Pirates vs Firefish

The boys swam in their last swim meet of the season on Wednesday night. It was held at the Firebrook pool and was our first away meet that the boys participated in. The pool deck was very small so we were packed in tightly and missed the space our own pool offered. The girls stayed in their stroller while we tried to shade them from the intense setting sun.

The meets last up to three hours since the swimmers range from age 4-18. Luckily we only have to stay through the 7-8 boys backstroke and only takes about 1 1/2 hours to get to that point.

Matt had a great warm up and seemed to be excited about swimming in his second meet, though was quite worried about having to swim next to a lane line and not the wall. We checked the heat sheet and it said Matt would be in lane 6 which is the wall lane, so I told him not to worry.

Josh was the first to swim and he did a great job. He had gotten a record time the week before of just 36.56 seconds with the help of pushing off the wall after stopping for a breath. That time put him in the second heat. He swam hard and only stopped a couple of times for air. He looked great, but couldn't come near that previous time since he was really swimming instead of launching off the wall. He swam his 25 meter freestyle in 45.69 seconds and earned a green fifth place ribbon.

Matt was supposed to swim in heat seven. I waited for him to line up, but I couldn't find him. As I scanned the pool I saw him by the stroller crying. I rushed over and he told me that they were going to make him swim in lane five and that meant there were lane lines on either side. His fear got the best of him and he just couldn't swim his race. He was really disappointed that it was the last race of the season, but we talked it over and he knows he will be older and even more brave next summer so he'll get a chance to swim again then. It's hard to understand all of this when you are barely six years old. He had a great year and I was so happy that he swam in a meet and is getting better every day!

Trey was the last to swim and raced in the 25 meter freestyle and backstroke. The week before he looked like he was so tired during freestyle, so I told him this was the week to step it up. He needed to swim hard and try to break best time which he posted on his first race. He was so nervous when the race started he just swam like he was getting chased by a shark. Well, he did just that. He dove right in and only took three or four breaths. He set a new personal record of 30.11 seconds. That was a full two seconds faster. He won the heat and earned a blue ribbon and a wrist band that said "swim fast."

By now the boys were starving so they got a hot dog and the girls ran around the grass outside the pool while we waited for the rest of the swimmers to complete freestyle. Trey then swam his 25 meter backstroke. He once again swam hard and won the heat. He got a second wrist band and his time was 36.69 seconds.

We got snow cones to celebrate and look forward to the many years of swimming we still have ahead of us. Way to go Matt, Josh and Trey!

GO PIRATES!!