It was a home swim meet and the girls couldn't wait to swim with Kate.
During warm ups, Anna went to business. Ashley on the other hand choose not to warm up. After getting out of her that she was scared to warm up, she did some warm ups on her own in the shallow end of the pool until a life guard kicked her out.
And then it was time for event 1; Freestyle.
Ashley was in the second heat of the event. She had just told me she was really excited to go. The heat starts, buzzer buzzes and Ashley jumps in! She swims about 8 feet and then swims to the ropes, looks back at me and cries, "Momma! Momma!" After about 30 seconds of talking her through it (telling her she is ok, she is a great swimmer and that she can do it), and bribing her with the lollipop from the coaches, she finally turns back into the lane and swims towards the other end of the pool. She arrives at the other end of the pool with tears in her eyes but a smile that showed how happy she was for swimming the length of the pool in her first meet. Once we gave her hugs showing how proud we were of her, she runs and gets her candy.
Then Anna was up for freestyle. She dives in and swims her best ever time in Freestyle- 34 seconds!!!! And she won a heat winner ribbon and placed 4th overall in the 8 and unders!
Next up for Anna was breast stroke. She did AWESOME; placing 7th overall in the 8 and unders.
After Anna got the heat winner ribbon for freestyle, Ashley asked me when she would get one. I told her she has a chance in her best and favorite event, back stroke. She looked at me and smiled and got really excited.
Needless this is the only picture I got of Ashley after her backstroke....
....Because I was so in the moment of watching my 5 year old little girl hightail and beat 8 year olds AND win her heat in the backstroke AND place 11th overall in the 8 and unders. It was amazing... especially after watching her in her first event; she didn't even look like the same kid.
And then Anna does a repeat performance of her sister and wins her backstroke heat and places 7th overall in the 8 and unders. The Stilley girls ROCKED their heats in the backstroke at this meet!
Then the girls had a bit of a break between events before the relays started....
Ashley swam in the freestyle relay. All meet I was telling her she had another opportunity to redo her first race of the meet during the free style relay. She seemed to be excited. And then the race came. She was #3 out of 4 in the relay and when the time came for her to jump in she completely froze. Rob tried to carry her to the edge of the water and force her in but this little girl was going no where.... So I run over from the other side of the pool. We tell her that the girl on the other side of the pool is waiting for her to jump in so she can swim. We explain to Ashley that she is being selfish not swimming for the team and that the only way the last girl in the relay can swim is if she jumps in and swims across. We encourage her by telling her she is an amazing swimmer and that she can do it. We even remind her that she will get a ribbon if she jumps in and swims across. She then looks at us and says, "That girl really can't swim without me going?" We tell her she can't go anywhere until Ashley jumps in and swims. She says ok, jumps in and swims to the other side. And she comes out smiling....
Anna swam awesome in both the free style and medley relay. Her medley team got disqualified but her free style relay placed third! Exciting!!!!
Overall the first meet of the season went great. Ashley will only grow from her mistakes. We were so thrilled the girls woke up wanting to go to swim and that they loved the meet. I just love the smiles they get on their faces when they see what they are capable of doing on their own!
And check these girls out with their ribbons from the next morning!
Ashley free relay- 6th place 4 minutes and 50 seconds
Ashley freestyle- #30 out of 32 with a time of 52.88 sec
Ashley backstroke- #11 out of 32 with a time of 39.82
Anna
Breaststroke- #7 out of 20 with a time of 39.64
Backstroke- #7 out of 32 with a time of 34.57
Freestyle- #7 out of 32 with a time of 24.37
Free Relay- #3 of 6 with a time of 2 minutes and 5 seconds
Medley Relay- participation ribbon
The only picture I got of Abby at the meet.... she really enjoyed her push pop!!!!
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