Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Team Tyler!

Today was the day!! My 5 year-old baby's first swim meet!

First let's get some shots of the dynamic duo...


Hmmm. Let's try again.

One more time.

EVAN!!!!!

Finally. Dang!

Ok, now let's add Dad.
Crap.
Try again.

Come on, Evan!!!

Finally.

Seriously cute.

Waving to his adoring fans.

Still waving...

Practicing some stroke techniques before the event.

Take your mark!


And we're off to the races:

Colin even cheers him on!!! (around :30...right in front)

Sadly, some of us didn't have a great meet. When you've been on top for a while, the fall comes hard when you have an off day. And he did. Just didn't have it today. Beat by a teammate in 3 out of 4 events, and it hurt. Finished strong in his last event (25 Free) and won 1st though.



It's hard to teach your kids to lose with grace, but it's a lesson they absolutely need to learn. You don't win every race. Not in swim meets... Not in life. 

Someone let me know how you teach them that because I don't feel like I did a very good job at it today.  

At any rate, it was still a great meet. I know one little boy who didn't care where he placed, and neither did his parents. Great job, Tyler!!!



7 comments:

  1. LOL at Evan closing his eyes for the pictures and Tyler is so cute!

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  2. Wow, I'm so impressed that you have your kids involved like this...when did you start him in swimming?? How did you know to keep pushing him/guiding him. tough lesson to learn for sure...I bet you're doing a better job at it than you think. :) These are great pictures...such a nice looking family!

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  3. Hey Amanda! Thanks for the compliments! It's kind of touch and go with Tyler. He told us that he wanted to start swimming with the summer league, so we decided to go with it. First week was great, second week we were ready to throw in the towel and told him that if he was going to sit on the side of the pool and whine that we were done. Third week rolls around and he did well again and told us that he wanted to do a meet. It's really a challenge to know how much to push the kids. There's been many times where we wanted to quit with Evan, but he's always insisted that *he* wants to stick with it (not us forcing him). It's tough to teach them good sportsmanship and the importance of just doing your best and not worrying about the rest. That's all that matters in the end, right? We tried explaining to him that it's all about *his* time, not finishing first. Example: I told him I will NEVER win a marathon or beat a Kenyan, but I don't care! I just want to beat my time!! HA!

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  4. Allison, we had a similar moment on Sunday with our oldest, R.C. He did his first kids race in Boston after my 10k. He was excited and nervous, but determined to "win". He had even challenged another boy to a race before the official one. Unfortunately when the real race started, he got knocked down about 50m from the start. Full faceplant. Yard sale. Ripped number. He got back up and kept going fighting through the shock and the tears. As he saw that he was now waaaay back, he couldn't catch those in front, and other kids were now passing him, he stopped and started walking. I ran up to him, offered him encouragement, and got him to at least walk to the finish. No DNFs in this family. He was so upset that he wanted his number off "RIGHT NOW" and didn't want his finisher's medal. He was crying and mad that he didn't win and that he fell down. "I don't forgive the boy that knocked me down!" Kalee and I told him that I don't win most of the races that I run and that I hadn't won the race earlier that day. We also told him about my slightly embarassing fall at the finish of the Boston Marathon this year and that Mommy would show him the video when we got home. Definitely not a graceful loser in his first race and something that we weren't prepared for at the moment. I'm not sure that we did a great job of teaching sportsmanship either. We finally got some smiles from him and he decided that we should both wear our finisher's medals for the rest of the day.

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  5. Oh, Matt! Poor R.C. Tell that little guy that we ALL have races like that. I got knocked down senior year in my 800 meter high school sectional meet. I had to fight back the tears to finish (out of qualifying time range now, of course) and then my dad got choked up after he saw how upset I was. I'll never forget that. It's hard for everyone. :(

    Evan was mad at Joseph too (the kid that beat him). He was crying and sputtering and telling me that he was going to go take back the goggles that we were letting him borrow (since he forgot his) so he'd get water in his eyes and lose the next event.

    I love how you wore your medals together at the end of the day. Too cute!

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  6. Love the pictures!! Tyler looked soooo proud!! That is so great!!!

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  7. oh my word, so cute!! Congrats to your boys. It is so hard. I have one very passionate/intense boy and when it comes to losing or playing poorly he doesn't do too well. (enter crying hysterically)---and did i mention he is 7 years old?!! ahhh, the joys. We have been working on him learning that all that matters is that he does his best and has fun. If he didn't do either then he can be disappointed but not hysterical. I can't believe he is 5 and in swim meets. So awesome!! Way to go, Tyler!

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