Swim Team

This post is a little late.  Catherine actually just finished her second swim meet.  These pictures are from her first meet.  Before the meet, parents and coaches write with Sharpie markers on the kids' arms (Event, Heat, Lane, and Stroke).  Catherine's arms are little, so it is kind of tough to write all the information on there. 

But, there are 86 events, some with several heats.  Plus, there are kids all over the place.  Each lane has a "Lane Coordinator" who has a copy of the "Heat Sheet," which lists what kid should be in which lane for which heat of which event.  This is a huge task.  Catherine really enjoyed swimming her heat and wanted to go again.  So, she just got back in line to swim again, even though her event was over.

 We also have to write the child's name on their shoulder:

Catherine is almost as tall as the starting blocks, so she likes to sit down on the edge of the pool to start.  I was so proud of Catherine because she waited until the starting gun was heard and jumped in right away.  There were other kids who got a little scared of jumping off the starting blocks:

 Catherine stopped to hold on to the edge a few times during her race:

We have to have her use a swimming cap because her hair is all over the place and she kept stopping to move the bangs off her face.

Here she is at the end of her first race:

 All done with her first race: 

The next day she said to me that "I did the best, I was in the pool the longest!"  She still does not understand the concept of "race," but that's OK.  She is having fun and her swimming skills are really improving.