Snapper Swims Long Course

My little daughter is such a stud! I've just gotta say it. She and I went out of town for a swim meet this weekend, just the two of us. Only a few kids from her level got to go, so it was a much smaller group that we were with. I am so proud of her! In the summer, most meets are long course, which means the kids swim their events in an Olympic size pool. 50 meters per lap is a long way for a petite, 9-year-old kid! From August-April they swim short course meets, which means the length of one lap is 25 yards. While a short course 50 is almost the same distance as a long course 50, a short course 50 is broken up by a turn. When the kids turn, they get to coast in a streamline position for a few seconds. While it may not seem that significant, it really is. The distance doesn't seem as long, they get some power help from the wall, and they get a few resting seconds in the middle of the event.

This weekend's meet was the first long course meet of the season. Our home pool hasn't switched the lanes to long course yet, so the last time Snapper even practiced a long course 50 was in...mid August? I am so proud of that girl! She swam 7 events and the breaststroke leg of the medley relay. She set personal best times in 6 of her 7 individual swims, and completely smoked her leg of the relay! Snapper's biggest accomplishment today was dropping almost 6 seconds from her previous best 100 backstroke time, even though that previous best was set just 4 weeks ago! Her relay team beat their old time by 20 seconds, and pulled of a 3rd place finish, even though they came in as the lowest seeded team!

There were a few other highlights to our weekend, too. At the beginning of each day's competition, the team let the kids carefully take American flags into the pool, where they slowly swam across the pool holding the flags in the air while the national anthem was performed. It was an awesome sight to see 100 kids swimming with their flags lifted high! The other highlight was that the kids got plenty of time just to relax and play together. What a great weekend!