AB Town Swim Team Championships 2009

Sunday, March 15th was the most hectic day of the year. That's because today was my town swim team's championship meet. I LOVE swimming. Yeah, I'm not that good at it, but I love it anyway. One of my favorite things to do before I do anything else in the water is a back flip. Just a back flip. It feels so good! I don't know why, but for some awkward reason, I can't seem to do a front flip. At least not directly, without tumbling to the side. Anyway, here's how it went.

First, I had to wake up at 4:45 AM. I did not want to do that. Who does? Let me tell you one thing, I am not an early bird. I had to be at the Acton-Boxborough Regional High School by 5:45 AM, and the bus to the pool where the championships are held left at 6:00. When I saw my 4 friends there, we where all shivering. I seemed to be one of the only people in my age group who brought a sleeping bag. It may sound stupid, but it's really cold in the hall ways where we have to stay- and I use it as a blanket.

I nearly fell asleep on the bus, considering I was in the way back, 'one seater' seat, surrounded by bags that look really good to put your head on as a pillow. The ride took a while, and I was just sitting there, in my jacket, a bit cold, in the dark bus. Not really what I want to be doing at 6:00 AM. We finally got there around 7, and the hallway room that we got to stay in was tiny! It was actually normal size, but the AB swim team has a lot of people. By the time we got to our room, the older boys took one half and all the teen girls took the other half. I though, where the heck are we supposed to cram in?? The coach ended up telling the girls to pile there bags in the corner so us 5 young lady's can have a seat and get comfertable. Now wasn't that nice of him! Ok, let's get down to buisiness.

First, I'll tell you the order, and the events, heats, etc. First up: the IM (all strokes) relays. For instance, if I was doing a 25 yard IM relay, and I was first, I'd do butterfly. 2nd, back stroke, 3rd, breast stroke, and last but not least, free style. A.K.A., the crawl. It is in that specific order. Then butterfly swimmers ages lowest to highest go next, then freestlye, then breast, then back, and after that the rest of the relay's happen. Now, one event is not the same as one heat. One heat is one race in an event. An event is like an age group swimming a specific stroke. Multiple heats (races) are in that event. I'm trying to make this as clear as possible, and if you have any questions, feel free to comment below.

I normally swim events number 15, which is for freestyle 25 yards, 42, back stroke 25 yards, and then 52, a 25 yard freestyle relay. And what do you know, I swam that for the championships! Those are my best strokes. Guess how surprised I was when I saw what I was swimming on my first meet? I was very surprised, that's how much!! On the paper, it read something like this:

Sonja Heels

#10 ~ 9-10 25 yard Butterfly
#42 ~ 9-10 25 yard Back stroke
#52 ~ 9-10 25 yard Free relay C

Butterfly? I had never competed in butterfly before, and many people don't even know how to do it. Ok, so you've seen the crawl. One arm, then the next, repeat. In butterfly, you do both at once, with a dolphin kick. I like to think of it as 'the worm' kick. It's just like doing 'the worm'! Ok, so just imagine yourself doing the worm in the water, and the arms, you just jumped off a block, and people are cheering all around you, screaming at you to go faster. How do you feel?

In my case, when I did this, I was very happy. For some strange reason, I have this thing with laughing. I laugh at the WEIRDEST things. Seriously! One time, my brother, Sam, (6 foot 1 inch), walked up to me, and said, 'Pudding!' I cracked up SO hard, for like, 2 minutes. Then I had to stop because after about a minute of serious belly-laughs, my stomach kills. Another time, I asked my dad if I could ask him a question. Yeah, not very neciccery, but what ever. I do that sometimes. Anyway, he said, 'Ok!' And for some strange reason, the way his face looked at that very moment cracked me up- once again, SO hard. The stomach cramp came back faster this time. I laugh very frequently! So that day at my first swim meet this year, I had something that I like to call a 'laugh attack'. Even if I don't see something, I just imagine it, I crack up. It happens very strangely. So this time, my friends face seemed to crack me up- so as I was doing butterfly, there I am, when I'm taking in some air, I'm laughing incredibly hard. Just imagine that for a moment. You're doing the worm, with both arms going at once, and you can bearly breathe, and you're having serious stomach pain because you're laughing so hard. Just image that. The most memorable moment in my swimming history. Wow.

Back to the championships! Ok, I'm standing behind the block, waiting for the whistle. 'TWEET TWEET TWEET!!' It goes. That's our signle to get up on the blocks. Then the announcer says, 'Take your mark..' and honestly, he sounded like darth vador! He was all, 'Take your mark..' in a very very low tone. It creeped me out, but I kinda liked it. Anyway, 'Take your mark..' he says, then he presses it. He presses the button that powers the loud signal to GO! 'BANG!!' It went. I push off of the block, kick my legs a little, and swim for my life. Swim! Swim! Aaahh! There's a shark behind you! I though. Certainly I didn't want to be eaten by a shark at my very first championships. I knew that wasn't going to happen, but I just had to image the largest shark known to man was right behind me. That way, I would speed up!! Another way I made myself go faster, I imagined there was a hundred pepperment patties at the end of the pool, and who ever got there first got to have them. Yes, pepperment patties are my #1 favorite candy. Sadly, I didn't make it in first, I don't think. But I know I did well. The timer said I did well, so I think I was in 2nd or 3rd place, with the timing of about 18 secconds. :-)

Backstroke I think I did pretty well! Even though I think of backstroke as more of a relaxing stroke, we do compete in it, too. That's when you have to kick your legs hard, and move your arms like a wind mill. For my age, 10, I think I did pretty well. My timing was about 19 seconds. I beat my personal record! Earlier, it was about 21. :-D

When I got back from swimming back, my friends ran up to me immediately. They told me that I was in their freestyle relay- and I was the anchor! Yeah, I know, you're all wondering, what the heck is an anchor? Other than the thing that stops boats that's extremely heavy, in swimming, if you're in a relay, and someone says you're the anchor, that means that you are the last person- which means you've got a LOT of pressure on you. Ok, let me explain just how much pressure I was going through. Ok, there are 12 other teams at this meet. You have to swim as fast as you can, and your team mates are counting on you to win, AND it's the championships, with tons of people cheering for you to go even faster. Now THAT'S pressure!! My friends were shaking me from my shoulders, and believe me, I was the worst person in this relay group to be the anchor. They all are much better than me, and it just HAD to be me as anchor. And sadly, we didn't win the relay. But I'm not that bummed about it! Because it's not the end of the world. Even though the championships are a big thing, it's not going to ruin my life. I did my best, and that's that.

We all packed up, and my mom, as usual whenever she sees me and she's happy, she says, 'Hey!' with her face all lit up. I love when she does that, but I didn't get the chance to even speek to my friends. I didn't see them at all after the relay, exept for their backs going down to the room. At least I'll be able to see them again at the ice cream social in about a month. :-) We packed up, bought some lunch and a pack of Oreos, and we headed out. It was a bit odd, sitting in the middle of a parking lot on one of those islands with grass on them and signs in them. There we are. Just sitting on the grass in the middle of the parking lot, having ham and cheese sandwiches. I called my dad on my mum's cell, and it was so good to here his voice again. Even though the last time I'd heard it was at like, 8:30 the night before, it was good to here his proud and happy voice after a very long swim meet.

This was my second year swimming on the Acton-Boxborough Town Swim Team. What about last years championships? You see, the town teem splits up into the A championships and the B championships. That year, I was in the B championships- witch got CANCELED by snow. I was really really upset. My first year, and it's canceled! But this year, I improved a lot. This year I was in the A championships, and my times improve almost every meet. :-) I love to swim.