regionals swim meet

The girl and her team pushed it hard this year, not only shocking themselves but knocking the wind out of a lot of other teams, particularly girls teams. They were a force to be reckoned with and powered their way through. My girl was surprised that she was still able to swim with the amount of power that she had however being Lily she was bothered that her times were not those of her club swimming days. Oy vey.

I loved the team coaches they were so sweet but I felt they were incredibly naive but that's probably because I am used to club coaches and not just any club coaches. When the season started and the pool was full of swimmers who could barely make it from one side of the pool to the other and they were saying things like, "this year we are taking a whole lot of you to States", I remember thinking.....you must have water on the effing brain! But they were just so happy and cheerful and yes, the team improved but in order to make it to States in this division where kids swim for 4 hours a day, six days a week just to swim in a club (one reason why lily no longer wants to compete) you've got to have a HS team filled with club swimmers not ex ones and not novices. bless them. But they are the nicest coaches ever. And as an ex club swimmer Lily was actually a stronger swimmer than 98% of the current club swimmers on her team, girl is a maniac in the pool.

So she swam and she swam and she made her way to regionals. crazy! But alas this is where the story of swimming will stop this year for the girl.

I swallowed my pride ( cos lordy knows I am chomping at the bit to get back to school) and asked if she would like to join the club again and she said, no thank you mama. I do believe I heard angels sing.

So what I am trying to say is this: on Thursday, after the encounters with the gate Nazi, (read previous post) we watched the girl swim. Her first event went well, it was a 200 IM relay and she did great, her second a 400 IM which is definitely one of "her" events she didn't pull it off and came in 3rd. Yes I know but she had a solid 2nd for most of the heat and let it slide, not a Lily move so when she got out the water I grilled her hard. I don't normally do this but this was the regionals and she wanted it badly so I stepped into swim mum mode. I hadn't seen her all day, Didn't know what she had eaten or drank so I pulled the mama card. Next up was HER event, the 500m free. She had plenty of time to recover and if she wanted it she was going to have to work for it. She did work hard and I thought her coach was going to have a stroke when she took enough time off, to bring her in under 6 minutes. I was so worried that the clocks would glitch that I dare not move from my place at the end of the lane. She managed 3rd, 3rd place peeps is crazy.   Her final event was the 400m IM relay and they were dq'd cos someone left the blocks too early. Oh well. The father of one of the girls, walked off the deck and was not seen again. Nice sportsmanship dude

First place in individual events takes you to States
Second place in relays takes you to States.

She was close but no cigar. Is she happy? Ish. Is she disappointed? Hell yes but deep down she knows it was a long long shot.

team secrets

This next few photos make me laugh. I was taking photos of Lily warming up and was oblivious of anyone or thing in the frame. It wasn't until I uploaded them that I realised the girl on block next to her was doing the exact same thing at the exact same time.

first we go this way

then we stand like this

then we turn the other way. 

she gives her all

looks like she is being dunked

underwater shot..kinda cool

those oh so distinctive hands

she always looks so huge in a pool

Lane 3 place 3 under 6 ( her time a yr ago was 5.45)
Her coach was leaping up and down up and down and screaming~ bless.

she earnt it

great team. Not all of the team went to Regionals but they all made the shirt???

And so that's a wrap. I told her when swim season was over she needed to start taking the bus home. Well, she did on Friday and No, just no. She left school at 2,22 and arrived at the bus stop at 3.11. It is an 17 minute drive from here. I was tracking her on my phone and I swear I thought she had been busnapped. Twice she got so close to the house I thought, yay she is here and then off she went again into the abyss. Rosie and I were laughing so hard. We thought maybe the driver was asking Lily for directions cos girl is directionally challenged. So I will be picking her up because that is just a waste of time and I am very much against time wasting. sigh.

Rock Star I am very proud of you. xxxx

sometimes i make myself laugh

It's no secret that I have a sense of humour. My dad says he keeps me around because I'm funny, well kid you don't drink but you are funny so I'll keep you around.

On Thursday evening big child swam in Regionals, a big deal for a 9th grader, actually a big deal for high school sports and I encountered one of those people that likes to carry out THE rules. As with all things in my life I approached her with a smile and humour, alas she was having neither and earnt the moniker, from another mum, of the gate nazi, which nearly made me spit out my water.

