supervising from the couch: A Favorite Swim Team Tradition

Lest my last swim team post sounded too rosy, I'll set the record straight and admit that we do have the occasional whining about having to practice everyday. Especially on the mornings after a meet, and especially from a certain redhead who needs his beauty rest. But they all wake up early in anticipation of the team breakfast that takes the place of practice once a year.

Even the picky eaters get excited about it.

The shutter-happy moms too. I love this shot of Ellie, Amelia and Hallee. (It seems redundant to warn any reader of this blog about a post with a lot of photos, but if anyone needs such a warning, there it is).

Love this one too.

They had a professional photographer there to take the team pictures, and I just stood behind him and snapped away. This is Ainsley's age group, the six-and-unders. Ainsley's on the back row, third from the right. She loves her coach, Claire, who is a mom and so great with the youngest kids.

Next is Ellie's group, the eight-and-under girls. (There were too many boys to fit in the same shot). Ellie's coach, Angela, is a BYU swimmer, but she was out-of-town, so they're posing with the head coach, Tommy. He's done a great job with the program, and even taught me the right way to swim last year. Ellie is the one kneeling right in front of Tommy, and Amelia is right next to her.

Here's Joey, with the ten-and-under boys, and their coach, Nick. Joey is second from the left in the middle row.

Robbie is on the front row, right side, below his coach, Matt. All of the coaches have been awesome, but Matt and Nick have taught all of my kids lessons, and I so appreciate them. Jonas is on the front row, far left side.

Here's a photo of the photographer, attempting a large group shot (he's on the lifeguard chair on the right).

With his superior lens and angle, I'm sure his photo is much better than mine.

After breakfast and photos comes the part the kids all love...the coin toss.

They each bring three dollars in coins, which all gets tossed in the pool.

They line up until the whistle blows...

And then it's fair game. Joey is right in the middle of this shot, and he scored big. He found one of three marked ping-pong balls, which can be redeemed for $10. Plus another four or five in coins, so a nice profit.

Here he is collecting his cash.

Joey was pretty excited when he found the ping-pong ball. I overheard the coaches saying he sounded like the boy who found the golden ticket. This is definitely his happy face.

Ainsley stuck mostly to the steps, but even she just about broke even.

Pictures with water and sunshine make me happy, but I made the mistake of shooting in aperture priority and opening it up too much. Hopefully I'll get some better shots later this year with this experience in mind. Here's one of Robbie and Joey with Tanner and Jonas.