Swim Team? Sweet!

George officially joined the swim team last night. And Thank God, Matt took him to his first practice. I heard the swim team is a really fun way to experience team sports and thought that Mr. Unicycle-riding-is-the-extent-of-my-athletics would benefit from joining. When told that he needed to be able to swim the length of the pool to join, I thought, "Umm, I think he can do that... right?" Later, when I asked George if he thought he could swim the length of the pool, he shrugged and said, "I don't know..."

Well, the night of the first practice, I was scared. What if he can't swim well enough? Would he be scarred for life? I ran out during the day to get him a blue swimsuit (not wanting to buy a school one in case he can't swim well enough to ever don it a second time) and could only find a loud blue and white print from Target. Had to let go of that, the attire was quickly becoming the least of our worries....

Luckily, as I was trying to convince George (and myself) that the first night was simply an opportunity for us to see if WE liked the swim team and wanted to join, Matt decided he was going to go with George.

I sent the two of them off with the ugly swimsuit and a towel, hoping for the best. I had a meeting to go to at 8:30 so I met them at the pool to trade cars and send the other two kids home with Matt and George. As we waited for them to come out to the parking lot, I was a a nervous wreck. As George walked up, I yelled, "HOW DID YOU DO????"

"I almost drowned three times," George replied, without a hint of regret.

"DO YOU GET TO COME BACK?" I blurted without remembering to sensor myself.

"Yep," he replied as he unhurriedly climbed into the van.

As Matt approached, I asked again, "How did he do???"

"Sank like a stone!," Matt said with great glee.

"CAN HE COME BACK NEXT WEEK?" This, absurdly, apparently was all that mattered to me.

"Oh yeah, the coach told him 'The flyer didn't say this was going to be easy!'' And with that they bid me goodbye and were on there way.

Later, I was able to extract the full story. George not only had to swim the length of the pool, he had to swim back and forth two full times. One third into the first length, he started struggling and rolled over on his back to finish with the backstroke. At this point, Matt told the lifeguard,"Hey - that little guy's struggling over there!", to which the lifeguard shrugged him off. George finished the length on his back and then realized he was dragging behind the other kids and tried to catch up, tiring himself out yet again. Finally, he slowed down and finished the challenge.

And as they walked out, Coach Petersen told George and Matt his wonderful line about the flyer. I am so proud of my men. Representing for us like that. Two guys with boundless belief in their abilities that pulled it off without too much of a hitch. They rock.