The competition was almost 2 hours north of here and held at 5. Warm ups started at 3 and Lily was leaving school with her team at 10? Yeah I have no idea but go for it team. Now I have another kidlet to consider, one who gets out at 3:10 so it would be cutting it close but they way I drive, no problem.  As it turns out said child woke up on Thursday morning with her eyeball welded shut so wasn't able to go to school as they frown on highly contagious things in school. Quick call in to the pediatrician and that was sorted.

We left around 2.30 and arrived at the facility 90 mins later. I paid our entrance fee and saw they were selling shirts. First time at Regionals deserves a shirt. But where oh where was the swimmer. I sent her a text but of course, she doesn't keep her phone in her bathing suit pocket. The swimmers and spectators we separated by a divider, which I would like to add, divided us from the loos, yes it did. 90 minutes in the car, drinking water all the time and no place to pee...oh across the street is a shopping centre???!! Say effing what.

Back to finding the swimmer. So we walk around the outside of the pool. I can see the Braddock team so I go to that area of the fence and that is where I encounter her. She doesn't look like an alien, at all. As we approach:

Gate Nazi: swimmers only, parents and friends must use the other gate.

Me: Oh, I'm not swimming, I forgot my Speedo, thankfully. You wouldn't want to see that!

GN: You CANNOT go in here

Me: Oh. I'm not going in, I'm looking for my kid, oddly enough she isn't answering her phone whilst in the pool.

GN: I only have 2 rules and I am very good at them.

Me: I'm sorry, what?

GN: You cannot go in.

Me: It's OK, I do not want to go in, I am just looking for my daughter. I want to ask her a question? But I won't go in, I'll wave her over and ask her through the fence or maybe when she sees me she'll come out. she's polite like that.

GN. I have 2 rules and one is swimmers only in this gate.

Me: totally ignoring this woman and spotting a team member? Keegan, can you ask Lily to come out PLEASE?

Me to the Nazi...it's a good thing you haven't got 3 rules your head would implode. good day.

Sheesh, what is with people. I never did find out what her other rule was. Thankfully I never broke it. I might have been thrown to the ground.

As we walked back to the general public gate we bumped in to some friends from Lily's old club. one was just arriving and another had previously encountered the  GN. The one arriving is a federal agent who needed to find her swimmer. We wished her good luck and explained, she said some times its handy to have creds. We asked if we could watch. The GN would be in a terrible pickle in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, bingo. Feds don't abuse their power though, only gate Nazis do, ha ha ha.

The rest of the night was uneventful. The facility was sadly much to small to handle a meet of this size. Rosie and I sat outside and went on to the deck only for Lily's events. The boards malfunctioned quite a few times dashing the chances of swimmers who at the finish line were heading to States but suddenly were now in third place. My girl did OK as did the Bulldogs. It's a sad way to end a season. But we had a damned good laugh. NExt year I think I'll take my suit, I s=have one from when I did my training for coach. Holy smoke it would be hilarious.

I'll post a separate post about the swimming. The Gate Nazi and her 2 rules deserved a post of her own.

swimming

High school swim season is coming to an end which means things are heating up. As the mother of two very competitive swimmers, as a coach in training at one point and as a USA approved team mum, I knew my stuff but at the high school level I am left looking daft, quite often. I have no idea the order of things and no idea when it all comes to an end and how you qualify for what.

I just learnt yesterday that the meet Lily participated in on Saturday was a biggie, bigger than I thought as she was in the local paper sports section yesterday. I knew it was a combo meet with a lot of schools participating but did not realise it was an invitational.  I think, but could be wrong that this week wraps up regular season and then it's GMAC's, ( no, I do not know what they are ) followed by districts, regionals and then finally states. Apparently the season for the child isn't ending any time soon. wah..... Congrats girlie.

Looks like child is about to fall in!

Doing what she does best, Fly

and Fly she did

so much power needed

Sorry, I love this stroke

Relay.

It was HOT, wicked HOT

Going over times with team mates. 

This team, is going places

cheering a team mate in the pool

swimmers back

Rosie took this and it's not bad!

500m free. 

Her team mate JoJo sat there the entire time cheering her on

A friend sent a text early yesterday morning with this attached. I cancelled my subscription 2 months ago.
When I went out to the car to get and buy one, one had been delivered. odd.

