homeschool swim team

Three years ago Julianna swam for the first time.  The only other girl on the team was her friend Kayleigh.  Two girls!!  The following year Lydia was old enough to swim and Xan joined, and we doubled our numbers! 4 girls!  And then 2018?!?!?  We had 8 (!!!!) girls swimming!  It's so fun to see the homeschool community grow (mostly we are just growing up! minimum age to swim is 9 and there are not many homeschooled middle schoolers in the entire city!)

Isaac barely met the age requirement (he turned 9 a few weeks before the meet) and he was reluctant to swim but in the end he had a blast!  He's totally on board for next year and I'm proud of him for trying!  

One highlight was coaching!  ha!  I know, I know.  I have no competitive swimming experience!  But I do love kids and and teaching, and coaching is a lot like teaching.  I relied on some expert advice and helpful youtube videos to fill in the many gaps in my knowledge!  

I mostly coached the 11-12 boys and they were so much fun!  Nothing like a lane full of competitive tween boys to get everyone fired up!  ha! and I loved loved watching my girls enjoy these moments of sweet fellowship!  One of the reasons we pulled them out of local school was to give them opportunities to interact with other foreign girls their age, and swim team was amazing!

the mamas of these lovely ladies are the kinds of people you want to spend all your free time with!  

And the day of the meet we brought home some ribbons! 

Lydia anchored the 9-10 girls relay.  She had an incredible meet... swam the 100 IM, won the 50 breast and got 2nd in the 25 fly.  

Our entire team, with head coach Michelle and me.  Next year Michelle will be busy working with all CISA athletics, and I'll be head coaching swimming :) 

with my favorite three swimmers right alongside!