Update-11/3/2021:

In addition to my initial post, his first real high school season is coming to a close. High school means getting up at 4am, 4 days a week to get him to morning practice on time. Hell, McDonalds isn’t even open then. The meets are shorter, but there’s 2 a week. The last meet, the State Championship, is this Friday in Stuart which means I get to drive 3 hours there and three hours back to watch him swim for less than 2 minutes. That’s less than a minute during prelims in the morning, then less than a minute during the finals in the evening. Prelims start at 9:00am, finals don’t start until 5:30pm, and probably won’t end until 8:00pm.

Initial post:

Get up at 5:00am. Go through the McD's drive through to get my 13 year old son 2 Sausage, Egg McMuffins w/cheese. Drive an 45 minutes to Sarasota to get him there 20 minutes before the 6:30am warm ups start because that's when the coaches want them there. He doesn't make the Finals in his first event. His second event, he comes in 9th out of 21, which means he's an alternate if one of the top 8 scratches (doesn't show up). His third event, 200IM, he's 7th out of 7 which means he's in the Finals even though he's no where near competitive in it. There really isn't a good reason to stay for the finals except his coaches want him to.

He's done with prelims at 10:45 and wants Pizza Hut for lunch. Drove to two of them in Sarasota. At the second one, I ask if there are any sit down Pizza Huts in Sarasota. Nope. Nearest one is in Venice. The meet is 9 miles north of Venice, but at this point, I'm 9 miles north of the meet. Off to Venice. Traffic sucks. Waitress at Venice Pizza Hut was the highlight of my day. She waa super. $10 tip on a $25 bill. Son ate a medium Ultimate Cheese Lovers by himself and asks for breadsticks to go. During the prelims, he ate the 3 sandwiches and 4 1oz bags of Doritos we packed for him. He has 5% body fat. I hate him.

Stop for fuel on the way back to the meet as the price is $.25 a gallon less than back home and I need about 25 gallons. Pull up to the pump and find it's the cash price. Drive back to Wawa a where the price was the same, but it was on the opposite side off the street with traffic.

Warm ups for finals don't start until 4:00pm. So we sit in the truck for 3 hours which isn't all bad, leather seats and all. Since I've had 4 1/2 hours of sleep, I try to shut my eyes. That's when the music starts at the basketball court.

He's at the pool now, but I'm still in the truck. They only have aluminum bleachers here, it's cold, and the bleacher suck the heat right out of you. And the event that he's an alternate for, but probably won't be swimming in isn't until 5:58pm. Also, swim parents are insufferable. For example, there's a paved parking lot and a guy pulls over the curb and parks on the grass next to me. He says "Someone's gonna do it, so it might as well be me." I'm thinking the same applies to a punch in the face. Anyway, my son's final event is at 7:15pm and he'll have to do a warm down, I'm probably going to have to stop to get him something to eat, so we won't get home until 9:00pm.

It's a 2 day meet, so we get to do it again tomorrow. Plus, we lose an hour tonight.

He'll be in high school next year. Afternoon practice 5 days a week, 6am morning practice 3 days a week, and 6am weight room 2 days a week.

No wonder swim parents are insufferable.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: trapper189,

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
<snip> Plus, we lose an hour tonight.

Not until next weekend (March 8).

DST is next Sunday, otherwise well done rant!

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:

we lose an hour tonight.

The rest of us will catch up with you next week.

You guys are way too nice. You told him!

Been there, done that.

Youngest stepson was on the swim team in high school and college.

My suggestion: Get an e-Reader or the Kindle app for your phone, and stock up on good books. Then buy a portable power pack with a cord that fits your e-Reader or phone. Plowing through good books is the only thing that kept me sane during the many, many hours spent sitting at swim meets.

Also, invest in a set of quality, higher-end folding camp chairs, the kind that fold up and slide into a shoulder bag. Not every venue allows them, but most did in my experience. And sitting in a comfortable chair in front of or next to the bleachers is infinitely preferrable to spending hours and hours sitting cramped on metal bleachers.

You’re an awesome dad. Someday he’ll realize if he doesn’t already. And as much as it sucks, I think his coaches are right. He should stay and compete (hockey Mom here, just getting into the grind and hoping dad takes the brunt).

We did many many many swim meets.

One daughter ended up with a full scholarship to the University of Arkansas. She graduated 4 years ago and still has 29 times in their top five record books.

I miss watching her swim and cheering her on.

US Olympic Trials, 4 SEC Championships, 4 NCAA Div 1 Championships, 9 USA Swimming National Championships.

She completed a BA and MA in Accounting in 4 years while on a full scholarship.

I swam in highschool. While each swimmer competes at more of an individual level in the heats (unless on the relay team) the goal is to get team points for the meet. I know ya know this already.

Thanks for supporting your kid and the team. It makes a difference in ways that are hard to explain. Hang on there.

You don't have to "volunteer" to be a lane timer? You're getting off easy!
I know exactly how you feel. My son just had a four day state championship meet. Incurred $600.00 in just hotel bills. I didn't even add up what that kid eats.

He has practice seven days a week at a pool that is 1-1.5 hours away depending on rush hour traffic. This means that after working all day, I spend 4-5 hours in my truck.

I am proud of him. He gets all As in school and is starting to prepare to apply to the United States Naval Academy.

I agree with you about the swim parents. I even experienced the same parking scenario. They also will stand at the railing right next to the sign that says "DO NOT STAND HERE" and block everyone behind them. Or, they will put their crap on a prime seat to reserve it for the day and only sit in it for their kid's events.

