitude. Haha! And then Violet... she got Rookie of the Year! I had to explain the term rookie to her, and I don't think it meant much in her mind, but Matt and I were thrilled for her! She did make the comment that at her very first practice, the coaches had to help her reach the other side of the pool, but now she doesn't need any help at all (understatement!)

Rookie of the Year!

But before we could officially retire her swim cap for the summer, there was one last thing we had to do. Violet decided (okay well, Matt and I decided) that she would compete at the county-wide swim meet down at Georgia Tech. She was scheduled for four events, two relays and the backstroke and freestyle. In my head, I knew it would be a little intimidating, but it was still a bit of a shock when we walked in. The place was huge! There were so many swimmers! (We're talking something like eight heats of 7-8 year old girls 25 meter freestyle alone!) I could tell Violet was feeling a little overwhelmed, but she gamely jumped in the pool for warm-ups. When she came out, she was very concerned about the fact that the pool was so deep and she couldn't touch the bottom. She said she didn't like looking down at it. Still, all seemed okay. Until the parent volunteer texted me to say that Violet was on her way up to the stands, where she completely freaked out and started crying, insisting we go home immediately. I think the whole day, waking up at 6 a.m., being too nervous for breakfast, everything just crashed down on her. Poor thing. I basically told her she had to swim the relays because her team depended on her. Her sweet coach came to escort her down and promised to jump into the pool fully dressed if need be, which made Violet crack up and calm down. Watching from the stands, I could tell she was nervous on the block but she didn't hesitate when it was her turn to swim the relay. And that first race seemed to get her over her fear, as the parent volunteer reported that she was all smiles after that. She didn't post her best times at the meet, but it was a great experience and I am just so proud of the fact that she got in the water at all, given her initial fear. Hopefully she'll want to come back again next year!

Getting ready for the county meet!