Friday, July 23, 2004
Last night was the last night of the Northland Conference Swimming Championships. Thank goodness it is over until next summer! The last three nights have found me in the blazing heat cheering on our little swimmers, giving advice and knowledge, and drying their tears after bad swims. Last night was the finals. Everyone who had made the top 12 during the previous two nights swam again last night...for the gold! Unfortunately, I was so preoccupied with thoughts and worries about the scheduled coaches relay that I could barely remember my own swimmers' names. The kids were very sweet and loved it that I was nervous. They gave me lots of advise and all promised to cheer hard and yell at anyone who was laughing at me.
It wasn't the swimming part I was worried about (although it turns out I should have been), but the start. I realized yesterday, after agreeing to swim in the relay, that it had been 7 years since I have gone off of the starting blocks. Seven years! Then it all started coming back to me...the bad dives, too deep, too shallow, my goggles falling off! There is nothing worse than losing your goggles during the start. You can hear the mutters from the crowd. She lost her goggles. Oh! She lost her goggles! Poor thing. Oooooh, her goggles came off! It's embarrassing! I'm the coach! The whole going off the block and losing my goggles thing was just gnawing at me all day.
Finally, it is time for us to race. It is only fair that I mention that it is after 11:00 at night at this point. That is far after my bed time and they are asking me to RACE?! Here is the lineup for our 200 meter medley relay:
Backstroke: Coach Phil
Breaststroke: Yours Truly
Butterfly: Coach Matt
Freestyle: Coach Phil's dad (He was even more nervous that I was!)
For those who don't know about such things, most non-Olympic meets are done in a 25 meter pool. That means we each do 2 lengths of our stroke. Ok. Phillip got us off to a great start. Everyone was neck and neck when it came time for the breaststoke leg of the race. I don't dare look at my opponents. And...we're off! Hey, my goggles are still on! I feel good. I'm swimming strong and hard. My rhythm is good. My turn is fast. What's that? Who's that there? I'm not far into my second length and I see an entire pool of flyers coming my way. How did they get so far ahead of me? Oh, the mortification. I was so busy remembering how horrible it was to lose my goggles that I forgot how horrible it was to be DEAD LAST.
All the kids are there to hug me and give my high fives. Bunch of little liars telling me how great I was. I looked and Phil and his dad and said, "I was swimming against a bunch of boys, wasn't I?" "Yep," they said together.
Not fair!
It wasn't the swimming part I was worried about (although it turns out I should have been), but the start. I realized yesterday, after agreeing to swim in the relay, that it had been 7 years since I have gone off of the starting blocks. Seven years! Then it all started coming back to me...the bad dives, too deep, too shallow, my goggles falling off! There is nothing worse than losing your goggles during the start. You can hear the mutters from the crowd. She lost her goggles. Oh! She lost her goggles! Poor thing. Oooooh, her goggles came off! It's embarrassing! I'm the coach! The whole going off the block and losing my goggles thing was just gnawing at me all day.
Finally, it is time for us to race. It is only fair that I mention that it is after 11:00 at night at this point. That is far after my bed time and they are asking me to RACE?! Here is the lineup for our 200 meter medley relay:
Backstroke: Coach Phil
Breaststroke: Yours Truly
Butterfly: Coach Matt
Freestyle: Coach Phil's dad (He was even more nervous that I was!)
For those who don't know about such things, most non-Olympic meets are done in a 25 meter pool. That means we each do 2 lengths of our stroke. Ok. Phillip got us off to a great start. Everyone was neck and neck when it came time for the breaststoke leg of the race. I don't dare look at my opponents. And...we're off! Hey, my goggles are still on! I feel good. I'm swimming strong and hard. My rhythm is good. My turn is fast. What's that? Who's that there? I'm not far into my second length and I see an entire pool of flyers coming my way. How did they get so far ahead of me? Oh, the mortification. I was so busy remembering how horrible it was to lose my goggles that I forgot how horrible it was to be DEAD LAST.
All the kids are there to hug me and give my high fives. Bunch of little liars telling me how great I was. I looked and Phil and his dad and said, "I was swimming against a bunch of boys, wasn't I?" "Yep," they said together.
Not fair!
