Patriot Swim Meet

Summer swim ended back in July, but we decided that in the best interests of Nicco, we would keep it up. He needs to be out in the sunshine and fresh air moving his body. He seems to be an individual sport type of guy, and since he actually has some real potential in swimming, swimming it is.

 

The year-round team is USA swimming, not just the relatively small Southern AZ league. The rules are stricter, the meets are run a little differently, and teams can come from all over. This past Saturday was the Patriot Meet at our brand-spanking-new OV Aquatic center. It is designed to potentially host actual for real Olympic events. There is a national synchronized swimming trial or championship (I forget which) on the books already. Pretty cool, I say. Here's the pool...

It's big. For this meet, they divided the lanes the short way to allow 25 meter swims. You can divide the lanes lengthwise for 50 meter swims. The sides are special too, (I'm not sure exactly how) to minimize the wakes of the swimmers and the turbulence in the water, so it's supposed to be a really fast pool.

 

Here's the boy during warm-ups:

 Sometimes he looks so big, then sometimes he looks so small.

He's thinking. Or pointing to his thinking cap, perhaps?

Practicing starts:

 

After warm-ups we went down to our camp and Nicco watched Cody play on the coveted DS.

Prior to his first race Nicco checked in with Coach Debbie to get some advice for his race, then I took him to his proper lane and lined him up in the proper position for the heat he was swimming. It was a hot and sunny day and I made him keep his shirt over his shoulder while he waited for his turn.

 On the blocks...

I watched that little boy swim, and I glanced up at the clock, then I looked at where he was in the pool and I thought to myself, he's swimming really fast...

The new aquatic center has a high-tech starting/timing system. As soon as the swimmer touches the wall it records his time and place on the board. I looked up and saw my boy's time and place and got a little lump in my throat...my baby was in lane 5. His previous fastest freestyle record was 25 something. Oh my.

He looked like he was actually racing, and he was! He did his best ever, looked good, felt good, and swam good! He had a proud mama. He was proud of himself and had to call his Daddy and his grandparents to report. 

On the phone he said, "I swam the fastest in my racing history!" So cute.

Nicco and Cody and Paul hung out all day together. They had some fun with their games and devices. It was fun to watch them swimming and between their races. But here's the thing...Coach Debbie had to stay at the Coaches' table and Coach Parker was competing at his own H.S. swim meet so we had to be individually responsible for our kids, getting them ready and in their proper places at the proper time. Cody's parents were with me at our camp, but Paul's dad was somewhere else. Andrea, Cody's mom, just happened to notice that Paul was in the same heat as Cody in his first race so she walked them both up to check in and line up. A moment later, Paul came back, confused. He asked me where Coach Debbie was. I wasn't sure exactly, so I told him to stick with Cody and he'd get where he needed to go. "Where is he?" he asked. I wasn't sure about that either, so I walked him up to the pool deck, saw Andrea, and solicited her help, wondering where the heck Paul's dad was. Andrea took him under her wing and all was well. For the moment.

Between races the three boys played their games. Nicco and Cody also ate snacks and drank water because, you know, their parents were there checking on them and taking care of them. At Cody's next race, Andrea noticed again that Paul was registered as well, but in a different heat. Again, she took both boys up to the pool. She came back shaking her head and said that Paul didn't go when he was supposed to. Coach Debbie was scrambling to see if he could race in the final heat and a few minutes later, Paul came down WHERE WE WERE, not where his own dad was, in tears, but wet. Oh my goodness, I was getting really annoyed. I asked Paul if his dad was timing, because if that was the case, then I understood why he wasn't watching out for him. But if that was the case, he should have friggin' asked us if we wouldn't mind watching him, and here are his snacks and water and these are the races he's in! But, Paul said no, he was just watching. Grr. I don't know if he swam his last race or not and by the time Nicco finished his last race, everyone else from our camp was gone. You're welcome! I said to no one. And, Goodbye! Annoying.

Back to our story...the racing day was not done...Nicco still had backstroke and breaststroke to go. Here he is on the blocks for the backstroke:

He didn't swim his fastest backstroke in his racing history, but he did pretty well. It was also not his slowest in history and now he has a time to beat for this season.

 

Breaststroke is not his best nor his favorite, but he's been doing better and better. Like he did in his freestyle race, he actually looked like he was racing. He had a nice streamline glide between strokes leading into his breath.

 

 

He placed sixth in his heat, but it was his own personal record. So yay!

 

After his race we checked in with Coach to say thanks and bye. She told him well done and gave him a high five and a free junior frosty coupon.

It was another good day, and I think that fresh taste of success motivated him to keep going and try to do better. He was getting a little burned out, but that meet was a good experience for him.

Now he gets a small break from racing and we'll even take a break from practices in October when we go overseas. Then we'll be ready to get serious again!

I love races.