Championships!

So here we are with Ripstick Boy's ribbons and medal for the championship meet.

He looks pretty pleased! I would be too........he certainly earned these!
More importantly is that he qualified to go and that he beat his own time in each event he was in.
The ribbons are for individual heats and the medal is for a relay he was in with 3 other boys.

Friendly competition....

Yesterday was the Championship for this area's swim teams. It was a 2 day event....I'm so glad I only had to be there for the 12 and up age group. It was SOOOOO HOT!

Ripstick Boy did very well. He shaved off 12 seconds on his Freestyle!
He just kept focused and didn't worry about what the other boys were doing....and it paid off.

Here he is with his ribbon...he tied with the boy who ALWAYS wins the Freestyle for the team. (who BTW, shaved off 3 seconds from his own best time.)


Just because they are friends doesn't mean they can't have a little competition between them!

Ribbons from the "A" meet

Two weeks ago, Ripstick Boy competed in the "A" meet competition.
He did very well overall.....even though he got DQ'd in the backstroke.....which is too bad....he had a great time. He did his flip turn too soon and had to add a stroke....oops.
But he managed to shave time off every single event....and even shave 11 seconds off his butterfly time!

He had stuffed his ribbons into his duffel bag and forgot about them until yesterday. So after carefully ironing MOST of the creases out, here he is with his ribbons!

Great job!

Quiet contemplation

Every now and then you take a photo that doesn't look like much at first glance. But then you look at it again and see it differently.
Here, Ripstick Boy was waiting for his next heat at the last swim meet. He did really well again.
Looks like this is a sport that will 'stick' for awhile........

Another good day.......

Last Friday Ripstick boy was in a swim meet......I posted about it on Monday.
Here he is now with his ribbons. One first and 2 fourth place!
Not bad, not bad at all.

Keep up the good work! The 'A ' meet is this coming weekend.

Don't bonk your head...........

Ripstick boy was in another swim meet this past Friday. He did pretty well....we still don't have the official scores yet though. He was in one last week too but got DQ'd for something...still don't know what. And the week BEFORE that, his goggles fell off when he dove into the pool....yea....we won't talk about that one. It was his only heat too. Not fun.

Overall, he has done very well for his first time swimming on a team. And considering he hasn't had swim lessons since 2004, he has done great!
He FLEW out of the gate and won 3 first places in his first swim meet. But that was BEFORE he realized how things work. Now that those competitive juices are flowing, he gets anxious and watches other kids. Which isn't a problem except when you are actually swimming IN A RACE.

I think he should wear blinders like some racehorses wear so they can't see the other horses. That way he can only concentrate on his own performance. Couldn't you just see that?

On to the pictures:

I still don't get the back stroke.........first you run into the lane dividers.....




then, you bonk your head.........well..........almost.

He got lucky this time....no headache!

our second swim meet.....

Here is Ripstick boy with a couple ribbons from his second swim meet! It was this past Monday and it was SO HOT outside!

We were proud of him but more importantly, he was proud of himself.

No blues this time but the competition was STIFF.