It may not mean much to you directly… but you can probably relate… my oldest daughter, Maisey, is 16… and she’s a competitive swimmer (as are her younger sister and older brother, but this story is about her)… and as hard as hockey and soccer (both of which she used to play) and dance and all the ball sports are… there really is nothing like the time, effort and commitment that competitive swimming requires. She’s been doing it since she was 6, I think. She swims and does dryland workouts about 17 hours a week… including getting up at 4:30 for a 2 hour workout before school 5 days a week… then afternoon workouts… from September until July… for the last 10 years. It’s tough. I’ve sometimes wondered if she really likes it… but then once in a while I’d show up for a practice a bit early to pick her up and see how hard she works… nobody could do that unless they enjoyed it… and “enjoyed it” is kind of a twisted way of saying it, but the pros outweighed
the cons at least. Anyway, she’s always been “decent”, but not a star… she was at the “Regional” level in one of the toughest regions in Canada for a long time… and was dying to make “Provincials” in the toughest province in Canada… but she could never do it. She’d get close… and then move up in age groups… year after year. But last night she swam 1500 meter freestyle, the marathon distance in competitive swimming, and probably the toughest race… she was seeded first. Well, she crushed the rest of the field by between 20 and 100 meters… but that didn’t mean jack to her unless she got her qualifying time. She was entered with a 19:19… she needed 19:00 long course meters… she took 32 seconds off… and did a 18:47… unheard of taking that much time off at that level… she made Provincials!… and Nationals!. Sometimes it is just a good story when you see someone struggling to make their goals… and then make it. It’s good when the math adds up and people get what they deserve… it doesn’t happen often… but it’s good when it does… and it’s good when it’s your kid…
Cheers,
Rob
Congratulations Maisey !!!
Huge congrats to Maisey!!! A chip off the old block 🙂
So wonderful! Congrats!
Congratulations to Maisey & to you Rob.
Competitive swimming for 10 years & still going strong at it – she is already a winner. Making it to the provincials & Nationals is awesome. Am sure she will go a long way. I wish her all the best!
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