Confessions of a swim parent

I am now one of THEM.

My 10-year-old has taken to the pool like a fish to water (how's that for an obvious analogy?) and her first meet is this weekend. Three days of after-school competition against 13 other swim clubs from around the valley.

And I, like a good swim parent, will be required to volunteer. I signed up to be the deck monitor ... in other words, I get to be the bad cop and tell all the other parents to grab their cameras and go back into the stands.

 

All you need to do is channel the frustration that almost all of us have toward parents. That'll put 'em in line really quick.

 

Will you be calling in the results to the paper?

"Yeah, can we get in the top 8 finishers for individual events and top 4 for relays? There were 46 teams at this Invitational, so I'll start with team points."

 

I really, really, really hope I don't accidentally hip check one of them into the pool when they try to sneak around me to cheer on little Suzy

 

And make sure not to report the times, lest other teams know how fast your swimmers can swim so they can make their swimmers swim faster.

 

Can you cost your own daughter a scholarship?

 

And don't give last names. Everyone knows who the kids are anyways.

 

We don't need the newspaper. We've got a BLOG!

 

Ah, it's not so bad being a swim parent. The downside for me was that the parent gatherings didn't get as 'lively' as the hockey parent ones do.

If you're the Meet Marshall keep the parents off the pool deck. If they want to talk to their kids the kids have to go up in the stands. Have the meet announcer give reminders early on each session. The AM crowd is going to be the worst when it comes to wanting to be on deck.

And if your daughter doesn't drop time in each event, ground her.

(I know a parent who did that)

 

The newspaper probably doesn't have enough staff to take the results phone call.


Oh and dress warmly. I hear it can get cold on the pool deck.

 

And make sure you wait until Friday night just before deadline to make the call.

 

Idaho,

I officiated my first meets this weekend. I was surprised at the speed of the events. It all goes so quickly.

But one complaint is not just keeping the parents off the deck, it's the participants with down time that want to cheer their teammates on. I almost fell in a couple of times because they weren't watching where they were going. So help keep them back, too.