It seems like not very long ago that Addie was the youngest kid at the swim meet. Oh wait. That was yesterday. We went to a meet at Georgia Tech and it turned out to be an eye opener for me.
Academically I have always known that big kids swim too. They have to. There are high school and college teams and then there is Olympic swimming. I've just never been there for it, till yesterday. The only big kids I've seen swim in competition are those rare canoe and kayak athletes who flip in a race and for whatever reason can't get the boat rolled back up. For the record, that in no way resembles competition swimming except that it is swimming in competition. Generally speaking swimming out of a boat in whitewater looks sort of like what I do in the pool, near the verge of panic. I say near because I'm not really panicked at all. I just reserve the right be.
The pool at Georgia Tech is the one where the 96 Olympic swimming was held. It's a long course. I don't really know what that means except that the length of the pool is measured in meters, lots of them. How many? Um well standing where I was when I first saw the pool I was thinking approximately oh my God that's far meters. It turned out to be fifty. I know because I had to know to be a timer.
They asked for volunteers to be timers. I had a choice. I could sit comfortably in the stands. Drink as I wanted to. Munch on snacks now and then. Read when I wasn't interested in the swimming, after all at least Nascar has wrecks if you know what I mean. Have easy access to a bathroom. Or I could stand on the pool deck obliged to pay close attention with consequences if I failed to do my job. Get stiff knees and a stiff back. Challenge my bladder to last till the end of the last race. Get wet from splashes on almost each start. No brainer, right? Of course I volunteered.
Addie is eleven. I've timed races for her age group before. That was back in the day when timer meant punch the clock and help the kid out of the pool. Clearly that previous age group is gone. These kids were mostly real people sized and could make fifty meters go by pretty fast. Am I Dad Van Winkle? Did I miss a few years while Addie was getting to this point?
The oldest kid in my lane all day was 21 years old. I work with a few people not much older than that. He was a student at Georgia Tech and had been for four years. Most of the swimmers were twelve to sixteen. I talked to some of the kids who raced. I asked the old guy the lamest question of the day, "I don't suppose you know Jim Wade? He's the only student I know here." He forgave me and didn't act like it was as lame as it actually was. I didn't use my favorite question on him. I tried confirm for each heat that the kid stepping up to the lane was actually the right kid in the right lane for the right heat. Maybe with big kids that's not necessary anymore. Most of them seemed to remember the day when the timer asked though and answered politely. I usually asked, "Are you (insert name here)?" When they said yes, or usually yes sir just to make me feel old, I sometimes asked, "Are you carrying any ID?" I got a laugh every time I asked that. I was actually surprised that I made that many adolescents laugh. It rarely happened with my own. After about four times even I felt lame using the same joke again so I stopped.
The whole time I was timing I was also waiting for messages from remote children. Davis was at the Drake Relays in Des Moines. He did okay and probably wouldn't want me to say more than that. Benn is in London training. Training is going fine, but other things are, well, building character. He was waken before 7AM the day before his trip. It was USADA and he had to be drug tested. Yes USADA (US Anti Doping) does make house calls, and anywhere else they can catch you. That's another story in itself. He, later that day, realized he had scheduled his flight wrong and had to do a last minute scramble to change it. Having that worked out he left the next morning early. He got to London and his boat didn't. His first day or so of training was in a borrowed boat with borrowed equipment, until the boat showed up finally. The weather is British. And to top it off he is trying to get to the conclusion of a complicated and potentially controversial decision by the International Canoe Federation. I'm not ready to explain that yet.
Addie swam five races at the meet. Four of them were 100 meters and the last one was 400 meters. That plus her warm up totals up to more than I swam in 2011. She started with the 100 meter Butterfly. Real Butterflies don't live long enough to travel that far, nor would I. She also did 100 meters of each of the other three strokes and the 400 meters was free style. She didn't even seem to be all that tired. She said she should have pushed herself harder in the 400 meter race.
Instead she decided to push me today. Yes we did a swim workout again today. She really needs to learn how to drive the car. I can barely manage the steering wheel after those workouts.
