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Spirit Week Talent Show - Margaret and Emily planned and choreographed this all on their own---actually much better than anyone anticipated!
The Jefferson Swim League Championship meet is typically held at UVA, which can handle 19 teams and their thousands of coaches and parents. The aquatic center is beautiful and parking at Scott Stadium ample. But when the pool is closed and drained for maintenance, we hike to Fork Union Military Academy in the middle of nowhere!
The 12 minute drive turns into 50, the indoor space is minimal, and cell coverage is spotty. But all of that aside, I will say that I preferred the viewing stands running the length of the pool. At UVA, they are at the end of the pool, making it impossible to view the end of close races. However, the scoreboard at UVA does put names up, which is quite helpful and pretty fun when next to #1.
Precious group of 6 & unders and 7-8's and very patient coaches.
Spirit Week Talent Show - Margaret and Emily planned and choreographed this all on their own---actually much better than anyone anticipated!
Traditional "Mom Song" to 5th Harmony's "Work".....
"Bring the Trophy Home, oh, oh, oh, oh."
The Jefferson Swim League Championship meet is typically held at UVA, which can handle 19 teams and their thousands of coaches and parents. The aquatic center is beautiful and parking at Scott Stadium ample. But when the pool is closed and drained for maintenance, we hike to Fork Union Military Academy in the middle of nowhere!
The 12 minute drive turns into 50, the indoor space is minimal, and cell coverage is spotty. But all of that aside, I will say that I preferred the viewing stands running the length of the pool. At UVA, they are at the end of the pool, making it impossible to view the end of close races. However, the scoreboard at UVA does put names up, which is quite helpful and pretty fun when next to #1.
Precious group of 6 & unders and 7-8's and very patient coaches.
Pool besties. Miss Margaret (6) and Miss Emily (5),
both stepping up for our 7-8 events!
Our 7-8 year old girls were a slim group this year, so JJ needed all of the help he could get. But that meant that after 3 years on the team and working her way up to the top of the group (and after being the fastest 5-yr-old in the league last year), JJ had to use her in all 7-8 events. So Margaret wouldn't even have the opportunity to blow the 6-yr-old competition away, but would have the chance to score points for our team (since 6 and under events aren't scored at all). And what do you know? JJ teed her up and she knocked it out of the park, giving us crucial points in backstroke.
Margaret's scoring backstroke....scoring in 7-8's. 14/98 ain't bad for a 6-yr-old!
Margaret's beautiful fly (lane 8, bottom of the screen). Lanes 3-4 are the projected winners based on seed times, but watch Miss Margaret (and listen to Andrew).
Margaret's pre-relay jumping and "Watch me catch her!" race.
Jump, jump, jumping!
Saturday was finally Andrew's turn to swim! So proud of this young man for making the 9-10 relay. He was the only 9-year-old and all of the 10 year olds swim year round. He was told Wednesday he was vying for the 4th spot on the relay and that the coaches would decide Saturday morning on the fly after seeing how his individual events were going and the other boy's. Whomever was having the better meet would get the spot. Thursday night, his coach texted me to say he'd already seen enough in both Thursday practices:-) You should have seen the smile on Andrew's face when I told him! So very proud of his continued determination this season.
Analyzing every aspect of the meet, every single time.
We have a smaller team this year than usual and graduated immense talent, making it statistically improbable that we would win for the 26th year out of 27. But JJ worked tirelessly to make match-ups that would provide us the best chance. He told me earlier in the week, "I know what we need to do, it's just a matter of if we can do it."
Andrew's heat winning breaststroke.
Andrew's heat winning backstroke
Andrew's heat winning (do you see a theme here?) 100-free,
dropping 9 full seconds!!!
While Fairview was not projected to win this year, JJ knew it was possible if all of the right things happened. The man is a match-up genius, spending as much time with the rosters and times of other teams as he does coaching our own. After Session 1 (7-8's), we knew we'd be in 3rd place. Sure enough, that's where we were. So we had three more sessions to catch up and keep up. In Session 2, our 15-18's got it done and put us in the lead with the slimmest of margins. Saturday morning, our 9-10's and 11-12's just had to hang on.
And then, the after party....complete with fireworks. Oh, Coach Bri. How Matthew will miss you!
And where the big girls dance on the blocks in their bikinis after wearing their fast suits all season.
Margaret and Emily have an annual "umbrella drink" shot. No umbrellas this year, but towels instead. It was such a lovely day that it was freezing whenever the kids took a break from the pool.
THE Announcement and JJ's Speech.
JJ's Speech continues...
JJ's Thank You.
"All we do is win, win, win...no matter what we do!"
Whirlpool time! (Thankfully the Mommy Dip is not taped:-) )
Can't say enough about what a fun season it was for these guys. It means the world to this momma that all three of my kids are happy, entertained, engaged, exercising, and not on elecronics all at the same time, in the same place with amazing role models that are teaching them life lessons. Winning is only icing on the cake...and sure is fun:-)
All three worked so very hard this year and had fun while they were at it. Andrew improved in all areas and set the goal of doing 25's without breathing. Not only did he achieve that, he took it a step farther to do that without diving off the block, just pushing off the wall. Margaret's butterfly (usually not even taught to 6-yr-olds) is seriously beautiful. She still cares more about the snack bar then crushing her races, but she's performing great! And Little Man is swimming 25's of freestyle and backstroke like that's what all 4-yr-olds do. It's been a great summer and now it's time to travel!
