An unattached swimmer is one who attends the meet on her own, without a coach or other teammates. No one is allowed on the pool deck besides swimmers, coaches, and officials, so I could not accompany her past the locker room area. This caused a bit of a panic freak-out for her as we stood outside the glass door to the pool deck.
ME: Okay, I can't go on the pool deck, so go ahead out there and look for the meet official to check in.
JULIA: Wait. Can you just come with me?
ME: I'm not allowed.
JULIA: Can you just say "Oh, sorry, I didn't know" if they say something?
ME: Look. I think that's the meet organizer. Go over and tell him you're here as an unattached swimmer.
JULIA: But this is SCARY.
ME: Just go over to the guy.
JULIA: This is too SCARY!
This led to Julia and I awkwardly shuffling around bumping into each other as I tried to push her along over to the meet organizer and she tried to hide behind me.
Luckily, the meet organizer noticed our complete rookie buffoonery and came over to us.
Once I had Julia on her way, I headed up to the bleachers to watch the meet. There was no coach to tell Julia when it was time to line up for her events. There were no teammates to guide her. But she managed to handle it all on her own.
Julia pulled off a personal best time in her first event, the 100 freestyle. Her next event, the 50 fly, was not her best, but she was able to laugh it off. (Text message: The 50 fly was funny because it was so bad.) Her final event of the day, 100 breast, was a second off her best time, which isn't too shabby.
Sunday she only had one event, but because she had been at the pool all afternoon Saturday, she was able to walk onto the pool deck with confidence. And she brought that confidence to her race. She dropped over 3 seconds in her 100 fly and placed fourth overall!
Way to be brave in the face of something new, Julia! Congrats on a successful first weekend of swimming solo!
Julia, you're amazing! I am so proud of your performance. I love you!
ReplyDeleteI love you too!
Delete