zimom Posted June 24, 2015 Share Posted June 24, 2015 Doing the happy dance. The cast came off this morning and my daughter is playing in our pool right now. I have a feeling I might have to drag her pruny body out tonight. Of course she has already asked many times to go to swim practice tomorrow. I hope she never loses this love she has for the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MysteryJen Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 Hey swim moms! Dd1 made her first Olympic trials cut tonight at Austin/Arena Pro series in 400 IM! It has been a long, long road... 11 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinkTulip Posted January 17, 2016 Share Posted January 17, 2016 Wow - congratulations! That is a huge accomplishment! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zimom Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 (edited) Sorry for the slow reply. Congrats to DD MysteryJen!!! I certainly know how proud you are of her. Edited May 16, 2016 by zimom 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PinkTulip Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 This is not on the level of many of your kids, but I had a proud mama moment last night that I had to share: my ds who is a high school senior qualified for state last night in the 50 free. They only take the top 24 times, so it's kind of a big deal. He only swims high school and summer league, not with a club team. This is also my son who had 3 hip surgeries last year and was in a wheelchair for a total of 3 months and on crutches for a total of 5 months. The fact that he can even walk without pain is a miracle, let alone swim well enough to make it to state just blows me away. He will go in seeded 11th. Yay! 8 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MysteryJen Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 This is not on the level of many of your kids, but I had a proud mama moment last night that I had to share: my ds who is a high school senior qualified for state last night in the 50 free. They only take the top 24 times, so it's kind of a big deal. He only swims high school and summer league, not with a club team. This is also my son who had 3 hip surgeries last year and was in a wheelchair for a total of 3 months and on crutches for a total of 5 months. The fact that he can even walk without pain is a miracle, let alone swim well enough to make it to state just blows me away. He will go in seeded 11th. Yay! That is amazing! Congrats to him (and you too!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted January 27, 2016 Share Posted January 27, 2016 Congratulations to all for the exciting news!! We're still plugging away. The European Forces Swim League is a big of a mish-mash between a summer/recreational league and USA Swimming. That said, we've been blessed these past two years with incredible coaching (technique focus, that my kids had not gotten in USA Swimming, sadly). My oldest son (16) achieved A times in the 50 Free, the 100 Free and the 100 Fly, and is very close to AA times in the 100 Fly and the 50 Free. He's the top-ranked 16 year old in our division in those strokes, he's in the top 3 in our league. We are changing things up a bit to add more challenge -- mostly so that he has a shot at swimming in college if he wants to (right now he wants to). So, I'm pushing for the top group to have an additional 3 practices each week in the a.m. (currently, they swim five, 90 minute practices a week...and dry land has been sparse). I've thrown my hat into the ring to be the new dry land coach. He's qualified for European Championships in the 50 Free, the 100 Free, the 100 Fly, the 200 Free, and the 200IM -- but has a LOT of work to do in Breaststroke and Backstroke (mainly underwater work). Oldest DD moved up to the 13/14 division (160+ swimmers, it is the most competitive division in the league). She's qualified for Championships in every event, She's in the top 20 in every stroke except for Breaststroke (top 40), and top 5 in the 400 Free. My younger kids are now swimming, my 9yo will swim at her first Championships this year in the 100 Free and the 50 Back. My 12yo son is struggling (the time changes are brutal, and he really hasn't pushed himself much the past few years...so there is a lot of work to do. My youngest, Boo, can now swim a 50 free with rotary breathing and a 50 back. She should make the real team next year vs. the Lolipopp Racers :D Our season ends the last weekend in February -- we'll be in Eindhoven, NE for European Championships. After that, we'll only be swimming 2x a week, and doing dry-land 4x a week in March. We'll start back to training in April 5 days, plus 5 days dryland -- with the oldest two pulling doubles 2-3x a week. Once our pool opens around May, we'll have doubles 6x a week through August...(except for vacations)...at which time we'll go back to the regular practice schedule. LEGOManiac has 2 more years of high school swimming here in Italy. PonyGirl hopes to have 3+, after that who knows :D We do miss swimming in the states, and wish all of you well! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest xptinsing Posted February 2, 2016 Share Posted February 2, 2016 (edited) Hi fellow swim moms! I have a young swimmer (dd- age 9) who is starting to get serious about her sport. She is in the middle of time trials for Singapore Nationals (we are expats in Singapore). She is making all A and AA times 10U. I was amazed to see almost every young swimmer wearing a Speedo or Arena kneesuit similar to the senior swimmers. I cannot figure out WHERE they got these suits. When I look online the only suits small enough are Blueseventy. Even the Maru suits are too big for her. A teammate has the Speedo Endurance Junior suit but I can only find it online in UK and they won't ship outside of UK. Can anyone direct me to good swim sites in the US? I know it is better to try on but it is not an option for us here. She is currently swimming in Speedo Fastskin II Youth Recordbreaker size 20 but she really wants the kneesuit and I think it will be a benefit psychologically. The other issue is that it does not have the FINA stamp on the back and they inspectors are saying she will need it at Nationals. Thank you! Edited February 2, 2016 by xptinsing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zimom Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 (edited) edited to remove personal information. Edited June 2, 2016 by zimom 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MysteryJen Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 Sheesh, that is frustrating, ZiMom. You should take it to the head of officiating for the LSC. Our end of season went well. Dd1 added the 200 fly trials time at sectionals. Dd2 had a great meet and is looking forward to the our Zone select camp in a few weeks. Ds3 had a solid state with great races in 200 fly and 400 IM. His free relay set a new state record...which was unbelievably awesome! