This is the longest I have gone between posts in quite some time. I haven't had much time to take pictures, but I wanted to add in a few things so I can remember them later on.
Well let's start with some more swim news. Let me explain Donald's team a little. There are 4 different groups that the team is split into. The first group is Novice (first swim team experience), then comes Age Group II (Can swim well, just need to work on form), then Age Group I (perfecting form and technique) and finally Juniors (building endurance and speed). When Donald tried out he was put in Age Group II because he had never done the breast stroke or butterfly before. He was in that group for only 2 months when he was bumped up to Age Group I. Sometime in February Donald's coach had to have surgery on her shoulder so she was gone for awhile. In her absence the coach (John) for the Juniors group filled in and coached both groups. After a couple weeks he noticed that Donald was swimming way faster than his group and so he started giving him different intervals or had him swim drills, etc. with his higher group. Eventually Coach Lara came back, but only to say that she would not be returning to coaching. Each week Donald swam more and more with John's group. In fact Donald started to feel a little unsure of where he belonged. He didn't feel like a part of the lower group anymore and yet he still was not officially a part of the Juniors group. One day he walked over to John after practice and said "So, John, am I on your team or what?" John told him that if he could start coming at 4 instead of 5, they could try it out. That was about 3 weeks ago. Now he swims from 4-6:30 every week day and he loves it. It is amazing what swim has given him. He is so much more motivated now that he is in the upper group. He is more responsible about his homework. He works harder and pushes through challenges a lot better. He swims over 3 miles a day and he still wants to go everyday. So now, after only 8 months competitively swimming, he is in the highest group. There are kids who have been swimming for over 5 years that still have not made it that far.
Today we went to a swim meet in Riverside. It was great! Donald swam the 100 Freestyle, 50 Butterfly, 200 Freestyle and the 50 Breaststroke. He got within 3 seconds of a red time in one, two seconds on another, 1 second on another and .5 on the last one. He dropped 38 total seconds. A couple weeks ago we sat down and wrote up some specific goals that he wanted for each event. For his 100 freestyle, the first time he swam it his time was somewhere around 1:46, that was in Sept. By November it was down to 1:24. As we wrote the goals we noticed that a red time for the event was 1:12. I didn't want to put any pressure on him, I want him to accomplish things because he loves them, not because I am telling him to, so I asked him if he thought he could cut 5 seconds by July (his 1 year anniversary of swimming). He said, "No, I want to make it down to 1:12 by July." I was so excited about his drive, but I didn't want him to feel too much stress so we set a couple smaller goals for the meets in between now and July. Today he swam it in 1:14. Not only did it smash the March goal of 1:22, but it got really close to the July goal, so now we have to adjust them, which has been fun.
This is our little Croc City at the swim meet. We have figured out how to beat the cold!
Well....what about Eli's swim? Actually about 2 months after Eli started swimming he came to me and said "Mom, I love swimming, but I don't want to do it competitively, I just want to swim in our back yard." So he stopped the team and we are looking for something else that he does want to put more time into. I am glad he tried it, but I am also glad that he recognized it wasn't his dream before we put in too much time and money.
After the meet today we got to spend a little time with the Borings who were visiting from Texas this week. It was so good to see them, but every time I have to say goodbye it hurts and I don't want to do it. Even though I would have loved to have my family stow away in the back of their truck, I know there is a reason why we are in California right now, so I guess the hurt must continue. The great thing is that no matter how far we are away from each other, when we do get together it is like we haven't spent any time apart. Love those Borings!
Although I am sure there are a million other things we have been up to lately, that is all I can really think of tonight. Hopefully I can get Donald's race videos uploaded on here soon, but 2:30am is not the time for that.
