A swim meet goes something like this... Maybe my girls will swim a relay medley #5. Then they might swim two or three events like 25 meter free style, breast stroke, fly, and/or back stroke. So those events for my girls have usually been number 27, 47, 57ish. Then they might end with a freestyle relay. Relays are 4 kids one at a time tagging the side as the next one swims off across the pool. (In case you aren't into swimming and don't know what a swim meet entails. I didn't my first year.) We will arrive at 5:30 to stretch and warm up in the pool. So the meet will take from 6:30 to 9ish. Most of the meet is spent NOT swimming obviously. There will be maybe 71 or so events. Each event might have one two or three "heats" usually where new groups of kids will swim the same event.
Parents are asked to work at least 2 home meets as timers, runners who take the time to the computer people, ribbons (the people who put the stickers on the 1st 2nd and 3rd place ribbons), food bar, etc.
Then there is championships. This lasts two days. The first day we will get there at 7am for warmups. The 12 and under girls, and 8 and under boys swim first. The older kids get there ready to swim by 3:30 and they swim until 8 or 9. Then the second day is relays. Also anyone who was the top in any event will come back and compete again. We start the second day at 12ish and spend the rest of the day there. Again, each child might be in 3-4 events the whole championship. So for instance our second day my girls swam event 5 one was heat 1 and one was heat 2. Their next event was 67. So we sat around in the Stingray tent for hours until it was time to swim again. To give you an idea, I knitted most of a sweater in two days. I don't mind. I don't suggest it for the short tempered. Bret will go to the meets, but NEVER to the championships. Too many people, too many kids, too much chaos and noise for him. It is best to know your limits before you go into a thing like this.
Why do we do this? First of all I should say I told myself after the years of hockey, and all the money we poured into that, I would never allow that craziness to happen again. This sport costs us $20 a season per kids. We get 5 months of training, during the meets the kids spend hours hanging out with friends cheering them on and having a great group time. It is all about the team. And they LOVE to do it. This was Marley's first year on the team and she has been so excited to be part of the team!
We will do it again next year I am sure. We regained our number one status in our division again. Yay Stingrays!
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