It’s true that Sunday was Championship Sunday for the NFL, but it was also Swim Meet Day for my son. And let me tell you, things are going swimmingly.
The kid just finished off an undefeated 6th grade regular season basketball year with a championship the weekend before, and now, he jumps in the pool for his 2nd swim meet of the year; the beat goes on. Just when I start to think what his #1 sport is, he goes and does something like he did on Sunday. It was a crazy good day. Funny thing is, he didn’t even want to be there. He told my wife for some reason that he wanted to leave; guess he wasn’t feeling it. That is funny.
His first event wasn’t all that great. He failed to beat his time in the 50M butterfly, and finished 3rd in his heat. Certainly not a train wreck by any means, but compared to the rest of the meet… this was the low point. Next up was the 50M backstroke. Now let me tell you about the backstroke; he doesn’t like it. He hasn’t swam it, outside of a medley, in a while. This used to be his best stroke when he was a kid. Yes, I know he’s still a kid, but he’s been swimming so long, yeah, it was back when he was a kid… haha. Guess he hit his head one time on the side of the pool, and that turned him off to this stroke. Well, he beat his best time by almost 7 seconds in the 50M backstroke! He won his heat… easily. He was in the first heat in this event. With his new and improved time, he should have been in the last heat, which is reserved for the kids with the best times. OK, now we’re talking…
His next event was the 50M breaststroke. Like the butterfly, he definitely likes this stroke. This was the 2nd most exciting race of the day, as it came down to him and another kid for the heat winner. The other kid, who was 2 years older than him, edged him out by like a half second. Still, my son improved his time by 2 seconds, which is very impressive. When your times are already good in a particular event, it’s tough to keep shaving seconds, but he did it. 2nd best time in the breaststroke for the day is good enough for a trophy. The next event was maybe the biggest surprise, in a day full of surprises. It was the 50M freestyle. The freestyle is the stroke that every kid swims, therefore, it is the most competitive. You need to be lightning in this stroke to be in the mix. He was in the middle heat for this event. He absolutely flew through the water on this one, improving on another best time by 2 seconds, which was good enough to win his heat, and if I saw all the times correctly for the final heat in this event, was good for 3rd best overall, which again, would mean a trophy. Wowza!
This was a long day… we had been there almost 5 hours when his final event came up. This was the first time he would swim in the 200M Individual Medley. I thought, damn… save the longest one for last, after these kids have been busting their humps all day long. With no registered time, he would be able to swim freely, not worrying about beating his time, but… there was a kid swimming in the lane right next to him, and although maybe he shouldn’t pay attention to what the other kid is doing, he does. This kid jumped out in front; oh yeah, he was 16 years old by the way… my son is 11. Still, I could see my son peeking at this kid ahead of him… I know he wanted to win… he always does. He said he started off like 85% energy on the first 50, which was the butterfly. He picked it up a little with the backstroke. By the time the breaststroke came, he was gaining on this kid. By the time they touched the wall before the final 50M freestyle, he was ahead! I was worried about the freestyle though. The kid is 5 years older than him! He had a mustache! They were neck and neck in the last 50, but as they headed back to the wall, my son edged ahead; it was an exciting race! At the time of the event, many folks had left, so you could hear the ones that were there a lot more… and everybody from our YMCA cheered him on. He pulled it off! The coaches called it one of the greatest comebacks they’d seen. This was the absolute cherry on top of an impressive day in the pool.
I don’t know what else to say really, but man… this kid. He really is something else, and he hasn’t even got his growth spurt yet! Who knows what the future will hold; decisions will certainly have to be made at some point around all these sports he plays. I’m just enjoying the hell out of this right now. My wife and I couldn’t be more proud of him; he was pretty happy himself. He was exhausted too, as he immediately fell asleep in the car ride home. I was exhausted too, but I didn’t fall asleep… I had to drive… haha. What’s next? Can’t wait.
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