$$: The Day’s Expenses plus Swim Meet Tips

Posted on | October 26, 2008 |

Today The Daughter attended her first swim meet since rejoining a competitive swim team.  She took a 2-1/2 year break from competitive swimming and in that time I’d managed to forget both how much I hate swim meets and everything I’d learned about what to take with me.

As a reminder to myself and perhaps to help out any parents new to the world of competitive swimming, here’s my checklist for the next swim meet:

1. a Sharpie (for writing the event #, heat #, and lane # on your kids arm so they know where to be and when; the need for this tool does not disappear as they get older);
2. a pencil (for keeping track of which event they are on and for writing your kid’s splits and finish times);
3. cash (this one is tough for me to remember because I never carry cash but it’s an absolute necessity, even if all you’re going to buy is a meet program — on on that subject, yes they seem expensive but go ahead and get one anyway);
4. snacks and water (if your swimmer is young, you’ll need snacks and water for them and you; The Daughter, at 16, takes care of packing her own snacks and water but today I forgot to pack some for me and I sure regretted it);
5. a fold-up seat or a seat cushion, or both (five hours of sitting on those hard bleachers with The Daughter leaning on me for a good two of those hours and I felt like my butt was on fire and my legs were going to fall off);
6. light reading material and a Sudoku or other puzzle book (I can never concentrate on anything intense or heavy and there’s always the danger of water damage so I never take anything but magazines but I need to remember a puzzle book next time);
7. my iPod.

I did remember to dress in shorts today.  Even though the weather was cool and I knew I’d be cold on the way to and from the meet, I knew I’d regret it if I wore my jeans.  It’s always hot and damp on the pool deck.  I was pretty miserable today (see above) but at least I was comfortably dressed.

So, for today’s expenditures:

Swim Team — $15.00
The Daughter received a free latex team swim cap but we also bought a silicone team cap.  The silicone caps are more comfortable and last longer.  They also don’t stink (and therefore, don’t make the swimmer’s hair stink) as bad as the latex caps.

Hosting Swim Team — $4.00
As mentioned in my enumerated list of items to take to a swim meet, I bought a meet program at The Daughter’s request.  Because I didn’t have cash with me, I had to write a check.

Subway — $5.57
A 6-inch sandwich and 3 cookies (I suggested she pick one out for her brother) on the way home from the swim meet.

As I mentioned, this was The Daughter’s first swim meet in over 2-1/2 years.  And she’s only been swimming again for about 1-1/2 months.  She signed up for only three events:  the 200 Backstroke, 200 Breaststroke, and the 200 IM.  After the backstroke, she was so spent she could barely climb out of the pool.  After the Breaststroke, she took a shower, stretched, and threw up.  She wanted to scratch her last event but the coach convinced her to give it a try.  Luckily she had a pretty good stretch of time to recover before her final event.  She looked quite strong during her IM and said it was her best race of the day.

Overall, she’s only a few seconds off her best times in all of these events despite how long she’s been out of the pool.  I find that very encouraging.  She’s hoping to continue to progress and not plateau anytime soon.

In the car on the way home (a nearly 2-hour drive, by the way) I told her how impressed I am with her level of commitment to her academics and her athletics.   It’s funny , isn’t it, how a parent thinks they’re clearly telegraphing how proud they are of their children on a day to day basis yet the child doesn’t seem to pick up on that.  The Daughter’s reaction was a good reminder to me to overtly express my pleasure and admiration for her efforts on a more regular and frequent basis.  In other words, I need to say, “Way to go, kid. I’m so proud of you” more often.

Related Posts for Further Reading

• $$: Gas, Juice, & Small Loan
• $$: Chocolate Milk, Chocolate Candy & Snow Pants, etc.
• $$: Panda Express, Groceries, a Book & a Shirt
• Day 139: Great Underwear Search of ‘08 (update 2)
• Day 57
• Day 50

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