I’m not from a swim team family. Growing up we actually went to Meadowbrook — home of Olympian Michael Phelps — but at the time the pool didn’t have a swim team. They didn’t even offer swim lessons. It was just a huge pool with huge slides, a diving pyramid and not a single lap lane in site.
My husband learned to swim when his uncle threw him into a backyard pool. He can keep himself afloat, but has trouble doing a full lap of freestyle.
So the idea of swim team was pretty foreign to us. But four years ago, we decided sign our kids up for the swim team at the pool where we belong. It’s a large commitment — practice every morning, meets every Saturday and it lasts for much of the summer. But our kids didn’t know many other kids at the pool, and we thought this would remedy that. We also hoped they would become stronger swimmers.
That summer the twins were 5 and could barely doggy paddle from one end of the pool to the other. Maggie was 6 and had a loose grip on the mechanics of freestyle. But they liked it, and we stuck with it. And now all three are strong swimmers with tons of friends at the pool. I’m even amazed at the number of friends I’ve made through swim team and love hanging out by the pool chatting. Chris enjoys timing at meets and following our kids’ progress.
Last winter, the older three even started swimming in the winter on our local Y team. And little Jonah, 4, took swim lessons. It was my hope that he, too, could join the swim team this summer. Despite his adamant assertions all winter that he wasn’t going to do swim team — he relented and gave it a try and now he loves it.
He was in his first meet last weekend and — though he had to stop to rest — he made it across the pool. He was so proud and so were we. That’s him in the pictures “diving” in off the block and then finishing up his first official 25 meters.
Swim team is a great way to boost your kids’ confidence. It’s also a great sport that the whole family can enjoy together. Our hours by the pool probably won’t land us in the Olympics but we’ve had fun none the less. And who knows — you just might see these pictures in Sports Illustrated one day.
Photos by of The Winsteads, another swim team family.
