You swam at your first meet yesterday. It was hosted by the Ossining Spartans Swim Team at the Ossining Recreation Center. It was a bit different from the typical swim meets, in that it included events like the Waiter/Waitress Relay, the hat relay, and the raft relay. I think there were probably over 150 swimmers there, representing teams from the JCC in Westchester, the YMCAs from Yonkers, Tarrytown, and Rye, and the JCC from Manhattan--your team, the Thunderbirds.
Everyone competed in the Waiter/Waitress Relay, where the swimmers had to swim down to one end with a kickboard and an empty cup, and then another swimmer would fill the cup with colored water and swim back. The winning team was the team that filled up their bowl first...I don't think anyone was really keeping track or keeping score, but I think your team was second.
Your first real event was the 100m butterfly relay, with each swimmer swimming one length of the pool. You swam the anchor leg. Before you started, I was talking with your mom about your small your team looked next to some of the other teams, and I wonder how guys were going to do.
The horn went off, and the first swimmer dove in off the blocks. I'm not sure I remember exactly how the first three legs went, but I am pretty sure that your team was never in the lead, but was hanging tough, either in 2nd or 3rd place the whole time. By the time you pushed off the wall for your leg, your team was in second, but you started off somewhere between a half a body length to a full body length behind. Slowly but surely, you were gaining on the swimmer in the next lane who was out in front. By the middle of the length, you had closed the gap with her. Everyone had been cheering the whole time, but the cheering had gotten noticeably louder as you pulled even with her, and passed your. Your teammates and coaches waiting at the end of the pool were jumping up and down and cheering.
After the meet, on the way home, I showed you this video:
2008 Olympics 4 x 100 Men's Freestyle Relay
The stakes yesterday were (obviously) lower than the Olympics, and the crowds were smaller, but the excitement level for your race felt the same to me. Parents of your teammates came up to me and Mom after the meet and told us how impressed they were with your butterfly, how exciting your race was, and how they were cheering for you. I spoke to your grandma this morning, and she was still buzzing about it, having told your aunt and uncle about it.
Afterwards, when I asked you if you had fun and what your favorite event was, you said that your favorite was the relay with the cups. I'm glad you had fun, and I think you also said that you also said that you liked relays. We'll see how the other meets go, since you'll have to start doing individual events. I hope that you'll still have fun swimming and racing, because I love watching you swim. You make it look really effortless and graceful.
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