by guest blogger Jonathan
Each year we look forward to June when Ella and Jack participate on our neighborhood swim team, the Stone Creek Ranch Waves. For the parents, it’s a great time to enjoy the sun each evening, reconnect with neighbors we didn’t see over the winter, and watch our kids make new friends and teammates. For the kids, the 6-meet swim season is a wonderful opportunity to burn off some of that summer energy, become part of an incredibly supportive team, and maybe pick up a few race ribbons along the way.
Ella and Jack swam all strokes this year: butterfly, back, free, and breast. I was secretly afraid that this would be the year when the year-round swimmers would start to dominate the races and just being a strong swimmer wouldn’t be enough to place in a race. But Ella and Jack surprised me, both earning multiple ribbons at each meet. More importantly, they loved the daily practices and always asked to stay a little longer after their regular practice ended. Ella even qualified to compete at the All-Stars meet in the butterfly and 100M individual medley events (only two swimmers from each team in each event qualify), as well as the two relay events, this year.
My favorite part about the Waves is that is a family affair – all parents are required to volunteer their time. Trish takes pictures all season and pulls together a slide show that is shown at the end-of-season party. We both volunteer at most of the events either as timers, entering swim times into the computer, or pulling together the ribbon labels. Having everyone involved really makes us all feel like a part of the team, and I hope the kids continue to want to participate as they get older.
Highlights from Jack’s season:
Highlights from Ella’s season:
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