I know swimming isn't really related to travel at all, but its still fun to talk about for me. Lately, I have missed swimming a lot and want to re-enter the swimming world, if only for a few masters swims. I raced a bit a few years ago off the couch and impressed myself with what I am still able to do. But I still have a lot of close ties to swimming, and while my racing career is long gone (like seriously, a decade) I get to continue to watch my brothers and many friends careers take off. So because I might post about swimming in the future, I figured I would lead in with why it means so much to me and my family.
If anyone knows me really well, they know what a role swimming has played in my life. I was born loving the water and went to my first swim meet at the ripe old age of two weeks. My mom had me in the pool before most babies were crawling, and I never stopped.
They put me in the most embarrassing swim suits though. Its amazing I kept with it.
My parents put me into swim lessons along with all the other activities you put kids into to try to wear them out before bed time. Soccer, gymnastics, track, cross country, 4-H (yeah, I grew up on a farm), you name it. I don't think my parents ever expected my brother or I to really become swimmers. Both my parents were amazing overall athletes, and my mom secretly hoped I would always be a runner. I loved the water, but I hated practice. And when I was young I was so DANG little that the talent just wasn't there. I never qualified for much of anything and looked like a twig in comparison to other swimmers my same age.
Pipsqueak.
Eventually, I started to get more serious about swimming and started to qualify for meets. Believe it or not, I used to hate backstroke (which ironically became my baby, pride and joy).
And then, suddenly, everything changed. I started to grow a little bit, and I managed to qualify for so many meets. I started setting records and traveling all over, and even had internationally ranked times for my age group. I was a member of the Junior National team and started to really see where swimming could take me. I swam some amazing times (ALL of my best times were either sick or not tapered) and was only training an hour and a half five times a week. Things really started to come together and my swimming future started to lay itself out. I had my family at almost every meet cheering me on, which was my biggest support system. Being stuck in a tiny town and a program I had already outgrown with a terrible coach, I was so glad I had my family along for the ride. I qualified for Trials and was certain with proper training I could make the final heat. And then there was the fateful Saturday practice... Trials was my last swim meet at age 16.
But anyways, that's a totally different story. But it leads in to the meaning of my post. The whole time, my little brother Ian tagged along to all my swim meets. He started swimming because it was what he was around all the time and who doesn't want to follow in their older sister's footsteps? I always remember his cheers - very distinct little brother cheers - 'go, thither, go!' He had a problem with his 's' when he was little, and it just kind of hung around. I even remember at meets how he would try to get as many autographs as possible. He even snuggled up to Lenny Krayzelburg at US Open. Anyways, the kid was a champ. My swim meets were his swim meets. When I was at Trials, he was SO excited. Even when I went to college, he was always so happy to talk about the team and who I trained with. Gradually, he got a little faster. See, he was a 'late bloomer' like his sister in that we have really only gotten better with age. Had I continued swimming, I bet my best years would have been in my early 20's. He joined Tacoma Swim Club, found his calling in distance free and never really looked back.
Its been a rough road for him, but then again, that's life. He choose to swim at University of Hawaii, but it didn't quite work out. Finding himself a little lost and more anxious about swimming than in love with it, he swam at Trials last year (2012). I was so proud of him for making it. What big sister gets to cheer on her brother, just as he did for her 8 years before!? After the meet, he was trying to figure out his next step. He really loved open water and while he wanted to continue pursuing that, the real bread and butter was in pool swimming. I reached out to my old coach Mark Schubert from USC who I had stayed in touch with, and Mark was willing to train Ian without hesitation. And, they hit it off. Ian moved to Huntington Beach with the support of our parents and me and the last year has gone so well! I am so excited to continue to watch him swim and grow and can't wait for what this year has in store for him. I can't believe 10 years ago he was the tiny kid running around Long Beach looking for autographs while his sister swam. Ian, I think you've hit the jackpot. This is it, bud. Enjoy it because you've earned it.
Way, way, WAY proud of my little brother. I am so happy to play a support role in his swimming career. Now, to actually race in the same meet or open water. This summer?
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