Another Swim Meet

Maceo tried out a new stroke in this week's meet--the back stroke.

Look at that arm extension!

The exciting season is coming to an end with the divisional meet this weekend. Only the top two swimmers in an event are counted in the competition, but everyone gets to participate. However, as it stands now, Maceo is the second fastest in his age group in the breast stroke and the freestyle! So, I think he'll be one of the swimmers who counts along with his friend Wesley whom he's known since he was 4 months old or so.

Look at that form!

Look at that speed!

I made a little chart so Maceo could see his improvements in numbers--his freestyle time in the 50 meters has gone from 47.08 to 44.66 and his breaststroke from 34.68 to 29.88! It's pretty exciting and he likes being on the team so much that he said he'd like to do swim team this fall.

Sadly, Cassius does not like competing on a team even though he really likes swimming and swim team practice and he's gotten so much better in such a short time! He can even do a butterfly, and it's super cute because when he was showing his form to me yesterday at the pool, yes, he was really moving, but also his swim suit was a little big so with each dolphin kick, his half naked little bottom was poking up out of the water.

Alert! Alert! Second Swim Team Meet!

Just to keep you updated since there's so little sports to follow nowadays--

Maceo took part in two races this past meet--he came in second in his heat for the breast stroke, and he came in second to last in his free style heat (but first for kids his age as he was racing older kids). I'm hoping that tomorrow at the third meet, he'll take part in three events--either backstroke (which is what he wants to do and is signed up for) or butterfly which is what I think he'd do really well in. Either way is great, and he seems to really enjoy being a part of the team.

Cassius finally took part in a meet and won his free style heat! He has quite an impressive freestyle stroke. First of all, his arms stay almost completely straight, so they really slap down on the water with ferocity and make a frightful splash. Secondly, he heaves his head and shoulders out of the water to breath, although he does work to practice taking breaths on both sides. And third, he's so cute and small!

AND THEY'RE OFF!!! That's Cassius in lane 6.

Look at the effort! Look at the splash! He's speeding along!

Maceo in the breast stroke race.

Freestyling to victory! (Well, not victory this time, but some day!)

My neighbor Houston is already talking about college scholarships for the boys. He really is.

Swim Team has Begun!

We belong to a neighborhood community pool about 10 minutes from the house, and the pool has a super swim team. I mean, I think they're good swimmers, but what's really great is so many kids take part, the coaches are super nice and team-oriented, and Maceo and Cassius have friends on the team. We've wanted them to take part for the last few years, but the boys were too timid to commit to it. Until this year! Finally, now they both are on the team and they both really like it. Maceo especially is quite good, and Cassius just seems to have a great attitude at practice. They had their first meet last Saturday and they'll continue having meets pretty much every weekend. With COVID, it's actually ideal! Each team swims at their own pool, and then the coaches share the times for each event and the winners are determined. So, not only do the meets not last so long, Maceo and Cassius don't have to overcome the fear of swimming against strangers with lots of strangers watching. Both boys signed up for the free style race, and both boys were signed up by their coaches for the back stroke. Maceo did very well in his free style heat, winning it with the second best time for his age group on his team and coming in 4th overall! Cassius, on the other hand, refused to participate. Maceo also refused to participate in the back stroke. However, buoyed by Maceo's success, both boys eagerly signed up for the next meet. Maceo is doing free style and butterfly, and Cassius is signed up for the free style! So, perhaps we're on our way to being a sporty family!

Maceo with a very good start!

He's in the lead!

He's been working on a flip turn,
but decided not to try it in this race.

Maceo free styling to victory