Swim Team

Ken and I have encouraged Bryn to try the swim team at Germantown Cricket Club. We asked her to go to a couple of practices and to try a meet before making a decision about whether she wanted to continue with it or not. The practices are intense; Bryn swims 14-17 lengths of the pool in 45 minutes. There's a fraction of that amount of swimming at the meets. In fact, for her age group -- 8 and under -- there are only 3 events. The very first swim meet was a "mini meet" for girls 8 and under only. I thought the mini meet would be a great introduction for Bryn to swim meets in general, but it was, unfortunately, rained out. So Bryn went to a couple of more practices and the first full meet. She was scheduled to swim in only one event -- a team medley in which she was asked to swim butterfly one length of the pool. But when it was time to swim two lengths of the pool as a warm up, Bryn started to cry. She didn't want to swim at all. She did eventually swim the 2 lengths of the pool, but when she was lined up for her relay event, she couldn't stop crying. Trying on a swim cap that felt too tight and losing a favorite ear ring only exacerbated matters. When it was time to go to the block for the race, she said she needed to use the bathroom, but there was no time. So there were more tears. She was crying while on the block to swim, and I honestly didn't know if she'd swim when it was her turn to do so. But she did. When she got out of the pool, she was convulsing with tears. I whisked her away to the bathroom and told her I'd get her bag so we could leave. But she collected herself and said she wanted to watch the meet. And so we did for 45 minutes. And then she said she wanted to try another meet. I can't explain why she changed her mind. From a parent's perspective, watching her at her first meet was torturous. But the summer swim league is not competitive in that no winners -- and no losers -- are announced. The younger kids have no idea what order they finish in. There are no ribbons or medals awarded, and I think when Bryn saw that there was no pressure on her to win, she decided she wanted to participate. Fortunately, the second meet, which was held at home, was a completely different experience. Bryn showed no signs of nerves at any point. She got into the pool to warm up without hesitation, and she was relaxed as she waited to kick off the swim meet in the very first event -- freestyle girls, 8 and under. Bryn didn't win the race, but she beat the two swimmers on either side of her, and that's all she knows about. I think she even told Nana that she won! In the video, she's in Lane 2 -- second lane from the right/edge of the pool.
This shot was taken after that race -- a completely different child from the week before -- and genuinely happy: The swim team's schedule goes through the third week of July, so Bryn's participation does not involve a lengthy time commitment. At the end we'll assess whether swimming is something she wants to pursue during the academic year or if she wants to participate only during the summer.