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Confessions of a swim parent

Discussion in 'Anything goes' started by Idaho, Nov 15, 2010.

  1. MightyMouse

    MightyMouse Member

    Bless you. Oh, that all parents of kids who play sports no one cares about would follow your example.
     
  2. mustangj17

    mustangj17 Active Member

    Love covering swim meets in high school. Feels like they are over in minutes.
     
  3. slappy4428

    slappy4428 Active Member

    "Fourth in the 400 IM was..."
     
  4. patchs

    patchs Active Member

    Me too, Ides, me too.
    Even though I am no longer a sports ed, it's a shock to be one of "them."
    Luckily, my 10-year-old daughter inherited my athletic ability, which is "none." If she finishes 30 seconds behind the pack, I'm thrilled. No demands for coverage of my kid.
    Seriously, she wanted to do this and she has friends on the team, so I fully support her.
    My wife gave me dirty looks when I was cheering her on loudly, so I had to cool it.
    So my Saturdays for the next three months are booked with road trips to hot, humid pools in the dead of winter.
    And I've already sold a box of candy bars, and the poinsettias are due soon.
    Ahh, the things we do for for children...
    Good luck Ides.
     
  5. MTM

    MTM Well-Known Member

    The meets may go fast as an official, but not as a parent.

    At my son's first meet, my wife laughed when I noticed he was in events 3, 9 and 15 and I figured I'd be out in 90 minutes. Little did I know each race had multiple heats, so race 9 was really race 42.

    I was at the pool for about eight hours to watch my son spend about 3 minutes in the water.

    While I never discouraged him, I wasn't disappointed when he decided he'd rather just swim for fun and not compete.
     
  6. Machine Head

    Machine Head Well-Known Member

    The meets can run long. As you get to know other families it gets easier and becomes a social event for the kids and families.

    Seating can be a drag at some pools so sometimes we'd bring a blanket and lawn chairs and camp out in the hallways and go in when the kids were due to swim. Books, iPods, laptops, DVD players, cards, etc. are a good idea.
     
  7. mustangj17

    mustangj17 Active Member

    You never know she could turn out to be a very good swimmer. It's weird sometimes how those things turn out. Keep cheering her on loudly.
     
  8. kingcreole

    kingcreole Active Member

    The youngest princess played competitive soccer for the first time this year. I volunteered as an assistant coach and had a blast. I also help coach the club's youth academy. But I wish people would stop coming up to me and saying, "Hey, since you write for the paper, could you (insert stupid request here)."

    Have fun Idaho!
     
  9. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    Swim team or other fund-raisers - why are the parents always the ones selling the candy bars, candles, etc.?
    In the 1970s-80s, the kids did it themselves.
     
  10. highlander

    highlander Member

    Will you be swimming on the team also? Always get those 30-and-over 400 medley relay results.
     
  11. Buck

    Buck Well-Known Member

    Masters swim meet?
    That's the strip reader on the cover.
     
  12. Mystery Meat II

    Mystery Meat II Well-Known Member

    But then the owner of WKRP tried to molest Gary Coleman at the Maytag repair shop only to be thwarted by Kimberly throwing up all over the place, and now nobody under the age of 19 and over the income level of $50,000 can move 25 feet without GPS trackers and SUVs following.
     
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