Then later another friend friend text to say the online edition had her photo in it.

Girlie was quite proud.

So Im not sure how many more early mornings, late afternoons and rain drenched pool decks we have this season but I do it's going to collide head on with my sister coming to visit. sigh. But somehow, I'll make it work. How do I order a cloning kit?

water updates

Girly is loving being back in the pool and I am loving having her back in the pool. She doesn't have a whole lot of time to do anything else what with practice and studying. Apparently heading off to High School can be a hard transition ( it was for me as a mum, hah) but being on the team has really helped with that. It is also helping that child knows where it's at in a pool and basically get's it done. She has earnt the moniker Little Ledecky and has qualified for the District and Regional competitions already and it looks as if she will be heading to State. She has 4 yrs of this so if she does't make it this year, no biggie.

 She signed up for her electives but didn't get all the ones she wanted and ended up in Debate. I thought it would be good for her but she wasn't overly impressed. By the second class the teacher wa asking for kids to leave as she had way too many students so Lily offered but then found out she would have to do PE. Not a PE type kid so she stayed. Her swim coach, who is also the man in charge of the Cambridge Global Sudies Program and the man responsible for "recruiting' Lily in the first place said she could do something else and to stop by his office. I get a text that says and you need to sit down for this:

 MUM, Mr Ferguson, signed me up for drivers ed.!

Holy mother of GOD, say what?? Lily driving. SHIT. Girly is one of the smartest kids I have ever met but she has no common sense. I was recently told by a child psychiatrist that she has no common sense because her head is going 1000 miles an hour on important stuff and she has no time for nonsense. So driving and crossing the road...not a freaking clue. Frankly I think she is the smartest ding dong around and she just doesn't think and it is as simple as that.

Girl has lots of meets as school season is short, but it won't be if she makes State. Last year the school team was laughable and they did really badly but this year they are a force to be reckoned with and it's great to see. I am very very proud to say that the girls have not been beaten yet this year and a certain girl has a lot to do with that. Last week a school cancelled a meet at the last minute and the rumour was that the wanted to time to practice more.
 Go Bulldogs

A great team feel to this team. Lily isn't a touchy kid so this is all a bit hard for her 

2 words: GO LILY

I thought she was about to be beaten but she fooled me

She did her speed boat in the last lap.

They always cheer each other on and the parents do too it is so nice

determined

I should have lightened this photo I love when she doesn't break the surface

Oh to be so flexible. This is M he is the kindest nicest kid. Swimmer and dancer. LOL who sits like that. he counted for lily in the 500. They both swim it and they count for each other.

Girl was tired. not her best but she took off some time. I felt like I was watching taffy. 

This was the pool we used to swim at and it always had the most beautiful skies.

Flip.

Time is marching on. They are both doing well in school and I am proud of them both.

swimming. again. all the time.

Oh yes, now I remember why we gave this up. Because we had too because I could not be in all these places at once and do all the thins I had to do, that's right. sigh

But this is high school, I don't need to sit on the pool deck and keep vigil. I can leave her.

Ahh but I can't leave Rosie at home alone that is called bad shitty parenting and you go to jail for it, rightfully so.

She is an absolute rockstar in the pool, a freak. She has been out of the water for a little over 12 months, she is swimming with a lot of club swimmers and she is the top female swimmer on the team. Yes, really. I was shocked. She was shocked and her coach was floored. She ripped that pooled to shreds and she wasn't even trying that hard.

In her first meet  one of she events was a 400m relay and she lapped a swimmer 3 times. I wish I had done everything in my power to have never taken her out of the pool. She is that good. She has only lost 3 seconds but her endrance is down. Girl won everysingleevent! Every damn one!

Not even sure what I am going to do at this point but it is all up to her, bottom line.

We were at an indoor pool. what are those? who knew we had them here? yuckems

those distinctive hands

Fly baby, fly. (lighting and shadows indoors was a new set of challenges.)

still got it

still the same pre event jitters.

the goggles fix

waiting waiting waiting

gone. being out of the water has not helped her scoliosis, at all

those hands again

tearing it up  again

The strangest backstoke flags I have ever seen. that any of the swimmers had ever seen.

It is good to see her back in the water and she is enjoying it. Her academic load so far is OK even with her college courses, usually they get hit so hard the first couple of weeks.