Day two: Spirits and moral are high. I got an unplanned extra hour of sleep. I get up 15 minutes early, son doesn't forget his cap and goggles, through McD's with the $4 2 sausage, egg, cheese McMuffins and the $1 large sprite, lite ice. Traffic on I-75 is light because no normal person is driving at 5:45am on a Sunday.

I'm in the zone. I know where I'm going and how much time it takes to get there. It's 40 degrees, but heated leather seats and I'm ignoring the aluminum bleachers because I have a plan. Dreaming of scholarships and gold medals, and thinking of the kind, supportive things you folks have said. Thank you. Drive right past the exit and don't realize it until 5 miles later. Next exit is 5 miles away, so that means an extra 17 miles. I got him there just before warm ups.

Of to Wal-Mart. It's part of my plan. I'm getting a boat cushion for those aluminum bleachers. As luck would have it they have two different models, so I splurge the extra $1 and get the blue one. A boat cushion has two purposes, you can sit on it and in the event an out of control kid knocks my drink over again at the meet and suffers a water landing in the pool, the cushion may be used as a flotation device. May. Depends on what kind of mood I'm in. Plan B. Buy chemical handwarmers for my son. Other parents had suggested it. Walk twice through the camping aisles and finally figure out the barren shelf with the $.74 tag is where they are supposed to be. Apparently, there's been a run on them. Stupid coronavirus.
________

Really, thanks for the support and suggestions. He's our oldest and I have no idea where this is going. I wasn't a sport guy growing up and my parents weren't either. I'm not complaining about that either. I was interested and played a few though out school, but with out the parental support, it didn't work. It's the one thing I decided I would do different if I were a parent.

Yes, we have to volunteer. I don't mind being a timer. We get a free lunch and a nice shady spot to sit except when timing 50s; sit down, get up, repeat every 35 seconds. It also gives me something to do at the meet.

I remember the year that 3 football players decided to swim because it was "easy." Two quit before the end of the first practice. The other before the end of the first week. They all admitted it was tougher than they thought. I am not so sure it is tougher, it is simply different.

One thing that always weighed on us was the lack of support from the school. We had to pay for our suits, goggles, and caps. When on the road, our meals were $5 at McDonalds instead of the buffet at Golden Coral. Hopefully some of that has changed, but I doubt it has.

Swimming does seem to have gained some popularity since the late 80's so maybe it is better. Years from now, your son will appreciate your support even if he might not now. Age has a way of shifting perspectives and memories tend to get sweeter.

Best tool I had while swimming was a sports towel. Basically, it was a small blue chamois that allowed rapid drying off which helped with warming up. That and a bath sheet were the cat's meow. Oh and spring for the rubber cupped goggles instead of foam. Better comfort and sealing.

Update-11/3/2021:

He’s going to the FHSAA 2A State Championship meet as member of his team’s 400 Free Relay squad. He didn’t make it in an individual event, but he’s on track for that for next year.

In addition to my initial post, his first real high school season is coming to a close. High school means getting up at 4am, 4 days a week to get him to morning practice on time. Hell, McDonalds isn’t even open then. The meets are shorter, but there’s 2 a week. The last meet, the State Championship, is this Friday in Stuart which means I get to drive 3 hours there and three hours back to watch him swim for less than 2 minutes. That’s less than a minute during prelims in the morning, then less than a minute during the finals in the evening. Prelims start at 9:00am, finals don’t start until 5:30pm, and probably won’t end until 8:00pm.

The school is covering his hotel room and meals, so that’s cool. They did the same for the Regional meet last Saturday. I had to buy what they call a "tech suit” which even on sale 20% off plus an additional 10% off for giving them my phone number for texts cost $300 and is only good for about 5 meets.

I still have no idea where this is going, but it seems to be going, dare I say it?, swimmingly.

Swimming is a huge commitment - for both the kids and the parents. Sort of reminds me of 6am ice hockey practices and regular season games 90 minutes away from home.

The only athletes I have ever seen that were easily able to make the 2-sport transition to competitive swimming were wrestlers.

Congrats on your sons achievement(s). Many more to come I am sure.

Reminds me of my time as a swimmer in high school. All day/ multi day meets were an incredible amount of fun for us at that age, but God bless my and all the other parents that put up with it. Swimming is not a very good spectator sport with 2 minutes of excitement followed by multiple hours of waiting for the next event in uncomfortable facilities with a long drive there and back.

I played 6 varsity sports through high school and college, and swimming was far and away the biggest time commitment.

quote:

Originally posted by Graniteguy:
The only athletes I have ever seen that were easily able to make the 2-sport transition to competitive swimming were wrestlers.

There is a wrestler on the team this year. The kid is ripped and looks like a competitive swimmer right up until he gets in the pool. He’ll get there though, plus his older brother is going to states, so the family knows what is involved.

A little over 20 years ago I taught Judo at the YMCA for 15 years. I didn't get paid for doing it. One weekend there was a tournament in Pottstown PA. My wife and I left at 5:00am to be there on time for for the kids weigh in. Didn't get to eat breakfast,not a big deal. When we got to the tournament another coach and I decided we would also enter in the Master Division over 45 years old.
All my students were done at 12:00. I still had not had a match and didn't want to eat so I wouldn't get sick as it can get very intense. Finally at 4:00 I had my match, literally choked my opponent out in 15 seconds. By now I am starving. After an hour I asked when I would fight again. I was told they wanted to film my fight at 8:30 for the local news. I left, stopped for food on the 3 hour drive home. A couple months later I receive a trophy for second place. That was the last Masters I fought in.

Shime-Waza !!

quote:

Shime-Waza

^^^^^
OK I looked it up. First thought is that it was a Gomer Pyle expression.

I remember the routine well Trapper, our daughter swam from age 7 through college. Good luck at States!