When we started in late May, Lauren could swim the length of the pool but had no strokes. Jon Owen could barely swim in a straight line, much less swim the length of the pool, and definitely had no strokes. At the first "workout," I almost pulled them out of the pool, thinking that they weren't ready for something like this. But we stuck with it, and every day, they grew in skill and confidence.
Before I knew it, they were swimming multiple lengths of the pool, breathing properly, learning and improving freestyle, breast stroke, back stroke, and butterfly. They learned swimming starts and finishes. Jon Owen began by not even wanting to jump off the side, by the end of it, he was diving off the blocks.
There were tears. There was hard work. There was commitment. It was great for them. Are they future championship swimmers? Perhaps not. But they are stronger than when they started and will be stronger still next year. I keep telling them -- it's up to you, hard work can take you places.
So here are some of my favorite pictures of one of our favorite activities, in no particular order.
Lauren touching the wall after her breast stroke (if only she'd touched this way at districts!)
breast stroke in motion
stretching before the start of her race
and jogging in place (so funny -- check out the other kids looking at her, wondering what the heck she's doing -- that's my girl, totally grooves to the beat of her own drummer)
look at that dive off the blocks!!!
Touching the wall after backstroke
Jon Owen's freestyle
Last minute words of wisdom from Jon Owen's favorite coach, Blake
getting ready to go in the water
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