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LisaKinVA Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 Just had to share about our weekend. Just so you knew I was replying to you ;) I certainly understand what you're talking about, only from an officiating perspective ;) I work really hard to understand both the expectations and the official wording of the swimming regs. I am surrounded by a number who just don't care. I work hard at being fair -- calling something only if I am certain of what I saw -- impartial, and humble. Humble, because even good calls get overturned at times for crappy reasons...the one I hear all the time is, "but he's such a good swimmer, and we need to keep his parents happy." You are absolutely correct about the legality/illegality of the issues you outlined. My oldest son does a fairly unique butterfly-to-backtstroke transition. He touches the wall simultaneously with his fingertips as he moves into a flip turn. Completely legal, but really can throw people off. He wanted to do it all last season, but a couple of coaches kept telling him "no." I told him not to do it unless his coaches were aware and supportive -- because if he got "DQ'd" because of "different," he needed his coach to go to the mat for him. The touch is incredibly fast, and if you aren't right there watching, you will miss it (and when an official is watching 2-3 people touch/turn, there is a huge opportunity for getting missed!) He did his turn at champs for the second time in competition -- it was breathtaking (and a bit funny, as all of the officials were like, "WHA?" running down to the head official to see if it was legal...which it is). One official did try to get an early ruling on it, and all the head official said was, "A flip turn from fly? I'd like to see that!" Congratulations on the great parts of the meet...and commiseration on the not so great! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 (edited) That sounds frustrating! I am curious as to why they do not register her as handicapped so that she isn't disqualified on the technicality of the issue. Congratulations to her! She sounds like an incredibly talented and hard working kid. My oldest son does a fairly unique butterfly-to-backtstroke transition. He touches the wall simultaneously with his fingertips as he moves into a flip turn. Completely legal, but really can throw people off. He wanted to do it all last season, but a couple of coaches kept telling him "no." I told him not to do it unless his coaches were aware and supportive -- because if he got "DQ'd" because of "different," he needed his coach to go to the mat for him. The touch is incredibly fast, and if you aren't right there watching, you will miss it (and when an official is watching 2-3 people touch/turn, there is a huge opportunity for getting missed!) He did his turn at champs for the second time in competition -- it was breathtaking (and a bit funny, as all of the officials were like, "WHA?" running down to the head official to see if it was legal...which it is). One official did try to get an early ruling on it, and all the head official said was, "A flip turn from fly? I'd like to see that!" Congratulations on the great parts of the meet...and commiseration on the not so great! My girls coaches have always notified officials when swimmers were going to use an unexpected turn in order to keep the swimmer from being dq'd. Mostly, they simply did not allow them to be used (like your son's coaches). Edited May 16, 2016 by Lolly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zimom Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 (edited) That sounds frustrating! I am curious as to why they do not register her as handicapped so that she isn't disqualified on the technicality of the issue. Congratulations to her! She sounds like an incredibly talented and hard working kid. She has never needed any 'accommodations' such as extra time to get on the block, help out of the pool, and her disability is so glaringly obviously..... edited to remove personal information Edited June 2, 2016 by zimom 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lolly Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 (edited) I totally understand that and agree that common sense should prevail. But, I also see the point of the official. (I disagree with the all strokes, because all do not require legs to be symmetrically moving.) If her stroke is technically not legal, even if the why is obvious, registering her as disabled should bring her into compliance with the rule. It is not in the spirit of the rule, which is to keep kids from scissor kicking giving them an unfair advantage, but rule enforcement is generally not arbitrary. Your dd should not even need to be aware that she has been registered as disabled. It was nice that your previous LSC overlooked the technicality, since this one seems to be more particular, you may have to make adjustments in your expectations of how to approach the situation. edit: Coming back because something has been bothering me here. I think the coach should protest based on the fact that her stroke is legal. Why? She only has ONE leg. How can her legs not be moving simultaneously if she only has one. One cannot be out of sync with itself! I don't think a few inches would technically be considered a "leg". It might even be worth a complaint to USA swimming. Edited May 16, 2016 by Lolly 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zimom Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 Thanks Lolly. I do understand your point that having her registered as a disabled swimmer solves it all. Again, it was basically just that when they were shown they were wrong about calling her breaststroke (they said she was pulling two strokes for every one kick and she wasn't, she clearly did pull, kick, pull, kick), that is when they got in the snit about that she should be DQ'd with everything since she was not registered as disabled. To me it was, we called them on being wrong so instead of just admitting their error they had to pull the power card that my daughter should be disqualified at all times when to me a little common sense should prevail. Honestly, I just get tired of always having to fight for her. The good news is we have a great contact from our old state, US swimming official, IPC (international paralympic committee) official and she has been contacted and advising what we should do in the future. