2017 Life Logs, Day 219: UK Elite Soccer Camp and CCSA Swim Meet
Date: Monday, August 7, 2017
Weather: Overcast with Late Day Sprinkles; High 78, Low 62 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Studio, Falmouth, MA
On an overcast Monday, those Goldpebbles once again brought sunshine into my life. Sam and Jonah were the sunshine today. Jonah has always been the ‘reluctant swimmer of the world’ and Sam has said all summer that he wanted nothing to do with a swim meet. But somehow at the end of last week, they both signed up to participate in a Cape-wide swim meet today sponsored by the Cape Cod Swim Association (CCSA). Neither one of them has ever even seen an Olympic pool, and even with my gentle warnings to Jonah that the depth of the pool was way over his head at one end, both boys really enjoyed their first swim meet. They both had total confidence in their swim instructors and knew they would be supported. What a wonderful thing.
It was just two weeks ago when Jonah first decided that he might be able to swim and put his head in the water. He walked away today with a 6th place ribbon, but the important thing was that he made it!
And he was really proud of what he had done. Sam was disappointed with a 5th place, but he was up against some strong team members and he was only a second behind three other team members.
And it was great to see how the team bonded after the competition.
I talked to both boys on the way home about setting goals for next summer. Both only competed in free-style today, and both agreed that they would compete in at least two competitions next year. They will not get to participate in the pizza party on Thursday, the last day of swim classes for the summer, because they are now in a week-long UK Elite Soccer Camp. So we celebrated today with a trip to Smitty’s for an ice cream treat on the way home.
UK Elite runs soccer camps all around the country. Every camp is touted to be action packed “including world cup style tournaments and skills challenges.” Both Sam and Jonah reported having a great morning. Their instructors said they would focus on a different skill each day. Today the skill was dribbling and they loved it. So, they will return to soccer camp in the morning. My challenge is to find something that Ollie will feel equally good about doing. I could tell today that he was feeling just a little left out. But next year, he will be old enough for official swim lessons and I know he looks forward to that.
