Jr. Sharks

This year we have been busy filling our Summer schedule. Last Summer we traveled all Summer. It was fun but expensive and exhausting. Other than our week to the beach, this year, we are mostly staying put. I have had many sleepless nights pondering what on earth I would do to fill my children's time. How would I keep them busy enough to stay out of trouble but still be able to have some sort of routine. Blake, my oldest little chick is the one I worry about the most. He is a free spirit that wants to come and go as he pleases and roam the neighborhood all day. I hate tracking him down all the time and even more I hate the knot in the pit of my stomach the entire time he is not home. I am always worried that something terrible may be happening to him or that someone is showing him something inappropriate on You Tube. Seriously!

Anyway the answer came in the local Summer swim program called the Jr. Sharks. We decided to enroll Blake because it got him up bright and early every morning for swim practice. The program lasts most of the Summer and the best part is that he burns off a lot of energy right out of the gate each day. Another wonderful perk is that he asks to go swimming a whole lot less. Blake will participate in 5 meets throughout the Summer. He has already taken part in two.

Here is where I interject my own personal short story about our first meet:

Robbie and I have no idea what to expect for our first meet. Blake has to be at the pool at 7am for warm-ups and the meet starts at 8am. Robbie decides to take Blake down for warm-ups and I agree to meet him there when the meet starts. I get Heidi and Tate ready and haul all of us down to our local aquatic center at 8am. I am shocked to find that we were supposed to bring our own chairs. Most families also have ice chests and snacks. I am thinking to myself, "Holy crap, how long is this thing?" I begin to look for Robbie and realize he is in a chair at the end of one of the pool lanes. He is holding a stopwatch and I realize that he has been asked to keep time. I am pretty angry. The meet is about to start, I have two little kids to keep away from the pool all by myself, and I have nowhere to sit while my husband enjoys a perfect view of every race. Also the P.A. system is so bad I cannot understand what event is up for what age group. Seriuosly miffed at this point.

Right about this point Blake gets up for a relay race. I can tell by the order he is in that he will be anchor. The other teams all have matching uniforms and our team is seriously mismatched. Robbie and I clearly read all rules stating that each swimmer should have a black suit for the meets. Only a few parents on our team followed through on that and we look like a "bad News Bears" swim team. Miffed again! Blake's race starts, the other teams are diving gracefully into the pool (they are obviously club teams that practice a lot). Our kids belly flop in or sit on the edge of the pool and scoot in. Our team is a joke. The other teams swim the freestyle stroke so well while many of our kids doggy paddle. We are easily lapped and Blake is about up. I felt so bad for him. By the time it was his leg of the relay all the other teams had finished. Blake is a good swimmer and freestyle is his best stroke. He swam a great leg but felt bad because he came in last.

Now I am convinced that I am going to talk to his coach. I am certain that he needs to put the fat kids in regular swim trunks and the doggy paddlers in their own relays together and put Blake with better swimmers. It's only fair right? Well the next relay begins and our friend's daughter swims the first leg. She does an amazing job and puts our team in first until the anchor of her leg flops in and literally doggy paddles two pool lengths. It was agonizing to watch. My blood begins to boil. This is not fair to the kids who are trying. Finally that little girl climbs out of the pool and removes her goggles. I then realize a few things and feel humbled and stupid. She has Downs Syndrome and just swam the best two legs ever. Quickly I put my arrogance and anger aside and remind myself, "It's just a Summer program, Susanna!"

So on to Blake. He did OK in his first meet and found the things he really needed to focus on for the next meet. His second meet was much better. He placed 3rd in the backstroke, 3rd in the breast stroke, 2nd in the freestyle, and his relay team took 1st in the medley. I am so proud of Blake for his hard work and he looks so cute in his little swim jammers! One last note, I think they should consider changing their team name to the Guppies instead of the Jr. Sharks. It really seems a better fit.