14 hours at a swim meet?!?
why would you do that Sarah?
i get asked this question a lot.....

The girls I coach (13-16 year old) are at the pool 8 hours a week. It keeps them pretty busy.
I had a mom come up to me teary eyed after they swam and said-
"my daughters a bookworm and doesn't seem to get out with friends much. This has made her so happy! I can't believe how good shes doing. She loves to come to synchro. I really thought this was a silly sport but its done more for my daughter than I ever imagined!" she did do really well too! I got choked up after I saw her duet!

I bring a girl to synchro in my neighborhood. Her dad died, her mom got remarried then divorced b/c the guy was fairly crazy . She's had a rough time at home. I thought since I'm at the pool the whole time she should come with me to practice. Her mom told me shes been fairly high strung until she started synchro. She loves it! She's so much happier at home now. This little girl is amazing too- we tell her all the time! She's been swimming for 4 months and is better than girls who have been swimming for years b/c she WANTS to be there and works really hard . Her mom never knew there was such a sport (its in the olympics, come on people!)

I have a group of "popular" girls on my team. At school they may not ever talk to some of the other girls but when they are together working on a common goal they get along really well. It's neat to see. Its good for everyones self esteem. I still have tons of friends from synchro, thanks to facebook, I can still keep up with them. They are doing all kinds of different things all over the world!

Brynly was at the pool with me for all 14 hours yesterday too. She wanted to stay till the very end and watch all the big girls swim. She hung out with all those girls in the picture and a bunch of our rec team girls. (shes in the pink suit- they swam to pink panther). They made forts, spent $ at the snack bar, told stories and swam about 30 min total! The swimming part probably isn't the most important part, its the experience. Eric kept asking her if she REALLY likes synchro b/c hes not so sure he does. she said YES! so he's stuck, being the supportive dad.

My problem is, I have a hard time with the "just for fun" thing. I'm a pretty strict coach and expect a lot. I need to keep reminding myself that some of them are just doing it for fun and not to get to Nationals. Its just that I see the potential....I want them to do all they can....I want extra practices (i was just trying to convince some moms to bring the girls at 5am!)....then reality hits....i have 4 kids, i work a few other jobs, my house is a disaster....i can't do it all.

this whole balancing thing is a lot of work, good thing i enjoy it.