Our Swim Team Champ

If you do nothing else with this post - scroll down and watch the video of our girl breaking the pool record.  Just saying - best.video.ever.  I'm biased... but do it!

 

So this summer KK decided to branch out and try something new: Swim Team!  It was something we thought she might be ready for since she was learning so many new strokes at swim practice each week - keeping up with a 7th grader and two 1st graders in her class.  Worst case, she has the excuse to go to the pool all week long and swim, right?  Little did we know we have a future Olympic champ living with us!

 

Here is the champ now, suited up for her first meet in June!  She worked hard all summer, she had four hour long practice sessions each week.  Talk about building up some endurance!

 

 

Now I was a little worried that KK would be nervous about competing, I was a little unsure about putting a Kindergartner in a competitive environment.  I didn't want her to feel stress, she is just a kid.  And while the focus is on her personal best and improving herself, she was technically still racing other kids across the pool at each meet.  So I was anxious to see what our first race would result in, would she love this or hate it?

 

Here she is - jumping in for her first race: the 25 freestyle.

Haha!  She had never heard the "bell" before to signal its time to jump in.  So she stood there for a second looking around at everyone before jumping in after the other swimmers... and guess what?  She still finished in 1st place!  She came out of the water and was just beaming from ear to ear.  I asked her "So what did you think about swimming your first race?".  She just giggled and said "I want to do that again!".  I guess she was made for this.

Her #1 fan (its me)

 

So the final results of our first ever swim meet:  KK got 1st place in the 25 freestyle with a time of 29.32 seconds and 4th place in the backstroke with a time of 45.97 seconds.  Wow!  That was awesome, especially having never done this before!

 

 

By her second meet we had established that she was an amazing freestyle swimmer and had a strong backstroke.  They also added some relays this time around.  Those were a little confusing since they actually never practiced what a relay was, but KK figured it out fast and she was definitely one of the stronger laps in both relays.  Way to go KK!

 

Here my fish is, resting between races.

Waiting for her turn during a relay

Our arm - some people (outside the Swim world, which included myself up until June) don't realize but this is how they remember what race and heat they are to swim in.  She has the race number, the race style (freestyle, backstroke, butterfly, etc.), the heat and the lane she is supposed to be in.

Our Team had swim buddies that brought treats at each meet to pump each other up.  KK got some sharks and minnows with a cute bag that told her to swim like a Shark!  That became our slogan for the rest of the summer!

Daddy, AJ and baby Kins couldn't attend the whole meet each time (as it was 100 degrees and meets lasted four-five hours each), but as soon as the sun went down they would come up to watch her final races.  She loved it (and so did the little kids).

 

We also got to race against some sweet friends of ours - it was always very friendly competition. These girls would cheer for the other as loud as they could and watch the others races every time.  We are all about being a good teammate (check any of our soccer posts if you don't believe me).

 

So the results of our 2nd meet?  KK got 2nd place in the 25 freestyle with a time of 32.50 seconds and 6th place in the backstroke with a time of 48.18 seconds. Sadly the relays didn't count as there was a lot of confusion and some kids didn't swim in the correct lanes. No biggie, we still had fun!

 

So the last meet was soon upon us!  We got a babysitter so Daddy could attend the entire meet.  It was a hot one!  100 degrees when we started, maybe 97 degrees five hours later when we left the pool.  I am telling you, these devoted swim team moms are tough.  I might have whined a little bit..

 

 

 

Our teammate who stuck with us all season long, through practices and meets!

KK had some of her sweet soccer friends in attendance to cheer her on!

So proud of our little Shark!

 

 

Can you tell she is loving this - she gets so pumped up before a race!

 

So the last race out of four races was her specialty - the 25 freestyle.  Little did we know KK was saving the best for last.  The buzzer went off and she shot out across the pool as fast as we have ever seen her go.  It was AMAZING!  All her friends were there with us, cheering her on and also just as surprised as we were.  Sure enough, she not only came in several strokes ahead of the rest of the girls, she BROKE THE POOL RECORD!  Her final time: 26.19 seconds.  I mean oh my word, she was flying.  Here is the video - she is in the middle lane four.

 

 

I am so proud of this girl!

 

 

So for her last meet, KK not only broke the pool record (which earned her a medal), she also medaled for two personal bests in both freestyle and backstroke (she came in 4th place in her backstroke that day with a time of 38.22 seconds), and got 1st place for her freestyle relay race.  Combined with all the other ribbons from the other two meets, let's just say she wasn't sure where to put all these!  So very proud of her!  She worked hard and she had fun.  When asked if we should continue swimming on a swim team she replied "YESSSS!". 

 

Michael Phelps, watch out please.  This girl has found her niche!

 

Sweet dreams y'all!