Swimming

This was the biggest event she has taken part so far. and will be Under 8 years old category.

When we signed her up we had hopes of her winning a few medals...however seing the number of participants ..there was no way....

She still did her best had got one 4th place and 6th place.

She enjoyed herself and made new friends.

In total there were 443 participants taking part in 2234 lanes divided by 7 gives you an approximate of 320 heats.

There were participants from all over Asia ranging from 6 year old to 18 years old.

The category Tanya was competing had 51 participants Under 8.
Her results are as follows:
John, Tanya (8) G (S1) Postion Points
1:03.53S F # 12A Girls 8 & Under 50 Free 19 ---
2:34.86S F # 14A Girls 8 & Under 100 Breast 8 11
1:14.16S F # 16A Girls 8 & Under 50 Back 18 ---
1:09.67S F # 32A Girls 8 & Under 50 Breast 10 7
2:23.77S F # 34A Girls 8 & Under 100 Back 4 15
2:36.38S F # 45A Girls 8 & Under 100 IM 11 6
1:37.65S DQ # 47A Girls 8 & Under 50 Fly ---
2:32.13S F # 49A Girls 8 & Under 100 Free 5 14
53

They are really noteworthy for a child who does less than 2 hours of swimming a week..Also her willingness to complete after knowing she is not going to achieve any medals.She contributed 53 points to her school team.

Well Done Tanya

Swimming

What a difference an year has made:

The girls did extremely well in ACC Annual Swimming Championships!

The first day it was Tanya's turn .
She took part in 5 events that is permitted.

Her Results were as follows:

50 mts Breast Stroke - 1st Place
25 mts Breast Stroke - 2nd Place
25 mts Back Stroke - 2nd Place
50 mts Free Style - 4th Place
25 mts Butterfly - 5th Place.

All in all she did a fantastic job in all her events.
For three of her events she had to do heats and then a final...so it was a good day...with a lot of swimming to do...


The next day - Sunday was Riona's Category:

We had convinced her to give it a good try. She has had about 20 hours of swimming lessons in all so there is only so much you can expect.

She took part in

25 mts Breast Stroke - 4th Place
25 mts Free Style - 4th Place. ( By the way she swam breast stroke since she doesnt know any other stroke)

She had to do a heat and a final for each event, something that was hard to explain.She kept reminding me that "you said only two times" .By the time she swam 4 times she was enjoying it...That was the hard part a heat and a final for every event...She was really tired and just didnt want to do the finals...but she did without much noise eventually...she is growing up finally....

It was a great weekend to remember for the girls...they had fun and was exhausted that they were in bed at 7 pm....

Here are a few photos of the session!

Swimming

I had wriiten about swimming and how my children learned to swim.

This post is more of a status update.

May 3 was an Spring Meet at Tanya's School.

Its been almost a year she has been practising two times a week.
Though she swims all her strokes her speed is still nothing to write home about among other swimmers..yet I feel very proud of what my daughter has achieved.
She can do about 10 laps at a time without any complaints...I wonder if I will be able to do that even once in my life time.

At the Spring Meet She happily took part in 5 events ( Max per individual) and won two medals....I thought it was a great achievement and I am really happy she was able to achieve it...and it was a great motivation to pursue harder ...

The Events she took part and the timings are

Event 5 Girls 8 & Under 50 SC Meter Breaststroke
2 John, Tanya 8 TAS 1:10.81 1:12.38
Event 8 Girls 8 & Under 50 SC Meter Backstroke
9 John, Tanya 8 TAS 1:15.89 1:04.73
Event 13 Girls 8 & Under 100 SC Meter Breaststroke
1 John, Tanya 8 TAS NT 2:33.91
Event 14 Girls 8 & Under 50 SC Meter Butterfly
7 John, Tanya 8 TAS NT 1:48.67
Event 16 Girls 8 & Under 100 SC Meter IM
4 John, Tanya 8 TAS 3:11.30 2:44.29

Here are a few photos of the Spring Meet

Meanwhile I am trying very hard to get Riona also to start swimmming.She is just beginning to learn the strokes and trying hard...but one can already say she has made progress.look at the video

..by the time she turns 8 like Tanya I hope she has opportunities to develop it further. I think its a great excercise all your life..

I feel a great sense of accomplishment that I could get my kids to do it....and they love it too....

Mama Moments - Achievement or Despair

My daughter Tanya was introduced to her first swimming class when she was little over 4...in Bangalore....With all excitement and enthu ....we got up one morning...and I had a child who refused to swim....and cry...well to make the story short after about 4 classes I gave up,,more out of circumstances...that needed more attention.....

