How It All Began

Ethan's beginning in swimming happened sort of by chance.  We were living in Norfolk, Nebraska and he needed something to do after school.  He had just entered middle school and he was getting all of his homework done at school.  He would come home and have nothing to do so he wanted to sit in front of the TV or play video games all afternoon.  NOT what I wanted him to do.  So, I began looking for some sort of activity that he could do after school.

Right next door to the middle school was the local YMCA.  They had a little swim team called the Aquajets.  We decided to let Ethan try it for a couple weeks to see what he thought about it.  HE LOVED IT!  Everyday he would walk from the school to the Y for practice and then I would pick him up before dinner.  It was perfect.  He got some exercise and all I had to do was pick him up.

I assumed he would do it for a few months or a year and then get tired of it and find something else to do.  WRONG!  He just kept doing it and getting better and better and never got tired of it.  After a while he moved up through the ranks and it was time to start swimming at meets.  We knew nothing about swimming!  I knew the names for the strokes but that's about it.  We didn't know the difference between Long Course and Short Course, what an IM was, nothing!  So, we went to the first meet and started asking everyone and anyone lots of questions.  We learned as we went.  We're still learning!

I have to say I was greatly impressed at that first meet.  The sportsmanship those kids and coaches showed was impressive!  Everyone cheered for each other, the coaches weren't yelling at the kids, when someone got disqualified no one yelled at the refs.  Impressive!  There was even a little boy who could hardly swim from one end of the pool to the other.  Everyone cheered and cheered until he finally made it to the other end of the pool.  Now that's the kind of sport I want my kid to be a part of!!!

Ethan at his first swim meet in Norfolk, NE