This summer is our first experience with summer swim team. We are about half way through the season and both my daughter and myself are really starting to get into it.

In just 6 weeks I have seen my daughter grow as a swimmer - who will now go off the blocks at the beginning of a race, knows what a DQ is and that it is not the end of the world, and chop 7 seconds off her freestyle time - and she has grown as a child too. Its been very cool to see her make new friends, cheer for team mates and start understanding that you don’t always come in first and that’s okay.

As a parent, I have learned how yet another sport works. Coming from a gymnastics background, swim meets are a whole different world. Gymnastics has pretty defined boundaries of where the parents are during competition and the coaches do all the line ups and such. Swimming requires a huge number of parent volunteers and it can get a bit crazy - but in a good way.

Another thing I love about summer swim team is the access to competition that it gives kids of all athletic abilities, body types and experience levels! If you can swim one length of the pool you can be a part of the fun, the competition, and the team.

It is my hope that my daughter continues to have a rewarding experience with summer swim and will chose to continue with year round swim. She enjoys swimming and seems to have some natural ability too.