Swim Team Banquet 2019

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It was another amazing summer at Fairview for the kiddos.  They each had their routine down...Andrew actively playing tennis or in swim team practice straight from 8:00-12:00pm daily with a great group of 11-12's all doing the same thing.  Margaret and Matthew were running in the 7-9 year-old group with a similar routine from 9:00 through lunch...the perfect way for Mom to get into the office for four hours!  Home for lunch, reading, piano some downtime and back again for evening practice and/or yoga and adult tennis clinics, we took full advantage of everything offered.  

The build-up to Championship weekend was as full as always with daily Spirit week activities. They all still claim it is the best week of the year!  Highlight was the Dinner/Talent Show, featuring the annual "Mom Song" to the Jonus Brothers' "Sucker", shocking them all by not performing "Old Town Road".  

And then we were off to UVA...with clearly a nervous and anxious 6 and under...LOL!

 There they are - tiny in number this year but mighty in spirit 6-8 year olds ready to march into the Division 1 Collegiate Aquatic Center!

                   Relay teams holding hands, this guy is ready for warm ups!

                                      Coach Bailee and the girls!

                                     JJ and his signature blue hair.
                                   Anything to pump up the kids:-)

               Can you spot Margaret?  She's the one dancing in the middle:-)

                       But when she needs to focus, she's all about it.

                                    

Little Man (next to neon yellow)!

                                Who can you spot below the stands?

Andrew created a YouTube video of Matthew's mixed 6-and-under relay, complete with hysterical captions, "Please wait patiently through the first 3 swimmers until we get to speedy anchor Matthew!".  An unusually weak group this year, there was a remarkable ability variance among our 6-year-olds.  

                            
                                JJ's last words of encouragement...

                          Matthew hanging on every word of Coach PJ's.

                                           Hey There, Little Man!

T

Team Tent outside UVA's Aquatic Center

Matthew's official Freestyle results online....#1 among ALL 5-6 year olds in the entire league!...and by a substantial margin (17.42--->19:03).

  And here's that guy at his first Champs 6 years ago, gnawing on everything in site!  He's come a long way!

 Matthew proceeded to win Backstroke, too, among his entire age group---not a bad day when you beat the entire league in both of your individual events!

Can't get enough of this memory that popped up....JJ taking time out of the biggest meet of the year to encourage an intimidated child on another team.  There are no words for what this man will do for youth...

  

Just 5 years ago, we loved looking down on this young man and celebrating his heat winning time of 26.45.  Little did we know we'd fast forward and see a child swim the same event in a mere 17.71 seconds, winning the entire league.  That's the difference in starting them at age 3 vs. 5:-)  

                                              Matthew Killian

  
Check out the middle lane and that swimmer on the wall....his lead on the others still racing...

If you watch nothing else, take time for this video - Andrew created it from the League's live stream----found each of Matthew's races, combined them into one video with music, and added context for viewers (completed with "Matthew is in this lane" tags) so they could easily follow along.  It's pretty sweet.  I hear Margaret's is coming soon....hope so since YouTube won't let me upload her age group butterfly win---"inappropriate content???"

Enjoy! 

Quick pause for memory lane....Margaret's end of July's have shifted from blueberries on the river to smashing it at Champs and running off to camp to spread her Joy:-)

Day Two, here we come!

As a 6-yr-old, Matthew finished 4th overall in 7-8 butterfly---this kid!

And Margaret was 1st overall:-)

Margaret's recap video, that Andrew faithfully poured over for weeks and labelled well for viewers of all swimming IQs. 

No one knows yet who won, but time for our after-party!

Lining up for Green River

Life-long Greystone friends and new, solid friends

JJ's end-of-season inspirational speech

Coach Corie!!!

"YMCA" on the blocks

"Family" Mommy Dip Video - can you see the still shot, with Andrew shadowing?...

And the dancing begins...

 line, dancing, too, complete with the coaches from Farmington that always come to our party:-)

Age Group Awards

Andrew 2019
Coach's Award (never was in question)

Margaret 2019:
Outstanding Championship Performance
Most Valuable Swimmer - Fairview Award
High Point Scorer Runner-Up - League Award

Matthew 2019
No specific awards given for 6 and unders, but his freestyle and backstroke were both the fastest for 5 year olds in the entire league.  So we gave him an honorary Outstanding Championship Performance award:-)

Another fun, successful summer in the books full of learning and personal growth.  Can't ask for much more than.  Full, grateful heart. 


(Spirit Week Extra)