Last weekend was Katherine and Madeline's first real swimming tournament. Madeline was finally old enough, and Katherine had been sick for the last two. The both swim after school three days a week and just love it. I usually take a seat in the bleachers and just watch them go back and forth. It amazes me. I am never bored. I could do it for hours.
It is hard to get a sense of how "good" they are versus their peers as they swim lap after lap in one lane with about 6 or 7 kids. At any time there may be 30+ kids in the pool swimming at different levels, so talent is a little hard to spot. They both make it to the end, turn around, and swim back. It has been fun watching them both go from barely able to do a crawl, to learning the butterfly in just a few months.
We woke up early on Saturday and got ready for the meet. Katherine had two swim team friends sleep over, and we were all going together in our van. We packed up swimsuits, hats, goggles, towels, water, snacks, swim jackets, and sunscreen into their oversized Speedo swim bags. Seriously, I doubt if Michael Phelps was ever this prepared.
Katherine was scheduled to swim in 3 events (Crawl, Breast, Backstroke) and Madeline in 1 event (crawl). Madeline JUST turned 6 in December but swam with the 7 year olds as she turns 7 this year, and Katherine swam in the 10 year old group as she turns 10 in August.
The meet was scheduled to start at 0800, and being gringos, we arrived at 15 minutes till. Ahem. The kids started stretching at about 0820 and jumped in the pool for warmups at around 845. There were 5 teams participating — which meant there were about 200 kids from 6 - 18 years of age. The energy was excellent and everyone was in a wonderful mood.
Katherine's first event was the backstroke — not her best or favorite stroke. There were three heats at her age group for a total of 11 girls. Her heat only had three girls in it and one scratched so only two swam. She came in second. I was jumping and screaming so loud you would have thought it was the Olympic Games. All heats get medals, so she got a silver. I was so proud.
The kids mostly stayed together in the covered court area behind the pool, but were allowed to visit their parents in the bleachers. Several minutes after her age group had finished their race, she came over to me and looked very sad. She laid down on my lap and would not tell me what was wrong. I held her and wondered if she had gotten into an argument with one of her friends. After a while, she said she had something to tell me. She said that the coaches had posted a list of her age group and overall, she had gotten second to last in the overall rankings. She was devastated.
My heart broke in a million pieces. My beautiful, precious angel, of whom I am so proud to be her mother, was so very sad. I sat stunned for a minute. I had had no idea of her ranking (and quite frankly did not care), and had no idea it would bother her so much.
I held her for a few minutes, took a deep breath, and cleared my head. I had watched this little girl work tirelessly three hours a week, without fail, and with very little complaint. I knew she loved swimming, and had made tremendous improvements since we moved here in August. I also knew that she had two more events to swim, and would likely have a similar showing in both. I gave her a huge hug, prayed for divine inspiration, and said, "Katherine, forget about those girls. You are only here to race against you. Your only goal should be to beat your best time. I am so proud of you."
That seemed to work, as she kissed me, climbed off my lap, and went to play with her friends. My heart shattered as I watched her walk away.
Madeline swam next. The 7 year old crawl race was to begin. Those girls were little bitty. Madeline weighs 42 pounds so you can just imagine what she looked like on the edge of that pool. Knowing Katherine's outcome, I steeled myself for the worst. Knowing Madeline's personality, she would not be as graceful of a loser.
They blew the whistle and those babies lined up on the edge. The buzzer went off and they all looked a little scared for a minute then jumped into the water. That was the longest and most exciting arms flailing, legs kicking, 34 seconds of my life. It was pretty close at first, then Maddie took the lead and won it. The whole Chevron family was there screaming their heads off (as we had all done for each other's kids). It was just so cute. She got a gold medal for her heat, but placed 4th or 5th in her age group - and I could have cared less.
Katherine swam the 50 meter crawl in 53 seconds. She beat her best time by 2 seconds and executed a perfect flip turn, much to the surprise of her screaming mother. She placed last in her age group, but seemed to be very happy about her performance. I breathed a sigh of relief that there seemed to be no long term psychological damage.
The toughest part of the day was waiting for the relays.
Being neophytes to the swim meet phenomenon, we did not realize that everyone does not swim the relay. Katherine thought that she would as there were only 4 girls from our school in the 10 year old division. It turns out that her relay was for 9 and 10 year olds and the coaches picked the ones with the best times, but we did not know that.
Right before the relay, she walked up to her coach and asked him if she could swim. I realized that the answer was likely going to be no, but she had insisted on trying. I stood behind her, waiting to pick up the pieces after the bad news.
Her coach looked at her and I swear I thought he was going to cry. He gave her a big hug and kiss and told her that no, she was not going to swim. I almost had a breakdown, but then she turned around and said, "Mom, lets go watch them swim." She was completely OK. She shook it off and walked away and I don't think I have ever been prouder of her in my life. We went out for sushi to celebrate and the three of us snuggled up together in my bed as Chris was in Aspen skiing with his buddies.
I had a hard time falling asleep that night. I was so worried about her. It seems that she can't get a break of late. Chris and I made the gut wrenching decision to hold her back in third grade this year - and though we don't regret it, it has been hard on her self esteem. I did not realize how much until we were headed home for Christmas break and she pulled me aside and asked me not to tell her Galveston friends she was still in the third grade. She is now struggling with passing her timed multiplication tests - AND the results are posted on the wall of the classroom. Since we moved here she has been dealing with/teased about warts, her permanent teeth coming in yellow (both of which we have resolved), having to make all new friends, etc...
They don't give awards or medals in the third grade for what she is best at. Kindness. Selflessness. Peacemaker. Super snuggler. Best hug. Easiest to love. Most likely to be nice to the geek. Most likely to not be involved in catty classroom drama. Most likely to consider the common good before making a decision. Most likely to be the best friend you ever had. Pure hard work and dedication to a task that at best earns her a B+.
The next morning was Sunday and we had the breast stroke to finish. I gave Katherine the option of bailing, but she held her head up and said that she wanted to go. We loaded up and headed back to the school. Her race was called, she dove off the platform, swam her heart out, and finished last again. She cheered her friends on to their victories and went home with a smile on her face.
Motherhood 101. God, I love those girls.
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