1st Swim Meet

C.J. and Brendan swam in their first meet of the season yesterday.

Brendan swam butterfly in the medley relay, individual freestyle, individual backstroke, and the freestyle relay. His relay team beat the competition both times, and he got a second place in the individual freestyle. He definitely shows more endurance this year -- there were no lane line breaks!



C.J. surprised us with a decision to join the team this year. Ironically, he was selected to swim the butterfly lap for medley relay and to swim the individual butterfly. Butterfly was one of the factors that caused him to quit the team last year; he was frustrated when the coaches told him to swim the stroke in practice when he didn't know how to do it. He's got the kick figured out this year and can turbo through the water with only the kicking motion. How do we know this? Well, at practice, he was instructed to just do the kicking and not the arm motion. The idea stuck in his mind, and he completed the first relay with only the kick. For the individual race, we showed him the arm motions. When he masters the timing of both motions, he'll be impressive! His other events were the individual freestyle and the freestyle medley.

The non-swimmers decided that a 4 hour swim meet in 100 degree weather with no shade and only concrete surrounding the pool was just a bit hot. We leaped into our own pool as soon as we returned home. Last year, a friend described swim meets to me as a day at the beach without the sand or the ability to go into the water. I think she summed it up well.