Four Year Legacy

These two. Let me tell you about these two. My son Jacob and his teammate Julia are the big brother and sister of the Dunbar High School swim team. They are the only two four-year swim team members, together since freshman year. Let me start by saying they are not a couple in the sense you might be thinking. In four years, they have never dated, and I don't think either one ever thought about it (at least it would be news to me). But here they are, senior year, celebrating each other and an explosion of growth on their team.

In their freshman year, I'm not sure there was even a dozen kids on the team. Standing around at the district meet today, we were joking around with another parent that the whole team could have fit in one car. Okay, maybe two. But the team was small and they weren't even on the map. They had one strong swimmer in a boy who would graduate at the end of the year. I don't think he went to regionals that year. We were barely able to field a relay team, and Jacob as an up-and-comer with the senior boy, struggled to round out a foursome with two other swimmers. The girls were lucky if they could field a relay team at all, because there were four of them total when they all showed up. We really didn't know better. As parents we were grateful our son wanted to be active. He had taken up club swimming the summer before he started high school.

In their sophomore year, Jacob and Julia found themselves in the veteran spots. Their senior captain from the last year, graduated. There were few other returning swimmers, if any. Fortunately, an experienced swim coach signed on and brought with her tons of support for the team. The kids who were left helped recruit at open house, and the sister of the boy who graduated was coming in as a freshman. The team was starting to grow a bit. We had enough kids to swim, and quite a bit of young developing talent. Julia rallied the kids, and Jacob started to lead the events.

They have gotten stronger and bigger each year, and this year there are several other seniors on the team. However, a couple of them are two year swimmers and one of them is a third year swimmer. These two are the only four year varsity swimmers, and they have built quite a legacy. The Dunbar team is a contender. This year there are several swimmers going to regionals and there are lots of young swimmers left behind to continue building the team. The Dunbar Swim Team is going places, and so are Jacob and Julia.

It's been a great four years and we will continue to support the team. I look forward to hearing about all they accomplish, as Jacob and Julia set out for the next phase of their lives. These two...

Jacob on the left, and Julia on the right cheer on their teammate in a race.

Warming up before a race.

They find out Jacob's relay team made regionals after a 3rd place finish at districts.

And So It Begins... to End

Tonight was the final meet of the regular swim season. That means my son is just about finished with his senior year swim career. We have Districts later this month, and if all goes well, Regionals and States will be the subsequent two weeks. But everything has about wound down, and I'm beginning to feel sad. Not a hopeless, whoa is me sad, just I'm so proud of the man my son is becoming sad, because I know his time to grow up and out of the house is upon us.

The night was filled with quite a bit of emotion. Senior Night was supposed to happen last week, but was cancelled thanks to Hurricane Matthew. I rearranged my Thursday night class, prepared my students, and then classes were cancelled anyway, also due to the hurricane. At the last minute, Senior Night and the accompanying meet were rescheduled for tonight. After all that, I just could't cancel another class. And that meant, though I vowed years ago never to let work come ahead of my kid, tonight I had to work. So when they celebrated the seniors before the start of the meet, and my husband and I couldn't get there on time, one of the other swimmer's mom escorted my only son down the pool deck. I could just cry thinking about it.

It wasn't all sad though. I shared my conundrum with my students, taught a half class, and let them out early. I rushed over to the pool and was able to at least see the second half of the meet, which meant two of my son's races. It wasn't a great night for the team. Most of them swam mediocre times, and we took few, if any first place races. We competed against arguably the strongest swim team in our county. But that's ok.

We ended the evening with a big cake and talk of plans for the district meet in two weeks. We were given a frame with a beautiful display of two team photos, one fun and one formal, and a photo of Jacob. He had a terrific and genuine smile, and just below it all his best times, including three school records. To say I'm proud is an understatement. Tonight one of his relay teams broke another school record! And I thought back to his freshman year, when the entire swim team could fit into two cars. Now, they are full fledge team. They can field two relay teams in a single race, and they have plenty of swimmers to represent Dunbar in the various strokes and events.

As we walked out through the pool gate for the last time, talking about where to go for dinner, Jacob came out of the locker room. "A bunch of the kids from the team are going to Steak n' Shake, and I'm going to go eat with them." We smiled and told him to have fun. One of the best things about this team is how great the kids are to each other and how much of a team they really are. I'm going to be sad as it all comes to an end.

Tomorrow

Written 8/9/2016

Tomorrow 

Last first day

beginning of the end

oldest of the young

My baby is grown

A few months shy of eighteen

he begins the journey to complete

his high school career

How can the time 

have gone

so quickly?

There's so much 

I want him to know.

I want him to feel prepared.

I want him to be prepared.

Tomorrow is the beginning

of the last year I have

to help him get ready

for the world without a net.

That's not true.

We'll always be his net.

Actually, we're not his net, 

more like a crash pad.

Saving him from everything

was never our style.

If we always came to the rescue

how would he ever be prepared

for tomorrow.