To Swim or Not to Swim

Swim team for Alden and Emmett started the day after Memorial Day, and all three boys and I were at Skyline Pool bright and early. I wasn't worried about Alden at all, he did fine last year and has been swimming for months with Aaron at the YMCA pool. And I wasn't too worried about Emmett either, since Aaron has been working with him and the requirements for swim team are only to swim across the pool. He could totally do that.

So the 5 and 6 years old lined up - Emmett was in good company with almost a dozen friends from the ward. He jumped to the front of his line and when they said go, he jumped in without hesitation and swam all the way across the pool without stopping or holding onto the lane lines. I was so proud! But when they lined up on the other side... he kept pushing other people in front of him and ended up at the end of the line. He didn't want to jump in again. The water was cold! Quite a few kids were crying at this point. I finally coaxed him in, but he kept stopping, crying to me that he wasn't going to make it, and hanging on the lines. And things really didn't get better from there.

It was a big struggle the entire 1st week for Emmett - he didn't ever want to go in, then wouldn't swim like I know he can. Yet I was still surprised at the end of the week when the head coach talked to me and said that Emmett needed another year before he joins the swim team, and then they asked us to pull him out and get a refund. I was really disappointed and went through a range of emotions over the weekend: anger, sadness, sympathy for Emmett, who seemed most upset that now he couldn't earn the prize we promised him for going to swim team every day all summer. If we had been at another pool I don't think this would have happened. Skyline seems to be the most competitive, they had a long waiting list, and cut a bunch of people from the team. We knew 6 or 7 other kids whose parents pulled them out or the coach talked to them too. Here's a few pictures of that first week though.

Emmett's friend Benson Radcliffe did not get cut. I think Emmett is as good (or better) than him but Benson had a completely different attitude. He was happy, jumped in every time it was his turn, and did his best. If Emmett had done that then maybe he would have stayed too. 

Alden with one of his many friends on the team: Reece Anderson. Reece is such a great kid and I love that Alden is friends with him. They are in ALP together and I spent an hour every week with the 4 ALP boys all this last year of 2nd grade. Their teacher, Mrs. McDaniel, was fabulous!

And of course, (as I'm writing this post much later), Emmett has been a stellar swimmer this summer. He swims lap after lap at the YMCA, and can breathe to the side better than Alden. All three boys did one session of lessons at Brimhall and it helped everyone a lot. Roley is still too impetuous and doesn't follow directions well. Alden had two teachers and only three kids in his class so he got a lot of individual stroke instruction. Emmett's class was a little too easy for him, but he did learn the backstroke. Next year I will put Alden and Emmett on Brimhall Swim Team, both in the 7-8 group. I usually push Alden up a year to play sports with his friends, but I want him to swim with Emmett. At the end of swim team this year, I found that Alden really only socialized with his friends a little anyway. We do love swimming though!