Just Keep Swimming!

Last weekend, Ben had a swim meet at Loyola University. I've been excited about this meet since I saw the schedule back in August. Loyola is where Tom and I met. Tom is still very involved there and well, we'd be pretty excited if any of the kids wanted to go there too!  Also, the original swim coach who got Ben into swimming when he was 9 years old swam there. It's all a pretty fun connection.

He was in the morning group both days, so we had to drag him out of bed at 6am to be there by 6:45. That part was rough. LOL. The facility (Loyola built a new Athletics and Aquatics center a few years back) was AMAZING. Nicest one we've been to so far. Ben swam great and even got his best time in 50 fly, and swam 100IM for the first time without disqualifying. Great experience all around.

His times have ended up qualifying him for two different championships. One is the B championship, in which he would be really competitive, because most of his times are on the fast side of "B", close to BB. (it goes B, BB, A, AA) The other is Junior Champs (only qualified with his 50 back and 50 fly). He would be on the slow end of the swimmers there, but it's a huge deal that he qualified! I asked him which one he'd rather do.... the one where he could likely place and win some medals, or the one where he could swim his fly and back and he chose the tougher one. I was surprised and proud of him!

So just when I thought the season was kind of wrapping up for us, it looks like we have at least 3-5 more meets between now and April. Hoping he can qualify for Junior Champs in a couple more events between now and that meet.

He's already looking forward to summer team and his goal is to take all the 13-14 records. ;)

It's neat to see your child love something so much they are as driven to succeed as Ben is with swimming. We struggled with drive and Ben for awhile (still do academically) and worry about the other two in this respect too.... but I guess they all just need to find their thing... their confidence... and their groove.. :o)  Definitely one of the most fun parts of being a parent!