Oakdale Gators Swim Team Mom

Currently my life consists of shuttling children to and from various activities. Most of which I would like to participate in myself. Swimming is one of those in particular. Austin participated on the Oakdale Gators swim team last year and really enjoyed learning the strokes and showed high promise in the sport. He takes after his father that way, who, as a youth was always the first to the wall. Here are some snapshots of Austin practicing speed with a kick board on the back stroke.

He is fast to have put some distance between another swimmer and himself.




Here he is coming into the wall slowing down a bit to take a breather. He really enjoyed the Olympics last year and looked forward every time Michael Phelps took to the water. He has since bought books about the athlete and is intrigued by the science of his anatomy which helps in his swimming capacities. It is always interesting to listen to Austin rattle on about how his wingspan is longer than his legs, and his feet are double jointed which allows him a more efficient kick. Austin, who was born with a foot deformity on both of his legs, finds inspiration in this. I'm proud to be his mom! He has overcome so much in his brief life! The best Mother's Day present I can think of is to watch your children grow and achieve goals they have set for themselves.




He is all serious when he gets in the water, you can see him looking at me with the red gators swim cap and black goggles with a yellow spot on the temples. He gets so frustrated when other kids just splash around. I have to remind him that it is always okay to be a kid! He has the rest of his life to be an adult...

Darby has now taken to swimming like a fish as well, here she is trying the back stroke kick with a kick board. She is six so the only thing on her mind at this point is "what is behind me" or "I don't want to run into anything or anyone" hence the turned head. But it made for a better picture since I could see her face.

Always the model, she is waiting for me to capture her in my lens. She has the black and grey cap on with mirrored goggles. She looks so official, like she has been swimming her whole life. (She has, just not on a swim team!)

Darby is by far the most competitive of my two children, and sensing that someone was passing her she turned to see. She has good days when she is always first to the wall. 



This should be a fun summer for her she will get much better at each of the strokes and gain more confidence in the water. We started swim team mid-April and this past Wednesday had our first time trials. Darby was a little apprehensive, mainly because she wanted to win, but she settled into the idea of just swimming as fast as she could. When it was her turn to swim the 25m freestyle, they had only been practicing in the pool with a kick board as seen above, so when the buzzer sounded she jumped into the pool, put both arms in front of her head (like she was swimming with the kick board) and kicked herself across the pool as fast as she could! It's going to be a fun summer!