High School Swim Mom

[BigV]

I loved water polo from back in the day, SG will have a wonderful time. It can be a seriously aggressive sport, the refs can't really see everything that happens below the surface. And swimming for a long time at 10/10ths with no wall or bottom to rest on.. that is a helluva workout. It's gonna be great.

[monster]

Varsity jacket ordered

email sent to coach saying "fuck you, she's playing polo anyway"

[monster]

that said, coach is right, but she's just too young to give up fun completely

[monster]

And to close out her first season..... Varsity Jacket.




.....and Water Polo conditioning started today......

[footfootfoot]

she's as cute as a button

[glatt]

Nice jacket! She earned it.

[monster]

thanks

[infinite monkey]

WTG Hebe!

[zippyt]

cool jacket for a cool girl !!!!!

[monster]

And now we enter Michigan Swimming Championship season. It's becoming very, very clear just how far she's come. Michigan swimming is an affilliate/subsection/something of USA swimming -the national governing body. At the highest level meets you are competing for a place in the Olympics. But anyone can join.

There are 3 levels of championship within Michigan -then we leave the state.....

Level 1: Districts
If you don't qualify for any higher level in an event, you can swim it at District championships. There are three of these across the state.

Level 2: Junior Olympics
I agree, the name doesn't make sense for this level. You have to be pretty fast to swim an event at JOs. but not fast enough to swim at the State Championship. There are two of these meets in the state

Level 3: State Championships
One meet, fast times required.

Then we move out of states to the Central Zone Sectionals. You have to swim really fast to qualify, there are no age groups at sectionals. It's not just kids. It covers about 7 states.



Two years ago, Hebe was 2nd in the 100 breaststroke at Districts in the 11-12 age group, and qualified for JOs in that event.


Last year, she was first in the 100 breaststroke at Districts -her first 1st at a big meet (first of 4 that year) and qualified for JOs in the 100 breaststroke and the 200 breaststroke, despite only just having "aged up" to the 13/14 group.


This year, she didn't swim at district championships because there were so few events she could swim and all ones she hates. She was too fast for the rest. So we got a weekend off (last weekend). it was weird. (we filled it with hockey)


This weekend, we go to JOs. She's swimming three events -although she qualified in four. We're passing on the 200 free because she only just qualified, she doesn't really like it and it's after the 400IM and immediately before the 200 fly in which she might get a state cut. The 100 fly is the next day


In two weeks, we go to States. She's never qualified for States before. She will swim the 100 breast, 200 breast and 200 IM. And anything she qualifies for at JOs. She's in reaching distance with all three events she's swimming.


And then, we go to Sectionals the next weekend. She will be swimming the 100 breaststroke against 26-year-olds! and three other bonus events -she can swim them even though she hasn't qualified for them. She's not going to get to finals never mind place at this meet, but it will be one hell of an experience, And she'll probably get some personal best times.


now I know why her coach said it was time to invest in a tech suit.

Crazy,

Fun.

Scary.

Proud.

Expensive.

Chlorinated.



(anecdotally, her stroke coach prior to going to high school (Val) left town this fall, leaving a lot of swimmers we know without a private coach. Some of them (the cheaper ones) are interested in taking lessons from Hebe, the rest are now taking private lessons from Hebe's high school coach. I don't know if she did privates before, but when they asked me who Hebe was taking from now Val was gone, I told them..... )

[monster]

....oh, and apparently, Hebe's off-high-school-season USA Swimming team is also recruiting her high school coach -to train their coaches!

[monster]

I should claim recruiting fees, no?

[Clodfobble]

So we're looking at the 2016 Olympics, then? I want to get my bets in with the bookie early, so I can get the highest odds.

[monster]

Gearing up to leave for States Thursday afternoon, straight after the Middle School swim meet (go Hector!)

Originally Posted by Clodfobble

So we're looking at the 2016 Olympics, then? I want to get my bets in with the bookie early, so I can get the highest odds.

I poopooed this before, and have superstitiously not been looking at these things But I succumbed tonight.

Pootling about the USA swimming site finding official warm up times, pool addresses etc...noticed there's one other meet left this season, called "Last Train to Omaha" Omaha is Olympic Trials. Times required were Sectionals or better. Sectionals is where we're headed in 10 days (in other words she's already qualifying for the last stage before olympic trial meets, aged 14)

These are the time cuts required to compete in Olympic trials at Omaha this year.



She's 6 seconds too slow for an Olympic time trial this year. Next trial 2016. She dropped 11 seconds this year. That's unprecedented and never-to-be-repeated, but that doesn't mean more couldn't go..... She's a late bloomer (maybe because we didn't go gung-ho on the training until she got to high school........)

Today was the first water polo practice of the season and she cut another second off her 100 free time, without a dive start (pushing off the wall) The child is ON FORM!

But for right now, State Championships is the focus. She will swim 5 events -400Im and 100 breast on Friday, 200 Im and 200 breast on Saturday, and 200 fly on Friday. We'll be stuck in a hotel for three nights. If there's working wifi, teh cellar better watch out! (I go stir crazy in hotels)

[monster]

I doubt it, she's not the best by a long way, although a good amount of it is attitude and dedication. But I'm hoping a college scholarship might come out of it.