First Swim Meet - Summer Season 2009

Our first meet of the summer season was a hot and balmy one! This meet I decided to be the photographer instead of a timer.


While Darcy loves her swim cap (and wears it around the house), Madison abhors caps, but bravely tried one out for the meet.

It didn't last long. It fell off during warm-ups and ended up in the swim bag.

Darcy's first race in the 10 and under was 25 freestyle. That is her out there in the lead. A good race for her first meet of the season. She gets so nervous leading up to her races that I think she burns it all out in the race.

First Place and pooped!

Madison's first was the 12 and under 50 Freestyle. She reminds me of a WSI swimmer. She has beautiful, soft strokes and she just glides through the water, but the power isn't there.

Her turn wasn't bad and she started pushing it on the second lap, pulling up from fifth to finish fourth. She said she has to swim slow on the first 25 or else she "gets so tired....sigh". We tell her to use those big feet of hers.

That is her (front in the second photo) coming in to make her turn. Her friend, Heather, is the one already making the turn. Heather took first place, but it was close.

Darcy's other race was the 25 butterfly. The first year she started swimming she was determined to learn how to swim butterfly. She practiced with me in our pool over and over again. She would swim it in the meets, and I can remember thinking how cute she looked swimming it butt first.

Not anymore. That girl can swim butterfly! Her stroke was so beautiful today that I was shocked. She has been working on the stroke in practice, but this was the first time I really paid attention to her swimming it.

At first Darcy was the only girl swimming on the heat sheet, but the coaches urged two other girls from the year round team to swim. Darcy and one girl were neck and neck, but my girl pulled away in the end and got the touch for first. Tom and I were quite surprised by how good she looked in that race.

Madison's next race was the 50 breaststroke. This is definitely her best stroke, and she enjoys swimming it. I've tried working with her the last few years in this stroke, but it wasn't until she did well in a race that she realized she could benefit from my expertise.

My advice before the race:

1. Glide, don't just pull and pull and pull.
2. Stretch out that long frame of hers
3. Remember to turn and end with a two hand touch

Again she started out smooth and slow, and about half way through the second lap I remembered that I had video on my camera so I turned it on.

Wow! My girl can swim some breaststroke! Watch her start kicking some butt - she is in the third lane toward the camera. If she just had turned that power on a tad earlier, she would have taken them all out.

A great first meet for both of them! Tom and I are so proud!