Yesterday was a good day for me. I feel more connected to Addie's sport. Knees and back aside it is more fun to be in the middle of it. Timing is a way easier method of staying connected that actually getting in the water, safer too. People ask me why I switched from Benn's sport to Davis'. I tell them that it might still take me to the hospital, but less likely the morgue. I think I've found a way to get involved in Addie's sport now without reversing that. Not everybody has to be a competitor.
Sunday, April 29, 2012
Friday, April 20, 2012
The trials off Trials
Benn has something I will never have. No I don't mean his 2008 Olympic ring. That mostly stays at my house. I can have it any time I want it. Everybody pretty much knows I take credit for it anyway. I mean Benn has a friend he's known since they were two years old. Dave is his name. Dave came to Olympic Trials this year having never seen Benn race before. Dave coming added a whole new flavor to trials. We had to explain a few things to him. For instance we had to explain that winning Olympic Trials in Benn's sport doesn't mean you go to the Olympics. It means you're one of three remaining candidates and you go into the final race with a slight edge over the other two.
Dave bought into that. He wasn't overly concerned about the logistics. He was just making up for 12 or so years of never having seen his lifelong friend actually do his thing. Dave got to the course pretty excited just as Benn was about to do his first run on day 1. I was in my usual state of pre-competition adrenaline over-dose. I would usually bro-hug with Dave after a long time without seeing him, but this time I was on my way to the top of the course. He asked, "Where do you sit." I didn't even slow down as I ran by him. "I don't sit," I yelled over my shoulder. "I run." Dave caught on quickly because after a successful first place finish on that first run, Benn saw Dave on the bank before he saw anybody else. Dave ran all the way down the course just like the rest of us.
I was somewhat more relaxed after Benn had one in the bank. Dave and Benn and Bailey and I hung out with each other and some paddling friends and watched the other boat classes race. We did that until it was time for Benn to race again. They do two runs each day. By this time Dave was into it. He showed many of the same adrenaline symptoms that I had. Dave and Bailey and I ran Benn down the course together to another successful first place finish. We watched some racing. We did an interview. We forgot to tell Dave it might not happen this way every day. We prepared to do it again the second day, and I relaxed significantly.
Maybe I relaxed too much. Maybe Benn relaxed too much. At any rate, by the end of 2nd run day 2, I was ready to sit with Charlie Brown, the team Sports Psychologist. No seriously, that's his name. He gets that a lot. Things hadn't gone well for Benn on day 2. After one of Benn's runs Dave saw Benn paddling across the pool at the bottom of the course alone. He knew like the rest of us that Benn was disappointed. Benn has never hidden his disappointment very well. Dave asked if Benn was coming back. I said, "Not this time, for a while." He asked, "Is it okay to talk about it?" Bailey told him, "Dave, you've known him 21 years. You don't know anything about the sport. You came to Charlotte to watch and support. I think you have a free pass to say whatever you want." That wasn't true for the guy who wanted to do an interview this day. Benn did, however give the guy one of my all time favorite Benn quotes. The interviewer asked, "How do you feel about today?" Benn looked hesitant and somewhat pained. I think the guy knew his timing was bad, so he quickly added, "Just two words." Benn took a long breath and asked, "Is disaster two words?"
Marsha had arrived at the course just in time to see Benn abort his second run and float to the finish line in frustration. She was okay though. She had only left school as fast as she could after CRCT testing, driven four and a half hours, with time tacked on for heavy traffic twice, excited to see her boy race. No big deal. Fortunately his first run had been okay and he finished the day in second place.
Based on the number of questions he asked I believe Dave was nearly as nervous on day 3 as I was. Maybe he was not quite as bad. I don't know if he was wondering whether the contents of his stomach would make it to the end of the first run. I was, and I think Bailey and Marsha and Angela were right there with me. Have I mentioned Angela? She is another paddler parent. We paddler parents suffer together during Team Trials and understand each other. I mention Angela specifically because she spoke for all of us paddler parents that day. The first time I saw Angela on day 3 she said something appropriate; not good morning, not great weather, not awesome crowd today. She said, "One more #$@ %&*< day of trials." I understood.
