Roxy's First Swim Meet

June 10, 2010 in Franklin Tennessee. It's 89 degrees with 100% humidity and it feels much much hotter than that. Roxy and I traveled to our old neighborhood Forrest Crossing to compete in Roxy's first swim meet. Our team is called the Maplewood Marlins and we came to win. Now I was never a competitive swimmer because I loved swimming for fun and turning it into a competition never sounded that fun to me. My sister Kim was a big time swimmer and I look back on when she would be swimming and I don't think I ever went to one of her meets. If I did then I do not remember because I would have been way more prepared for this meet then I was. I showed up with a towel, sunscreen, water, and my nook. Other mothers brought ice chests full of food, special squeegee washcloths for their kids, sharpies, and umbrellas. Once we got there I was able to find a seat and I just sat down all our stuff (one bag) and headed over to coach Anne to find out what was going on. They had posted every race for the day and had all the kid's names on the list by their event. Roxy was in race 1, 13, and 25. These were the 25 meter freestyle, backstroke, and freestyle relay. We got to the meet at 3 and they didn't start until 4:15. The people in charge actually started with race #75 and 76, the medley races for the big kids. After those races were finished they started following the schedule with #1, Roxy's first race. It was so cute to see Roxy and all her little friends line up in their lanes. Roxy was in lane 4 and came in third in her heat. I was so proud of her, she did a great job. After that we waited for about 30 minutes until her next race which was the 25 meter backstroke. They all started in the water and coach Anne helped Roxy stay in the middle of her lane while

she tried her best to make it to the end of the pool. Now I have to say that a week ago Roxann wasn't able to swim by herself and this meet is only two weeks of practice so I was just so happy that she was able to make it to the other end of the pool. She finished third in the heat and she was so excited to get out of the pool and go to the snack bar. We were debating on leaving at this point because we told our sitter that we should be there around 5:45 and it was 5:15. She only had one more event and it was the one Roxy was looking forward to because she got to swim with some of her friends. We decided to wait it out and see what happens. Roxy was teamed up with her good friend Zoe who was also in her kindergarten class, Mary, and Julia. Roxy was the third leg in the relay and wasn't really sure what was going on. Julia jumped into the pool when the horn blew and she made her way down to Mary who then jumped into the pool and started swimming toward Roxy. Roxy was standing there laughing and having a great time with her coach so I yelled at her to put her goggles on because Mary was coming. Mary got to the wall and Roxy clapped and told her good job. Everyone yelled GO ROXY GO and Roxy looked really confused. The coach said GO! Jump into the water! Roxy squatted down to slide in but we all yelled "Roxy Jump JUMP!!!" So Roxy stood up and belly flopped into the water. Luckily the other teams were a little behind so she started racing and once she got into the water she was awesome. She swam about halfway and had to grab the lane line for a quick breather (which is legal as long as you don't use it for forward momentum) and finished just in time for Zoe to blow the rest of the teams out of the water. They won their heat and Roxy was so proud of her first ribbon. Today at practice we found out that Roxann placed 12th in backstroke, 9th in freestyle, and 1st in the relay in her age group! Not bad for her first swimming competition. We are so proud of her and her teammates!!! Go Marlins!