swim meets-ups and downs

SJ had two swim meets last week.  The first one was on Monday and it was at home.  He was only swimming in three races at this meet.  The first one was the freestyle.  It is his fastest stroke, but not his favorite.  He was swimming for exhibition (to improve his time).  His finishing time was 49.40 seconds.  That is his best time yet in that stroke.  Even though that was his best time, he was still a little weepy at the end.  He came in last and he has trouble handling that.

His next race was the back stroke (his least favorite), which he was swimming for exhibition.  Every time he swims the back stroke he complains that it hurts his brain.  (Don't ask me what that is supposed to me.  I haven't a clue.)  He didn't swim that well in that race.  He finished with a time of 1.11.65.  He only had one other time for that stroke and it was slightly faster than this time.  Of course, he was complaining about his "brain hurting" when he completed the race.  I folded and allowed him to have a slice of pizza. That seemed to make his brain better.

He wasn't swimming the breast stroke (his favorite), so we had a big gap until his next race.  He was hanging out in the grassy area with some of the other swimmers.  He seemed to be having a good time, so that was great.  I was glad he was able to get some social time in. 

His last race was the butterfly.  He was swimming for points in this race.  He doesn't love the butterfly, but I would say he is a little better at it than the breast stroke. He has done the butterfly at two other meets and finished at 1.08.84 and 1.08.78.  I didn't have high hopes that he would get any points, but you never know.  He did great at his butterfly. He finished at 1.04.02, which is a nice improvement.  He also came in third and got 3 points for our team! 

The second meet was on Thursday and it was away.  He was again only swimming in three races.  All three races were to be for exhibition.  I told him to try his hardest and to try to beat his previous times.  His first race was the freestyle.  He did not do well.  The swimmers for the other team were very fast.  He tends to look at the other lanes while he is swimming, which slows him down.  He finished with a 1.03.18.  This is not his worst time, but it is far from his best.

He was so upset after the race that he slammed his goggles down on the surround.  I sat there frozen trying to decide if I should go over to him or let him resolve his anger.  He sat on the surround for a few seconds crying and then I noticed the one coach talking to him. That seemed to calm him down slightly.  He picked up SJ's goggles and was trying to fix them. (I had a back up pair in the back pack.)  SJ was still crying, so I walked over.  At that point, the head coach now had SJ's goggles.  He said they weren't really broken.  He was able to fix them.  I thanked him and the other coach and had a talk with SJ.  I reminded him that his behavior was unacceptable and there would be a consequence if it happened again. 

We had a big gap until his next race.  When he collected himself, he wanted to get a snack.  We walked over to the concession stand, but they didn't have anything that he wanted.  I had brought a few snacks from home, so he had some of those.  While we were waiting, the head coach came over and asked SJ to swim for points in the breast stroke.  He told SJ that one of his teammates was sick.  SJ was excited to be swimming for points. 

He did okay in the breast stroke.  He finished with a time of 1.06.35, which is a slight improvement from the last time he swam that stroke in a meet.  Unfortunately, he got disqualified.  The line judge told me he was scissor kicking.  I would tell SJ about that in a few days.  He was happy right then, so I didn't want to upset him before his last race.

His last race of the night was the butterfly.  He was swimming exhibition, so there was no pressure for points.  He did amazing.  He finished with a 59.99, which is an incredible improvement.  He was so happy with himself.  He said, "That was the BBTE, Mom."  I asked, "What is that, SJ?"  He smiled and said, "The best butterfly time ever!"  I was so proud of him.  I later found out that he was disqualified in that stroke too, but even that can't take away the BBTE moment!