Summer Swimming

I love summer swimming for my kids. It's a huge time commitment on my part (like everything else that benefits them) because the 3 of them practice at different times each day. Emily is from 8:30am - 10am, Jacob is from 10:30 - 11:30 and Jane is from 12:30 - 1:30pm ... so most of our day is sucked up at the pool. In a way though, I love the structure that it gives us. We make sure that we are up with beds made, family scripture memorization, breakfast eaten, and Jacob & Jane's reading done before I have to take Emily at 8:15. I drop Em off & come home to start laundry, mow the lawn or whatever daily tasks I have and Jacob & Jane do their morning jobs. I go back to get Em at 10am. She works on her jobs, reading, summer goals etc while I take Jake (Jane usually swims and plays while Jake practices) then we eat lunch - sometimes we dash home for it & sometimes stay at the pool. Then Jane has her practice. I try and swim some laps while Jane is practicing, since she is being supervised then & I trust Jake to swim and play with friends without me watching him.

The only thing that throws us off is the meets because they have to be there so early (usually 7:15am) and last for hours! At the last swim meet I wasn't volunteering (parents are required to volunteer as timers, scorers, ribbon writers, etc) and Jane had gone to play with a friend so thought it was a perfect  day to take the camera!

This is Jacob at the start of his freestyle relay as the other swimmer touches the wall. I love watching the little "6 & Under" races - the kids are just too adorable. He's not starting off the blocks because the little kids relays are only 25 yards and he started at the other end.

His technique is nowhere near as beautiful as Emily's but he's a good little swimmer & he loves it (& it burns off some of that endless energy) so I love to see him swim.

By the time he gets old enough to do the "mile swim" in Scouts, he'll be all over it!

Oh, and I am totally in love with this kids backstroke.

How could I not be?

He's got a pretty decent backstroke and does well ...

...  until he gets 3/4 of the way down the pool and starts to just kick on his back with his arm out because he's too worried he'll bonk his head on the wall. I've been trying to teach him to count his strokes from the flags but so far he's favoring the "slower than cold tar at the end" approach.

I tried to get some good pictures of Em doing her freestyle but she's so darn quick it's tough to get. She swims the 50 free in 32 seconds. Not much opportunity for good pictures, since she's only coming towards me for 16 seconds! I really should try and get some from the side, but she's usually in the middle lanes and harder to see. Also, I like to cheer for her and she really wouldn't be able to hear me from the sides. I know she hears me from the end of the lane because I see her smile as she does her flip turn :)

Her best stroke is breaststroke. It's just beautiful to watch. Her technique is perfect and she's really fast - she pretty much always wins in her breaststroke races.

Over the past year Emily's butterfly has really improved. I give myself a lot of the credit (tee hee.) She had a good 'fly, but because she wasn't as fast and perfect at it as she was other strokes, she didn't ever want to do it. In winter swimming the parents sign up for meets and races (not like summer swimming where the coaches decide who swims what). I "encouraged" her to try some butterfly races. The first was not received so well, she really didn't want to do it. I told her she really should if she wanted to be a well rounded swimmer and signed her up. Then at the meet she came over and asked if she could scratch - I told her she couldn't and I just wanted her to give it a shot. I said "I don't care if you come last" - she answered "But I do!"

Well, she swam it and did well and took 4 seconds off her time. She was pleased as punch with herself and willing to try a few more butterfly events after that. Now she's doing really well in the fly and usually places 1st or second in the meets - more importantly she really likes to swim it!

I just love that my little petite & gentle Emily can swim this challenging stroke.

It makes me so happy to watch her power through the water.

Here she is getting ready for her freestyle relay. She's the "anchor" because she's so fast, but it stresses her out a bit. She feels the weight of winning for the team and making up any lost ground. She's started to wear 2 caps - one on her head, then her goggles, then another to hold the goggles and cover the top of them. She says she likes it better that way because she doesn't feel the drag of the water on her goggles. You know you're serious about swimming when you try to eliminate the drag from your goggles!!

Another happy meet! Our team won again - they've never lost a meet in all the years we've been on the team & have been county champions for the past 6 years. Kind of makes me sad that Bek stopped swimming when she was about 13.... such a great sport.

Stay tuned. Jane is on the pre-team this year & her one & only meet of the summer is next week. Pictures are bound to follow.