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoutingmom Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 This reminds me of Canadian Vets that are amputees having to go to the doctor every few years to prove they are still disabled to qualify for disability benefits.... is there really a concern that a leg or arm might have grown back since the last time? Some things are obvious. Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zimom Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 Is it Jeff Foxworthy that says, "Here's your sign" ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoutingmom Posted May 17, 2016 Share Posted May 17, 2016 Is it Jeff Foxworthy that says, "Here's your sign" ?Bill Engvall Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zimom Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 Had to come update. Paralympic Swim Trials was last week along with those other trials :lol: My daughter had some great races. In the end she came away with a gold in the 100 breast, fourth in the 400 free and 100 back and her best race was a second in the 200 IM. The 200 IM was the best race as there were four swimmers seeded very close and I had a feeling my daughter and another swimmer were really going to be close. Sure enough, they both fought so hard all the way to the wall, with the other swimmer just out touching her. In one of those great small world stories, the swimmer that out touched her is actually a friend, from our home town and has the same disability. When we adopted our daughter this was the first girl we talked to, and she has been a great mentor for our daughter from day one :) So of course I could jokingly laugh to her when she exited the pool and ask her how she could 'steal' the gold from my daughter! In the para world the swimmers are all great friends and competitors, all cheering each other on. As expected, she is not going to Rio, which we are all fine with for many reasons. Although she is ranked highly in the US, they only take swimmers ranked in about the top 10 in the world. She is young and has plenty of time to prepare for Tokyo in 2020. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mommyoffive Posted July 5, 2016 Share Posted July 5, 2016 Had to come update. Paralympic Swim Trials was last week along with those other trials :lol: My daughter had some great races. In the end she came away with a gold in the 100 breast, fourth in the 400 free and 100 back and her best race was a second in the 200 IM. The 200 IM was the best race as there were four swimmers seeded very close and I had a feeling my daughter and another swimmer were really going to be close. Sure enough, they both fought so hard all the way to the wall, with the other swimmer just out touching her. In one of those great small world stories, the swimmer that out touched her is actually a friend, from our home town and has the same disability. When we adopted our daughter this was the first girl we talked to, and she has been a great mentor for our daughter from day one :) So of course I could jokingly laugh to her when she exited the pool and ask her how she could 'steal' the gold from my daughter! In the para world the swimmers are all great friends and competitors, all cheering each other on. As expected, she is not going to Rio, which we are all fine with for many reasons. Although she is ranked highly in the US, they only take swimmers ranked in about the top 10 in the world. She is young and has plenty of time to prepare for Tokyo in 2020. Wow. Congrats to her for such a great race! I hope she makes it to Tokyo! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UCF612 Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 We just switched my son from the rec swim team he's been on for the past 3 years to a competitive swim team. He's definitely going through a period of adjustment. New coach, new team. He's no longer top dog and the one coach used to demonstrate skills, now he's finding out all the technique things that he needs to fix to be a great swimmer. It has been an interesting transition. He burst into tears at lunch yesterday when we mentioned something about not going back to his old team. It was like it suddenly hit him that he'd moved for real. It is definitely in his best interest as a swimmer. He hasn't progressed in skills in over a year and has a lot of things that need fine tuning but the team he was on just wasn't going to take him to the next level. He WANTS to be a great swimmer. He has big dreams but reality is sinking in that he was a big fish in a small pond and now he's the small fish again. I told him he has to give it a few months, to find his groove and meet the other kids and adjust to this coach. This team actually has kids go on to things like Nationals and Olympic trials. Our old team was just made up of kids who wanted a bit of exercise but didn't really love swimming as a sport. He'll get exposed to great swimmers and competition but boy is change hard! We're all going through a struggle with this transition. We all went from being well known to being the new people and are struggling to find our place. Any tips for helping make the adjustment to a new swim coach and team? I don't want him to grow discouraged. I've already talked to him about really truly listening to his coach because this guy knows his stuff and how it is the little technique things that make all the difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted July 22, 2016 Share Posted July 22, 2016 Any tips for helping make the adjustment to a new swim coach and team? I don't want him to grow discouraged. I've already talked to him about really truly listening to his coach because this guy knows his stuff and how it is the little technique things that make all the difference. Change is hard. Do you have a meet coming up soon? There's nothing like swimming on a relay to make friends and feel like you are part of the team. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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