Boogs' New Love - Diving!

Swim Team has been over for a few weeks. Boogs really enjoys swimming so a friend suggested I enroll Boogs in a diving class. I have posted a few photos of Boogs leaping and running off of the start blocks at swim meets. I thought a dive class would be a great idea to help improve his technique. He has fallen in love with diving. On the first day of class, he courageously leaped off of the high dive. Here are a few pictures of his first week of diving class:

First time on high dive.

No fear!

Practicing the jackknife.

Learning how to do a front flip.

 

High dive - day 1

 

High dive - day 3

Swim Season

Boogs summer swim season is officially over. He has swam six days a week (except for the week he spent with my parents) since the middle of May. Boogs said he enjoyed being on swim team but is "relieved not to have to swim EVERY day". Silly boy, he was the one that often asked to swim after swim practice.

This was Boogs' second summer swim season. It is amazing to watch the endurance of these swimmers at practice. They happily swim lap after lap practicing all four strokes - freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly. Boogs made time improvements at every meet, except for the last one. His allergies were making him sluggish this past weekend.

Boogs' end of season banquet was held last night. Unfortunately, it was raining, thundering, and lightning. Everyone had to huddle under the pool's pavilion and stay out of the pool. Coach Jordan gave out the awards. Boogs was thrilled to get a trophy for "Coaches Favorite for the 6 & Under Boys". Boogs is one of the slowest boys on the team but he tries his best.

One of my favorite things about swim meets was watching the boys dive in off the diving blocks. Our main practice pool did not have diving blocks, so the kids only got to practice off the blocks for about 15 minutes on Fridays. I named some of Boogs' diving techniques. I posted two of these pictures before, but they are too cute not to post again. Boogs is going to start a two week diving class at the end of July. So, hopefully his diving technique will improve.

The Spiderman Dive (those two boys in the back are running into the water)

Walking on Water Dive

Ready to go!

Waiting on the ready bench.

Backstroke at the divisionals meet.

Team pictures

6 & Under Group

Fun at the last swim practice.

Checking out his trophy.

At the divisionals meet, the 6 & Under Boys tent got flooded. I was one of the tent moms for this group this past weekend. The away teams tents were set up outside of the pool area. The 6 & Under Boys tent was closest to the soccer fields. Someone forgot to shut off the soccer field sprinkler system. During the meet, one of the powerful sprinkler heads was pointed directly into our tent. Luckily, we had a fast thinking Dad nearby who dumped out an ice chest and dropped it on top of the sprinkler head. The ground was a muddy, squishy mess! We had to move the tent across the field to a dry patch of ground. The boys LOVED it. They ran through the sprinklers and mud with glee. I wonder what adventures we will have next summer. Boogs told me last night after the banquet, "I think I want to be on swim team all the way until I am in high school."

Swim Team 2012

Boogs is back on the swim team this year. He started practices a couple of weeks ago and attended the first meet of the season this past Saturday. He LOVES being in the water. Boogs told me he wants to attend every meet this year. Hello 5:30 am every Saturday morning until July 7th. It is going to be a fun swim season!

Last Typhoon Swim Practice

Breaststroke

He looks so little climbing out of the pool.

Swim buddies

Waiting to throw a "pie".

Gotcha!

The coaches covered in "pie".

Boogs had his last swim team practice this past Friday. I can't get over how much he enjoyed being on the team. We only made it to two meets this season. Boogs said he wants to be on the team next year. We will try to make it to more meets next year. Boogs also told me that he wants to continue swimming EVERY day. We will have to make that happen. After the last practice, the kids lined up to throw "pies" at their coaches. They had great fun choosing which coach to hit.

Typhoon/Marlins Swim Meet

Boogs participated in his second swim meet today. He was signed up for the 25 yard freestyle, 25 yard backstroke, and the 25 yard butterfly. Shortly after we checked in, they added him to the freestyle relay. He  loves to swim and was very happy to be added to the "swim race with my friends". I was worried that adding on a 4th swim would be too much for him, but it was no problem at all. The cutest thing at today's meet happened during the 25 yard backstroke for 6 and under boys. One of the other kiddos got turned around in his lane. He kept on swimming and ended up going all the way back to the starting block instead of to the finish. Here are the pics from the meet:

Start of freestyle.

Ready bench, no tears this time.

Last min. coaching before backstroke.

Backstroke.

    

Boogs is ready to go for the butterfly.
His "twin" is in the background.

He forgot what stroke he was doing,
but he made it to the end of the lane.

Almost done with the butterfly.

Dancing with his friend.

Boogs' latest "cool dance move".

First Swim Meet

It is not quite 2 pm and it has already been a very long day. Boogs decided he wanted to participate in a swim meet for the Typhoons. So, we had to get up and leave the apartment by 5:40 this morning. I have never had to wake Boogs up for anything before today. He is always such an early riser (5:45 - 6:15) that he usually wakes me up. He was NOT happy and told me that I was making him angry by messing with his sleep. Once we got to the pool, he was fine. He swam three heats today - 25 meter freestyle, 25 meter backstroke, and 25 meter breaststroke. It was so much fun to watch the little kiddos swim. I was a lane timer, so I did not see much of Boogs for the three hours we were at the pool. He swam his freestyle pretty well. He was good on his backstroke. But, the breaststroke was a mess. He complained and cried about the coach assigning him the breaststroke. He said, "The kick on the breaststroke makes me feel like I am doing the splits. I hate it." Poor little guy. He did it anyway. He did not hear the buzzer for the start of the race, so he jumped in at least a quarter length behind everyone else. Boogs finished his 25 meters about 3 minutes after the other 7 competitors were finished. The announcer did not even see him still struggling his way down the lane and almost started the next heat on top of Boogs. His lane timer had to yell and wave his arm to get the announcer to stop the start of the next heat. Everyone had to wait for Boogs to finish. By the time he had a quarter of his swim left, at least 50 people were calling his name and shouting encouragement to him. It was sweet and sad at the same time.

Freestyle

Finishing the freestyle.

Upset on ready bench before breaststroke.

Last minute breaststroke advice.

Swimming slowly to the finish.

Almost there, just need a two-handed touch.

Swimming the backstroke a little sideways .

Boogs and his sweet friend,
who he calls "the girl of my dreams".

After he got out of the pool, his friend came over to him and patted him on the back. Boogs told her he had been really anxious about being able to swim the breaststroke. She said, "It's okay. I know how you feel. I was nervous about swimming the butterfly. We both did it." It was the cutest thing, ever.

Diving Board

Boogs is still enjoying swim team. I thought he would get tired of going to practice every day. He often asked to go swimming during the day before his swim practice. He is a little fish. Yesterday, the kiddos were able to jump off the diving board after practice. I was really surprised that Boogs jumped. He even got back in line to jump a second time. I missed getting a picture of his first jump. He had his cheeks puffed out with air and bicycled his legs before he hit the water.  On his second jump, he tried to do a cannonball.

It is a little after 5 a.m. right now. I need to go get Boogs up so we can leave for his first swim team meet. He will be swimming in three events today - freestyle, backstroke, and breaststroke.