Diving Fun

I got to announce again today! The regional diving meet was exciting. There are now 12 girls qualified for the state meet this weekend, and all 12 are awesome divers. They have tough dives and deserve to be in the meet for sure. Last year, our region placed almost all 12 in the finals. Southeast Michigan has great diving programs that turn out good talent. I just can't help thinking back to when I dove. I wouldn't have been able to compete with these girls!

Freedom!

I finally made it to a high school meet to support my girls from the past 3 years. It's funny how quickly my schedule got busy and absorbed all the time I would have been spending at the pool. Yesterday I showed up at the beginning of diving, and ended up announcing. With all the meets I've gone to through the years, I have never announced. It was fun. Today I'll stop by to see their last 3 dives during finals... and then I get to leave! I don't miss the day-to-day work at all, but it is fun to see how much they've progressed.

Parent Dive Day

This summer, we at the pool had a brainstorm. While reading the feedback on the parent comment sheets, we thought, 'Why not invite parents to come dive?' They could see how hard it really was, learn how to judge and everything that goes into judging, and feel more comfortable asking the coaches questions.

Of course, the parents who are the most vocal with questions/complaints didn't come, but those who did come tonight had a great time. We have about 30 kids in the classes this fall, and probably 10 parents/cousins/neighbors came. They were game to try everything- including the sit-ups at the beginning of practice. There were a few smacks, and we even caught them on video...

This was something we'll repeat again in the future.

Why isn't it my real job?

Coaching. Two developments this week.

1) They hired someone to fill my position as the girls' high school coach. She is extremely good, with lots of experience. I am gleefully handing over my meet records, e-mail addresses, etc., and am planning what I will do with my empty month of August...

2) Tonight was the start of the summer diving season. There was a five week spring session that was a bit of a challenge... lots of kids, teaching at the same time, no competitions for them. It was a bit rough. After a week off, I was dreading going back into the pool tonight. However... it was the best night ever! I took the beginner group, and coached 7 kids with little to no diving experience. However, they were brave and coordinated. It's great when a six-year-old starts the practice crying (shy and nervous) and finishes with a huge smile on his face despite the welt on his back from smacking on a front flip.

So... I had so much fun. I need to find that fun for the last five days of teaching with my students. (Yes, five. Those snow days came back to haunt me.)

Diving Article

I don't know if this link will work, but this is an article that ran in yesterday's paper about the championship meets going on this week. There was an awesome picture in the paper of one of my divers as well, and I'll scan it and get it up here as soon as I have a minute or two. I've been busy enough this week with meets every day and homework that I haven't finished Harry Potter yet... I've never taken more than 10 hours to finish one before! As far as the meet goes, I am ecstatic as our team looks like it will be doubling how many points we earned last year. Wahoo!!!