Fresno Dolphins Swim Team

This year, we have been really blessed to have a community of people to help us watch Grace after school.  Since the first week of the school year, Grace has been taking the bus home with Isaac, Audrey, and CJ, and between the Macks, Bergens, and Wiens families, we can always be assured that she's in a great place.  Last month, Audrey and Violet decided to join the Fresno Dolphins swim team.  Since Grace had been hanging out with these girls after school, she too decided she wanted to try it out.  Every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, Jamie drives the 3 girls to practice.  It has been such a wonderful learning experience for Grace.  We've seen her become a much more confident swimmer and her strokes continue to improve.  She has entered 2 swim meets this season- one in Selma and one in Oakhurst.  Her first swim meet was in Selma and boy, did we learn a lot about swim meets in just that one day!
1)  Make sure to have your goggles (Grace didn't realize she had forgotten her goggles as her heat was getting into the blocks).  
2)  Don't let Jeremy bring legos to the pool (he almost dropped some in the water while we were being warned by an official to stay away from the edge of the pool)
3)  Get into the right lane (with the stress of Grace not having her goggles, she got into someone else's blocks and the official had to announce her name- Grace Isaac, LANE 8!)
4)  Have friends/husband come with you (thank goodness for Jamie and Jason!) to help you watch your kids
5)  When it's triple digits outside and you are at a swim meet with 400 swimmers, it's a good idea to bring plenty of sunblock, a shade structure, things to do while you're waiting, plenty of snacks/food/water!

In the end, Grace ended up only swimming in one event- 100 m freestyle.  She came in 6th in her heat, and 16th overall.  Her next event was one of the last events of the day and since it was so miserably hot, we decided to just skip it.  She was so happy to get out of swimming the backstroke, her least favorite!

Last weekend, Grace attended her 2nd swim meet.  It was held in Oakhurst, and since Jason's mom lives not too far from this mountain town, we asked to spend the night so it wouldn't be too far to drive early in the morning.  Since it was held here, Grace had a great cheering section!

She swam in three events- the 50 m freestyle, the 100 m breast stroke (her favorite), and the 50 m backstroke.

During her warm up, Auntie Jen was able to work with Grace for a while and gave her some great swimming tips

 

Grace getting settled at the start

 In the end, Coach Suzanne told Grace that her best event was the backstroke! We were really impressed with how well she did in that particular race.  We are very proud of her for stepping out of her comfort zone and trying something new.

 

Grace has gained so much confidence in swimming that it has been such a worthwhile experience.  She didn't place or win any awards at her meets, but it was evident she was trying her best and has improved a lot.    Thank you so much, Jamie, for all your help with Grace so she could participate on the swim team this year!