Take your mark...

The Pinnacle Pirates had their first swim meet of the year last Wednesday. It was a home meet and the boys were ready for their second year of competing. The kids all wear their team's red and black jammers and suits, put on pirate tattoos, chant crazy cheers and the pool is decked out in pirate decorations and apparel. You would never know these are neighborhood pools and swim teams and run by volunteers and parents and very young coaches (None are older 21). Amazing. TreyJoshMattLuke M., Matt and Josh. They swim with the 6 and Under boys.
Josh swam the 25 meter freestyle. Matt also swam the 25 meter free. (Regretfully I didn't get a photo. Thank heavens they have another meet tomorrow so I can make up for that!) I was SO proud of Matt. He has been terrified of swimming on the lane line. He and Josh both have to stop and hold on to catch their breath. Matt only swam in one meet last year and he was next to the pool wall. On his second meet, which the very last meet of the 2007 season, he was asked to swim in the lane line at the last minute. He was too afraid and backed out at the last second. It broke his heart (and mine!). He was still terrified of swimming on it this year and after some serious encouragement he swam it after practice while I watched. OK, so I bribed him with a candy bar, but it worked. He swam the entire length of the pool and held on to the line when he was tired. It was so exciting to see him overcome his fear. I rewarded him with not just a candy bar, but got talked into a set of new Indiana Jones action figures. (I'm such a pushover!) It was money well spent!Coach Phillip told Matt he'd be on the line at practice Wednesday morning. Matt was worried all afternoon, but when the time came he jumped in and swam his little heart out! There were only 2 boys in the heat. Matt got 1st place in the heat. He earned himself a blue ribbon. Here's Coach Phillip congratulating Matt on an awesome race.
Trey swims with the 7 and 8 year old boys. He swam the 25 meter freestyle. Trey also swam the 25 meter backstroke. He took first place in his heat. Who would think these two are twins? Not many.I had Trey bring cards to pass the time. They played war.
Rich was on call, so I had the girls to myself. They just fit right in with the rest of the swimmers.At 7:30 PM I had to get Josh and Matt across the street (so convenient!) to the ball park for their final regular season t-ball game. Trey still had one event left, so I had their baseball gear in the van. They changed in the parking lot and the girls and I rushed them over to their practice. Their game started at 8:15 PM.
We made it back just in time to see Trey's last event. Trey's freestyle relay team. He looked great and they took 2nd place.The girls were all smiles through it all. What sweeties. Then it was off to baseball, but that's another post.... Congrats boys!!