Youth Sports Weekend: Swimming ACT Championships

Well, given the amount of rainfall that Canberra has received over the past week (we received a months rainfall in just 1 day!), it seemed fitting that the Swimming ACT championships was on this weekend.

Although Flash is 8, she trains with much older kids in her swimming squad. She has had a few problems in the squad because I don’t think the older kids have liked her being there very much and have given her a bit of a ‘cold shoulder’. I have seen them tell her to go last in the swimming line because she is the youngest (until they noticed me watching….). Her towel and flippers have also been taken and placed in various  high locations….this has forced a tearful flash to come and get me to get the objects down for her. Without flash knowing, I have spoken to the coaches about this and they have insisted that her gear was taken by accident….I’m not so sure….).

Since Flash has started swimming with the older kids, I have definitely noticed a drop in her confidence. This has been reflected by a plateau in her times and in some cases she has been swimming slower than she was at the end of last year.  She is a very determined individual however, and wants to keep swimming with the older kids. She is even trying to move up to the next squad!

Today at the swim meet, the under 8’s were only able to compete in the 50m events. This was unfortunate for flash as her biggest strength is the longer distances. So, our goal for this meet was to achieve some personal bests (PBs) in preparation for her first big NSW state competition…the Speedo Sprints in Sydney, next weekend.

The day got off to a fabulous start with the 50m breaststroke. Flash swam a 4 second PB to win a silver medal!

Next up was the 50m freestyle where she managed to just scrape in a PB by a few 10^th’s of a second….anyway , a PB is a PB and she was very excited to receive a another silver medal. It was a fantastic race and she just missed out on a gold by a fingernail!!

The pattern was then again repeated in the backstroke, with flash racking up another big  PB and another silver medal. Back stroke as been her weakest stroke, and it was fantastic to see such an improvement!

After 3 second places, the final race was the 50m butterfly. Butterfly is Flash’s favorite stroke….When I swim with her, I do three strokes and need to rest! She swims along effortlessly beside me yelling out “come on mum…you can do it” …….Anyway, she swam a fantastic, gutsy and close race and was just able to hang on for a PB and a gold medal!

Flash is wearing the gold cap in the fourth lane from the left, she leads for most of the way...just hanging on in the end!

During this race, something really amazing happened, that has never happened before. I was really surprised by the way the older members of our club stated cheering for Kayla!

This was the best part of the swimming meet, but not because she won a gold medal. It was the best part of the meet  because after the race, the older kids from our club that had been cheering for Flash ran to the end of the pool to pull her out of the water, High-five,  hug and congratulate her. They then escorted her back to the coaches who also greeted her with more high-fives. You just should of seen the joy on her face!  They gave her such a boost that she actually danced back along the pool deck to the coaches!! I was so captivated by the unfolding scene, and so in the moment, that I even forgot to take photos!! Today was really something that I will never forget!

It seems as though Flash has finally won the respect of some of the older kids in the team. I am really hoping that this will see an end to the childish behavior from some of the other kids.

I am so proud of my little Flash today, She achieve four PBs and  became ACT champion in the butterfly and runner up in the other three strokes. She has also shown that although she is only 8 years old, she has the guts and determination to do her very best.

We are really looking forward to the experience of traveling to Sydney Olympic Park next weekend for her first big NSW state-level competition.

Have your children participated in a youth sport this weekend. I would love you to share your experiences with us. You can tell us about your experience in the comments section of this blog, or on the SportyMummy Facebook page. You can even link a blog post to the Linky tool below. You can help create a community that supports, encourages and motivates parents to get their kids involved in Youth sports and a healthy active lifestyle!