Angela's son Bug did well that day and will be competing in the final race with Benn, so Angela felt better. Benn put the rest of us at ease quickly. His first run was good enough to make the second one irrelevant. He won by a large margin.
I think Dave caught the fever. It's not just how much Dave enjoyed the race that makes me think so. It is that I'm sitting here a few days after Trials looking at Dave's car parked in front of my house. Benn's car is gone and two boats are gone. I think Benn took Dave to paddle for his first time. I can't wait to hear how it went.
Dave bought into that. He wasn't overly concerned about the logistics. He was just making up for 12 or so years of never having seen his lifelong friend actually do his thing. Dave got to the course pretty excited just as Benn was about to do his first run on day 1. I was in my usual state of pre-competition adrenaline over-dose. I would usually bro-hug with Dave after a long time without seeing him, but this time I was on my way to the top of the course. He asked, "Where do you sit." I didn't even slow down as I ran by him. "I don't sit," I yelled over my shoulder. "I run." Dave caught on quickly because after a successful first place finish on that first run, Benn saw Dave on the bank before he saw anybody else. Dave ran all the way down the course just like the rest of us.
I was somewhat more relaxed after Benn had one in the bank. Dave and Benn and Bailey and I hung out with each other and some paddling friends and watched the other boat classes race. We did that until it was time for Benn to race again. They do two runs each day. By this time Dave was into it. He showed many of the same adrenaline symptoms that I had. Dave and Bailey and I ran Benn down the course together to another successful first place finish. We watched some racing. We did an interview. We forgot to tell Dave it might not happen this way every day. We prepared to do it again the second day, and I relaxed significantly.
Maybe I relaxed too much. Maybe Benn relaxed too much. At any rate, by the end of 2nd run day 2, I was ready to sit with Charlie Brown, the team Sports Psychologist. No seriously, that's his name. He gets that a lot. Things hadn't gone well for Benn on day 2. After one of Benn's runs Dave saw Benn paddling across the pool at the bottom of the course alone. He knew like the rest of us that Benn was disappointed. Benn has never hidden his disappointment very well. Dave asked if Benn was coming back. I said, "Not this time, for a while." He asked, "Is it okay to talk about it?" Bailey told him, "Dave, you've known him 21 years. You don't know anything about the sport. You came to Charlotte to watch and support. I think you have a free pass to say whatever you want." That wasn't true for the guy who wanted to do an interview this day. Benn did, however give the guy one of my all time favorite Benn quotes. The interviewer asked, "How do you feel about today?" Benn looked hesitant and somewhat pained. I think the guy knew his timing was bad, so he quickly added, "Just two words." Benn took a long breath and asked, "Is disaster two words?"
Marsha had arrived at the course just in time to see Benn abort his second run and float to the finish line in frustration. She was okay though. She had only left school as fast as she could after CRCT testing, driven four and a half hours, with time tacked on for heavy traffic twice, excited to see her boy race. No big deal. Fortunately his first run had been okay and he finished the day in second place.
Based on the number of questions he asked I believe Dave was nearly as nervous on day 3 as I was. Maybe he was not quite as bad. I don't know if he was wondering whether the contents of his stomach would make it to the end of the first run. I was, and I think Bailey and Marsha and Angela were right there with me. Have I mentioned Angela? She is another paddler parent. We paddler parents suffer together during Team Trials and understand each other. I mention Angela specifically because she spoke for all of us paddler parents that day. The first time I saw Angela on day 3 she said something appropriate; not good morning, not great weather, not awesome crowd today. She said, "One more #$@ %&*< day of trials." I understood.
Angela's son Bug did well that day and will be competing in the final race with Benn, so Angela felt better. Benn put the rest of us at ease quickly. His first run was good enough to make the second one irrelevant. He won by a large margin.
I think Dave caught the fever. It's not just how much Dave enjoyed the race that makes me think so. It is that I'm sitting here a few days after Trials looking at Dave's car parked in front of my house. Benn's car is gone and two boats are gone. I think Benn took Dave to paddle for his first time. I can't wait to hear how it went.
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