This summer, the one thing that consumed more hours than anything else was swim team. Elizabeth, Micah and Benjamin swam on the Bryan Barracuda swim team for the second summer. We loved every minute of it!
Elizabeth aged up into the 9 and 10 division. We knew this would be a big jump for her. Last summer, she had been at the top of her division, bringing home ribbons and medals after every meet. This year, though her times improved quite impressively from last year, she wasn't bringing home the ribbons and the medals. She wasn't put on the "A" relay. It was hard for her! She is, by nature, very competitive. This summer, she was able to learn the value of competing with herself and for the team, not necessarily for the awards. We watcher her set her eyes on a goal and work her hind end off till she achieved her goal. She also learned that she and Micah can push each other to be each others biggest competition. But then they also have to be each others biggest supporters. We were do proud of her when she qualified to swim at Invitationals, in every stroke. She had to work hard to make it, but she did it! She also learned how to swim the 100 IM, and swam it beautifully at Regionals.
Last year wasn't Micah's year in the pool. He brought home a handful of ribbons through the year, never won a medal, didn't qualify for Invitationals, and was never but on "A" relay. He, like his sister, is by nature competitive, but we really didn't see his intense competitive nature till this spring in baseball. Suddenly, something clicked for Micah and he turned into quite the swimmer! We were all shocked when in the first meet of the season, he won 1st place in the breast stroke. The little boy who rarely placed last year was placing in everything he swam! It was exciting and encouraging, but also a challenging life lesson. This summer, Micah learned how to be a gracious winner, how to encourage those who aren't as successful and how to not be an annoying competitor, but rather a motivating one. At Invitationals, he DQed in his best race. It was a huge disappointment, since he would have placed. But again, he learned a valuable lesson, how to press on from that kind of discouraging swim, and not let it effect his attitude. I'm pretty sure all these life lessons aren't fully in effect and we'll have to continue encouraging him. But I look forward to seeing how he continues to mature as a young man.
Benjamin also aged up this year, swimming with 7 and 8 year olds. He has a terrible swim birthday, and was the youngest 7/8 year old on the team. Luckily for Benjamin, he has enough confidence to make up for his bad swim birthday. He hit the pool this summer with determination and with a competitive drive. We were pleasantly surprised when he qualified to swim every stroke at Invitationals. Though he didn't always have a sweet, trainable attitude, he did exactly what his coaches asked of him. And when he saw improvements in his time, he learned that pushing yourself hard is worth it. At the end of the regular season, Benjamin was given the Most Dedicated Barracuda award. Benjamin finished the swim season knowing that not only is he a good swimmer, but that he can become and awesome swimmer when he listens to those around him. By the end of the season, Benjamin, the youngest in his age division, was swimming on the "A" relay.
After the regular season was over, we swam at Invitationals. Each of the kids placed in at least one race (Benjamin placed in two of his races!). With how well they were continuing to swim, we decided to not end our season, and started training for TAAF (TX Amateur Athletic Federation). Because of their ages, and the large number of swimmers, they had to swim in a Regional Meet and the top three swimmers from each race would advance to state. Micah and Benjamin each swam in three races and qualified for state in all three races!! Elizabeth was amazing at Regionals. I've never seen her swim so well! Unfortunatly, though she swam to Personal Bests, she didn't place in the top three. Despite that, we couldn't be more proud of any of our swimmers!! They all worked very hard and had a great season!
Micah and Benjamin swam very well at state! Neither of them placed, but both swam well and we were thrilled that they made it as far as they did.
I am definitely becoming a sports mom, who sees a high value and life lessons in having your children compete in sports. I love that they win and can learn how to do that in a gracious way. I love when they lose and learn how to move past that. I love when the have good practices and see how strong God's made them. I love when the have bad practices and need me to encourage them. I love seeing their eyes light up when they achieve a personal goal. I love when they still need me to hug them after a bad swim. I genuinely look forward to seeing how God uses sports in my children's lives.
We can't wait till next year when all four of the kiddos will be swimming for the Barracudas!