Then in March 2005 she (age 5 years 3 months) on her own told me I want to learn swimming ( the motivation being when she had kids want to have a play date at the swimming pool I would restrict her to baby pool ...)..so I found her a new lady teacher started her classes when she had her annual break... she took classes almost every other day ... for about 2 weeks and I could see her being highly motivated... to try and swim...

and then she continued her 45 minute class once a week....for almost a year....

The only notable achievement so to say she could do Breast stroke quite well...
After a year I prompted the teacher we need to move on....and she continued to learn Back stroke and her teacher kept telling me she says she gets a head ache when she does free style...so Tanya just didnt learn it....but she was very comfortable with water and it meant a even in a 2 metre deep pool.

For this I am to date grateful to her coach...- Lay Peng....

Then in Taipei ...I just found one set of classes....and they were grouped and free style being most important....she was taken only at level 2. nothing much came of the ten sessions...then there was some notice I received and as enthusuastic I can get ,I took her to do try outs - but the moment I mentioned she does not know free style...I was turned down ..not even given a chance to try .but I didnt give up...

The next time a tryout was announced for school teams ...I ran after school changed her to her swim suit....and had to leave her with the leading coach who monitors tryouts...to attend to Riona....

when I am back in few minutes...I see my daughter..doing laps at the tryout coach's instructions....he would just walk down the pool deck...and say freestyle , change...then breast stroke,, then back stroke.....and I saw her persisting and trying...knowing her weakeness in free style..I could see her switching strokes when she is done about 20 mts...but she did it....and at the end of it I was told ...ok she can join the "Baracudas Team" - next Semester....and we would improve all her strokes...

I was so excited and happy....and yet so nervous....I knew most others were great swimmers and she just managed to get selected...

So for the last 2 months she has been getting group trainings 2 times a week from the school coaches....they do about 10 laps a session at the minimum....she participated in a couple of meets more to establish her own timings....and as expected she still tries to concentrate only on breast stroke and back stroke....

She also told me in summer holidays can you get someone to teach me Butterfly stroke..
So I got her 4 half hour sessions and I believe she picked up the basics...


Then there was annual championships at the American Club...Here was an opportunity to test her competitive spirit I thought...

She was allowed to register for 5 individual events....
So I chose along with her chose 25mts - ( free style,back stroke,breast stroke,butterfly.)and 50 mts in breast stroke..which by far is her strongest..

Well the competition was tough and every event had heats and they would select four finalists...

She tried her best...in all heats....to be selected for two finals...
as expected in Breast stroke....

The timings of the four finalists were displayed....and it was all too obvious that she had the worst timings and a good 5 secs to catch up for even a third place...
and as the competition took place...I saw a mature 7 year old...with full knowledge she is swimming against much better swimmers put in her best to finish 3rd in both competitions to win 2 well deserving bronze medals....




needless to say I felt proud and a sense of achievement and most important she was least affected by her performance.(several kids were upset)...she went there and did her best....I think I would have been more upset if she had failed to win any medals....infact I saw her even trying to comfort the 4th place winner....thats what I thought was remarkable and display of true sportsmanship....

So we went home jubilant as we can of our daughter's achievement...for the day....we kept telling her you put up a good show and did a "GREAT JOB"...

And Next day was Riona's day where they had events for 5-6 year olds...she had just turned 5 less than 2 months ago and been introduced to swimming lessons formally last Summer....(July 2007)

She had only one race 25 mts kick board....all set and I tried every trick to motivate her.....and my expectation was she should just do a lap....time didnt matter at all.....

well ....on your mark .get set....GO....


Thats it I have a child who turns back with her kickboard clinging to me..."I dont want to swim" and lo...I was let down so much and wondering what went wrong...what could we have done better...And I know I have all the reasoning and logic she is still young....but what baffles me the spirit to try....well I guess its part of mother hood ...moments of achievement and despair....so we will wait for another opportunity,,,,.....for her to try again...and never give up.....

I hope this note inspires Moms who want their kids to swim....and also it was to acknowledge LAY PENG - her coach in Singapore for making Tanya love water and swimming....also her Father who tries to compete with her breast stroke doing free style....and also it will give me inspiration and persistence needed in months to come to get Riona to reach these levels....

Swimming

Finally one target achieved for 2007 summer holidays!

Riona has learned to swim.

She did 10 half hour sessions with coach Ivan and is ready to go to the pool and take a swim.