Sunday was the girls Sectional Swim Meet in Waukee - an epic 11 hour event (we were only there for 7 of those 11 hours) where the Y swim teams from our area come to qualify their swimmers for the state swim meet. To swim at state you have to swim a Q time at sectionals. (But to swim at USA Regionals you can swim a Q time anytime during the season. Got that?)
Amelia is 6, swimming in the 8 and under age group and was no where near qualifying in any of her events. She did, however, achieve Phelpsian status with her team, swimming every event she was eligible to swim in a meet during the course of the season. She was one of very few 6 year olds who participated in Sectionals- she was awesome, cutting time in every event but one.... I love watching that girl swim - she is just fierce, all attack.
Ava was heartbreakingly close to a Q time in the 100 breast, but not reasonably close in any other event. She has been focused on qualifying for state in the 100 breast for months. She swims with grace, almost looking like she's dancing in the water, all long lines and fluid movement.
Since the event was such a long slog, we skipped warm ups and kept the kids at home. Our warm up consisted of hanging out with Orbit on the couch, watching the Olympics and John zipping the kids to our local Y to practice starts for 20 minutes....
When we got to the event Ava was so, so excited/nervous/pumped up... She let me snap a quick picture, then took off with her friends....
Amelia hung a little closer....
Ava's first event was the 50 breast stroke. Her previous personal best time was 52.2 seconds. She needed a 47.0 to qualify for state, so we didn't think it was possible. Short version, she shot off the blocks and had an amazing swim, beating all the girls in her heat by half a pool length. Her time flashes up and she has qualified for state by .05 seconds. An unbelievable time cut for a 50 meter event. And yes, I'm THAT mom. I took a picture with my phone when they posted the results.....
She missed qualifying in the 100 breast (the event she had been rocking' all season) by 1 second and was pretty disappointed. Our resilient girl rallied quickly to celebrate being a squeaker state qualifier. I would have been proud of her no matter what.... she has worked so hard, swimming 90 minutes a night in this cold, cold dark winter and made such great progress. But I am just so happy she has seen a glimpse of a reward for all that hard work - to have some success at something she cares so much about... It makes my heart swell.
All I really want for both girls is for them to find a sport/activity that they connect to, that gets their ya-yas out, that makes them happy...Maybe it's swimming, maybe it's something else. But I am really enjoying the part of parenting that watches them care, set goals, work hard and celebrate progress in a sport. All the while, keeping this excellent column firmly in mind. Because it is so true, it is really hard for me to keep my feedback to a minimum - but in the end, I just love watching them play.
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