Back at it....

We're back at it.  Back at the swim meets, that is.  For the last couple of months, both Spencer and Sydney have been practicing hard at the pool, getting ready for the first meet of the long course season.  Long course has the pool set up at a 50 meter length.  This is different than short course, which has the pool set up at a 25 meter length.  For the little kids like Syd who are just starting out, the 50 meter pool is a daunting challenge, especially considering they practice in a 25 meter pool.

Spencer has made good progress in his new swim group, Bronze.  Previously, he was in Barracuda.  The SWAC swim groups follow a "fishy" theme for the younger kids, then move to an Olympic theme.  Here's the hierarchy:  Beta fish, Pirahna, Barracuda, Tiger Shark, Bronze, Silver, Gold.  With Spencer's great performances in Barracuda during the previous short course season, the SWAC coaches decided to move him up two groups to Bronze, effectively skipping the Tiger Shark group.  With that move, he went from (4) 1-hour practices a week to (6) 1-1/2 hour practices a week, including a 2-hour Saturday practice.  He's doing well with it all, although the weekends bring some much-needed rest.  He's learning alot of great technique from Coach Steve and making good progress.  Below is a photo of Spencer getting some pre-race tips from Coach Steve, with Coach Cody looking on.  Cody was Spencer's coach last season and is mentoring under Coach Steve this season.  Spencer had a great relationship with Cody and we're happy he'll be working with the Bronze group this year.

Syd is in the Pirahna group, which is the youngest group to participate in meets.  She's always excited to go to practice and does very well each day she's in the pool.  When the meet came this past weekend, she was definitely a little nervous on Saturday morning.  Even though she had been to the large pool when attending Spencer's prior meets and knew how big it was, she was a little apprehensive.  After we talked about it a while and Spencer giving her some rare "big brother" advice, she calmed down. 

The meet started Friday afternoon, where Spencer was scheduled for 2 events, both 200m swims.  However, we learned shortly before the meet started that some of the kids were being scratched from some of the events due to time restrictions and the large number of swimmers on the Friday afternoon session.  As such, Spencer only swam in the 200m freestyle.  Then he was scheduled for 4 events on both Saturday and Sunday.  Syd, being a new competition swimmer, was only scheduled to swim in 2 events on both Saturday and Sunday. 

Here are some videos of the kids' races.  The first one is Syd's 50m freestyle. 

http://youtu.be/pgDjH8Xq0YQ

Here's her 100 backstroke.

http://youtu.be/c-Q6QIHuMJk


It was a long race for these little kids, but they all did well.  We've just got to practice her flip turns and she'll be on her way.

Here's a couple of Spencer's races.  He shaved almost 80 seconds combined off his events.  He really likes the breast stroke and is improving each week on it.

http://youtu.be/4vzTEqToy-4

This is his 100m freestyle race.  He didn't win any of his heats, but like I mentioned above, he improved on all his previous times. 

http://youtu.be/g4MJnIOVhs8

All in all, it was a great weekend for both of the kids.  Even though we spent about 12 total hours at the pool this weekend, everyone was in good spirits (and slept well on Sunday night!)  I'll keep the posts coming as meets occur.  Check back often for updates.