The first swim meet!

I'm so proud of Max!

He swam in his first swim meet on Saturday. We have wanted to try out swim team for the last couple of years, but June is typically a very busy month for us. Our church Vacation Bible School is a week, and a Kennemer family trip to the beach is a week. So we already knew we'd miss half the season. But this year, we signed up anyway. And Saturday it all paid off....

Max has been to two of the first nine practices, but luckily for us, one of them was the breaststroke session. When it came time to sign up for swim team events at the first meet, we went for freestyle and breaststroke.

Max was so nervous before the meet started. Understandably since all those days we missed, the kids worked on swim meet skills, but he stuck it out. The first race, he was second from last -- but not last. I had told him just to make it across the pool, and I'd be happy. The second race, breaststroke, he dived in and he was doing it really well. Surprisingly well. His kicks and strokes were synced up, and he was leading the pack of 8 and unders. Then I noticed him stopping at breaths to look toward the other swimmers to see where he ranked, so number two started closing the gap. I think that was what cost Max the race, so it's an easy fix for next week. But most importantly, he was so happy when he finished that race. He was high fiving his teammates. It was really cool.