Have you been watching the Olympic swim trials? Cheering for your favorites? It’s exciting to cheer a close race! I’m one of those loud parents. I think maybe even embarrassingly so. The kids notice when I am cheering for someone. All of them. Really. Is it possible that I am overdoing it, boosting their self-esteem to the point of diverging with reality, living vicariously through the next generation?
I have been watching the way our WAVES kids compete for some time now. They show up at practice every day, ….get in the water and swim, … hard. They face the terror of the starting block in every event; climb the mountain of doubt and dive into the race. When they clamber out, they are breathless & exhilarated with the effort and accomplishment of having finished. I cheer at their effort, their desire to improve, at their hard work before a meet, at doing their best in that moment.
The WAVES is a really large team. Most kids are working every day to reach their personal improvement goals. Okay, maybe we are not watching the next Michael Phelps, but who knows what someone will become? What I do know is that the kids are putting in an Olympic effort and that will serve them well when they grow up, choose their life race courses and draw upon the lessons learned when they were young and learning to race with courage and grace. I think that is something to cheer about.
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The WAVES are more than halfway through the season and still swimming strong. Both the A and the B teams faced Downers Grove in the last weeks of June. The A team impressed with the 8&Under Boys taking first, second and third places in 7 of their 8 events. Close behind were the 9&10 Boys and 11&12 Girls who each took the top three spots in 5 events each. The team as a whole won first place in 70 of the 78 events.
Some great times:
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8&Under
25 Freestyle-Jack Wanless 17.06
25 Butterfly-Grace Newman 22.69
25 Breast Stroke-Eleanor Musgrove 22.91
9&10
50 Freestyle-Jack Thorell 35.63
50 Butterfly-Ian Ward 37.85
50 Backstroke-Mariclaire Lynch 40.03
11&12
50 Freestyle-Lauren Stibich 30.09
100 Individual Medley-Olivia Berley 1:15.66
50 Butterfly-Catherine Meehan 32.78
100 Freestyle-Maeve Swinehart 1:02.83
50 Breaststroke-Sydney Hansen 37.47
The B Team also did a great job and saw the 9&10 Boys and 11&12 Girls take first, second and third in half of their events. Some highlights of that meet were:
8&Under
25 Freestyle-Ava Hays 21.41
25 Butterfly-Molly Hill 26.85
9&10
50 Freestyle-Catherine Newman 40.72 & Ben Smiley 40.75
50 Breaststroke-Alec Hill 52.33
11&12
50 Freestyle-Elizabeth Juracic 34.25
50 Butterfly-Jenna Elliot 37.83
50 Backstroke-Kaley Kessler 38.43
