Swim Team: Concluded

Before camp started, swim team ended. And it ended with a citywide swim meet. As you may know from past posts, I have not been happy with swim team nor my swim coaches. In fact, I was to the point where I wanted to get them back. I'm not sure I'm proud of it, but I did indeed get them back, and I think it's a story worth telling.

So I went to the citywide. My events were the medley relay, 50 free, 100 breast, 100 free, and free relay, in that order. The medley relay and 50 free were the first day, and the other three the second day. For the medley relay, I swam hard and tried to get a good time for my team. But the 50 free... Well I front-flipped for the entry. In the grand scheme that's not that bad, But there is nothing that frustrates my coaches more. By the end of the day, they were livid. It was actually kind of funny to see how immaturely they acted about it. One of them actually flipped me off.

But that was the beginning of it. Second day, I showed up earlier than I needed to and played racquet ball with my fellow swimmers. I swam regularly at the 100 breast (to their relief). But at the 100 free, I repeated my original stunt. And this time, it turned out that the swim meet people weren't very happy about it. So I got kicked out of the swim meet.

What was bad about this was that I wasn't able to swim for my free relay, and my team had to swim exhibition (they got to swim but it didn't count). I realize now that what I did was kind of immature but that feeling of righteous anger made me feel really invincible. It was the last time I would see my swim coaches and there was nothing they could do to me.

Eventually I apologized to the swim coaches, because I did regret being such a jerk. But at the same time it was still kind of funny. Well that was the end of swim team. I'm not sure if I'm going back next year, but if I am there'll be new coaches and maybe a new experience, so who knows? We'll all have to wait and see.

More On Swim Team

I'm no good at waking up on time for things. I'm just not. It's not really my fault. It's just that sometimes, I don't really have a choice. I'll set my alarm clock, but then in the morning I'll wake up at ten as if it hadn't gone off. And it's not like I woke up and turned the alarm clock off because I was lazy; rather, I didn't wake up and I apparently turned it off without knowing it.

So yeah, it's a common occurrence for me to be late to swim team or to miss it entirely. And yes I understand that my swim coaches are upset with it (as am I, I wish I was more capable of being there on time). But when my bike broke down this morning and I had to use my little brother's midget-esque one to get to Lowell pool, I thought the water balloon that met me on the way in, with me fully clothed with electronics in my pockets, was a bit excessive. They thought it was hilarious.

As I took off my sogging clothes and put on my swimsuit, I could hear them shouting at me to hurry up and get in the pool. Ugh, I though to myself, it's seven-thirty! Shouting at me is not going to get me to go any faster! But they of course still shouted at me and got their water balloons ready for the next boy to show up late as I walked up the stairs and dived into the cool water.

There were three lanes for us that morning, as there usually was, and I quickly moved over to the far lane with my two good buddies, David and Lucas. With all respect that's due, I am usually a faster swimmer then them. So it was kind of frustrating when the swim coaches moved me to the back of the line. I asked them why and they said it was because they wanted us to swim that way. I just don't get that. We're swimming in the lane - aren't we the best people to decide what the order should be? If that isn't pointless micromanagement then I don't know what is.

Frustrations and annoyances kept piling on as they yelled at us and made us swim more whenever we forgot to to flips, or turns. Morale was low and I was pretty mad by the time I got out of the pool. The fact is, and I'm not exaggerating, my swim team coaches are the most anal-retentive people I know, and it is really getting to irk me. And whenever we complain they ask us, "Why did you sign up for swim team if you didn't want to swim?"

And here's my answer - "Sure we signed up for swim team because we wanted to swim. But nowhere did we say that we wanted to have to put up with getting up at seven in the morning every weekday, getting screamed at for not doing flip turns, yelled at for not being in the pool, and soaked for not being on time all for the sake of swimming! That stuff has nothing to do with the swimming - those things we could do without."

It seems to get worse with the coaches all the time. If it weren't for the fact that swimming is so healthy and such a good habit for me, I would really want to just quit swim team to get away from them. But I'll have to just keep swimming and try to show up on time for the remainder of July.

Swim Team

Well like I mentioned earlier in my sum-up of what my summer was planned to be, I am going to be having swim team every Monday through Friday for the next month and a half, from June 9th to mid-August. Fun, right?

Well, yeah, for the most part, but here's the catch. It's at seven-thirty in an unheated pool. Oh boy.

That's not usually a problem really-in the summer the pool heats up quick and we usually complain more about the swims than we do about the cold. But lately it's been very, very cold out in the mornings, forcing them to close on some days and make us run the others (in place of swimming). I'm not sure who to blame, but I wish it would heat up. These morning swims in almost freezing water are really getting to me...

It's actually kind of entertaining to hear the swim coaches' rationalizations and baits to get us in the pool. "The water's steaming! It's warmer in the water! Get in!" Well that's not saying much, it's cold as hell above the water too. They're both cold - so what if there's a slight temperature difference? I'd rather be back in my warm, cozy bed then freezing my butt off here.

Ok, maybe I'm whining and complaining, but I'm not the only one! One morning they only had half of the swim team show up; most took the day off becuase of the cold. And they only got four and a half kids to swim out of the ones that showed up. (The half-kid refused to put his head underwater).

But with any luck, the weatherman will be right and things will be much warmer within a week or so. I hope so. As a side note, I may also find a musical venue playing for tips outside Lowell Pool. More on that later...

Foreshadowing The Summer

Ah, Boise in the Summertime.....

Well It's Monday. Again. And we all know what that means. Spring Break's over. Pack away the skis and the kites and the Wii and break out the books. What fun.

But we all have to face it at some point. School will come again, no matter how much a student groans about it. The only thing we can do is enjoy the breaks we get and try to do well as always.

I spent my Spring Break at home. I didn't go on a trip or anything, just hung out with friends around town and went to the Y and that sort of thing. Part of this was because Mom wanted us to be around to watch after Dad, and the other part was just that nobody really felt like going on a trip to anywhere. I've got a feeling this past week has been a glimpse of what summer will be like for me. An appetizer to keep me content for the rest of the school year. And then comes the entree, the jewel of every teen's year.

I haven't said anything about my plans for this summer, have I? Will luckily, I'm not terribly busy with anything, but just enough to keep me from spending too long doing any one thing. First off, every morning, starting at the beginning of the summer, I will have to get up early and bike, in the cold, to Lowell Pool for swim team. After an hour of swimming, I will shower, dress, and probably bug Troy before going back to my house to bug my parents. And once every few months, we'll have a swim meet (painful ritual - you spend hours and hours bored out of your mind so you can spend approximately two minutes of actual time in the water). Second off, on top of that, I will take part in "The Cabin", a local writing seminar for teens and kids. It will take place all week and we will probably check out some of the cool nature spots around Boise, especially near Camelsbak and the Greenbelt. Thirdly, I am signed up for an exciting two weeks at Camp Orkilah, a YMCA camp in the San Juan Islands. I took part in this camp last year, but to a lesser extent - I spent one week at the camp plus one overnight. This time around I will be spending a week at the camp and a week kayaking. Yeah, kayaking. It's gonna be great. I hope I can take some great photos while I'm up there.

And so begins the countdown to summer. It's approximately eight more weeks of school. And with each passing day I think about all the cool stuff that I will get to do this summer. The clock's ticking, and each tick will me remind of what's to come.