I remember last year being so excited when Dallin swam 25 meters under 1:00. By the end of this season, his goal was to break 30 seconds. I can't believe how much Dallin has improved! I think his fastest time was 32 seconds in free style. Dallin still hasn't mastered diving yet. The one time he tried it in a meet was during the freestyle relay. His goggles fell off on his nose and he looked at us in panic. Then he remembered what his coaches told him and he swam his lap with his goggles on his nose. After that he was too scared to try diving again.
Watching Dallin in swim practice was very interesting. He had taken small group lessons once a week since January so I knew exactly what level he was at in swimming. During practice though, I watched him do swan dives down the pool or hang out in the middle and goof around while his team was out of the water on the side of the pool listening to the coach's instruction. I'm guessing he figured out really quick that with so many kids in the pool (his team is huge!) that he could get away with goofing around and swimming under his level. He had a great first meet where his coach proclaimed in surprise that he was fast. Every meet after that, his times got progressively slower. He stopped breathing to the side and forgetting everything he learned in his swim lessons. His main coach was great and tried to help him, but there was no way she could stay on top of Dallin and help him focus while running the practice. I talked to the other coaches and asked them to push Dallin harder but still unless Dallin had someone right next to him, he was goofing off. We had a month of our small group lessons paid for from when we had to cut out early to rush off to Miami. I signed him back up and the next meet Dallin did awesome and kept getting better. He just does better with small group instruction.
We went from talking to Dallin about breathing to the side to talking about how you finish strong within a week. In the below video Dallin comes off the block like a rocket, is winning the heat and then slows way up the last little bit. He completely shocked Zane and I with how fast he was in the beginning.
Freestyle from the last meet and backstroke from Divisionals
Excuse my screaming and horrible camera work.
Dallin's best meet was Divisonals where all the teams his team competed against come together at a high school and compete again. Dallin did amazing in both free style and backstroke. He did so amazing that he qualified for a special meet with teams throughout our area. By this point in the season, I was done with swim meets taking up our Saturdays. Dallin was going out with a bang. Zane though was so excited that Dallin qualified (and the meet was hosted by our old swim team meaning a lot of our friends would be there), that he wanted Dallin to compete.
This special qualifying meet took place in a huge Natatorium with two swimming pools and jam packed with people on the stands watching. I showed up with the babies just in time to see Dallin get on the blocks in lane 4 (meaning he had the fastest time in his heat) and start dancing to the music playing. During his dance he decided to start slapping his bum. Then when the buzzer went off to go, he cannon balled into the water. Here we were at a special swim meet for those who had fast enough times and our son was goofing off. He would take a couple strokes, look around the pool, doggy paddled and so on. He came in last. We definitely should have ended on the high note the week before. I asked Dallin what he was thinking about while he was swimming and he said, "Ruby." His friend from our old house was there at the swim meet and I guess seeing her meant he could no longer swim. Oh help us.
Despite the last meet, Dallin had a lot of fun and we enjoyed getting to know the people in our neighborhood better. We love swim team!
How Zane and I did swim meets without losing kids.
Sometimes Gavin was on Zane's shoulders.
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