Swim Meet Novices

It has been a while since I have blogged. But felt compelled after attending my first swim meet ever. The whole fun event started with me sending Natalie and her new sitter (Thanks Jackie!) to the wrong location for the meet. Who knew there were two Woodhaven Swim clubs in Dayton? Apparently everyone but us. They arrived at the correct club and joined the chaos that is a summer swim club. I didn't arrive until after warm ups had started. I was convinced that Michael Phelps was announcing since I had to park 4 miles away from the actual club. As I trudged up the lane to actual entrance, attendance questions filled my mind. Who besides parents attend these meets? Are there 400 kids swimming? Was I supposed to invite our friends?

Finally arrived and found Jackie with Natalie's swim stuff. Jackie told me that Natalie was warming up. I didn't see warm ups because my brain was trying to take in the bedlam. Kids running, parents chasing, mini-tents, camp chairs, official looking people with timers, people unpacking food, towels being tossed. I must say that I was overwhelmed from that point on. It was a whole other culture that existed and I didn't even know it!

Natalie was super nervous. She had no idea what she was supposed to swim and her inability to the starting dive if required was stressing her out. It took almost an hour before the first race and she finally had her races written on her arm:
     #5 100 Medley Relay
     #17 25 Free
     #29 25 Back
     #69 Free Relay
For those of you not in the know, that #69 means that there were 68 OTHER races before her last race and we could go home!


She thought she was going to vomit so spent the opening ceremony and the singing of the National Anthem in the toilet. And I am feeling like I need to decide whether she has to swim or just take her home. But, we don't like quitters in our house, so I drug her back to the pool chairs and forced some Chik-Filet into her. That seemed to help.

First race, and she heads up to the starting blocks. Unfortunately, she is the first swimmer, which will require a dive! But as I am looking at her from the side of the pool, I realize she doesn't have her goggles! OH CRAP! I motion wildly using finger glasses around my own eyes, and she gasps and points back at the pool chair. OH CRAP! I run back to the table and grab the goggles on the table then run back to give them to her at the start area, but OH CRAP she's 10 meters down the lane already! Did she dive? Are her contacts in? I raced back around the pool to get to the finish and thereby missing her entire effort. I meet her at the end with her goggles in hand. As she is pulling herself out of the water, I am watching for the face that indicates "I am never doing this and I don't care about the whole no quitters thing", but alas, instead I see a grin! Wow. Unexpected. She  actually like it. So from that point forward, no stomach ache! I on the other hand was still stressed and wondering why I encouraged her to particpate in the first place!

Back to the chairs to wait for her next race. This small wait offered the first chance I had to observe my surroundings. And anyone who has participated in swim clubs knows how I felt for the next 15 minutes. I couldn't understand how anyone knew where or when they were supposed to be somewhere. But races took place and there were kids swimming in the races, so I assumed there was some level of organization somewhere. But no more time for oggling as it was time for the 2nd race! Another dive for the start, but she seemed to be ok with it now. I left her at the start and I headed to the finish.

Waiting for the 2nd race

Good start... But what's that?

Uh oh. The goggles are NOT supposed to be on top of her head!

This is the result of no goggles. She swam twice as far as anyone else!

So another interesting race made more interesting by watching her weave back and forth as she tried to swim without goggles again. And this time, they had actually fallen off into the pool. So we had to head back and she had to ask an official if she could jump in and get them. At this point, I had determine that this was not the sport for me. Too much stress! But Natalie was nonplussed and talked about how she was lucky she didn't lose her contacts and she actually thought she swam pretty good until she looked at the pictures on the camera.

By the third race, she had finally gotten into a better groove. Remembered her goggles, and actually did pretty good at backstroke which is not her favorite! She finished 5th out of 5, but she was totally ok with it and still seemed to have fun.

Natalie is the 2nd swimmer from the right

Strong finisher!

And then the wait until the last race. Finally, she and I started to get into the groove of how a meet works. You race and then the swimmer eats snacks and drinks Gatorade until they have to swim again.

Waiting on the last race to start. When did she get so tall?

Overall, it was interesting. She really had fun and somehow I found the whole evening stressful. She doesn't have any friends to chat/play with between races, but that doesn't seem to bother her at all. In that respect, I am super proud of her. But I must also comment that for the number of parents in attendance, all of us with a common mission of getting our kids to the starting line on time for the right races, it was the most socially uninviting group I have ever been around. No one says hi to anyone, they sit in their own huddles, and no one really cheers on anyone other than their own child. Weird. But more on that some other time. Enjoy the best part of the night for me, watching Natalie successfully swim 25 yards!