Mark, Jocelyn and Blake are all participating on the Woodbury Waves swim team this summer. Practices started Monday, June 1st and continue daily through the middle of August. The children will compete in 6 swim meets, which are a lot of fun to be a part of, especially for me since I get to work the Ready Bench where all the fun action happens lining up all the children for their swim events.
Blake's very first swim meet. He is still learning how to swim, so the only event he would swim was the freestyle. He was too nervous to dive off the blocks, so he dove in from the side of the pool. But he swam the whole lap without resting on the lane lines, so we were proud of him! He needs to learn how to do full-motion arm strokes because right now he slaps at the water, but his kicking has improved. Coach Katie gives the 5- 6 year old boys last minute encouragement. Blake is standing on the edge and does not want to get into the cold water. It was a VERY cold day for a June in California. Black clouds and cold breezes chilled out the children, but they were such troopers to still line up for each of their swim heats.
Blake is ready to swim!
Here is Blake getting ready for his freestyle lap!
Come on Blake, you can do it!!
Jocelyn sitting with the 7-8 year old girls on the Ready Bench! Wendy works on the Ready Bench committe with Deepak and Libby Anderson. They are terrific to work with and extremely organized. We worked together last year as 3 newbies and became so comfortable with the chaos of the Ready Bench that we all requested to work together again. It is one of the busiest jobs of a swim meet but helps the time pass quickly. As Libby said, "I couldn't imagine just sitting on the sidelines during a long swim meet. I would be so bored!" Deepak lives in Northpark Square and we live in West Irvine, but Woodbury allowed us to join their swim team and it has been a great joy and blessing to us!
Here are some of the swimmers doing warm-up laps in the ice cold water.
Mark getting ready for one of his swim events. He loves to compete in the swim meets and is getting faster at each practice. We are very proud of his progress!
Mark on the starting blocks getting ready for a swim event. Michelle O'Neill is standing behind him. She is one of the timers.
Jocelyn on the starting blocks getting ready to swim Breast Stroke. Deepak is behind her. He works with Wendy in the Ready Bench area.
My sweet Blake gives his very best at each practice. We are proud of his efforts and will be praying that he develops into a strong swimmer with good strokes.
It's going to be a fun summer (that is, if the sun will ever come out! This June Gloom is getting old and cold!!!)
Jocelyn getting ready for one of her swim events.
Good work kids!! We are so proud of you swimming your very best!
Mark (age 10), our tanned and toned California dude, loves to swim backstroke. He is often put on the relay teams at the beginning and end of the swim meets.
The team vamping in front of the gorgeous team pool!
Everyone in the pool!!
Swimmers warming up before the beginning of the swim meet. Notice that the Woodbury pool has 6 competition lanes and 2 warm-up lanes to the far left.
During the mid-meet break, the coaches on both teams competed in a medley swim that was wildly cheered by the swimmers of both teams. The Woodbury team members spontaneously lined the right of the pool and started splashing the water to cheer on their coaches. I have to say this was one of the funnest swim events I have ever seen! The kids absolutely loved watching their coaches dive in and swim fast!
Coach Kaelyn from the Woodbury team diving into the pool during the coach medley-relay race today!
Jocelyn getting ready to swim the backstroke. The swimmers have to start from in the pool. She is such a hard-working, sweet spirited swimmer. I am amazed at how well Mark and Jocelyn swim and compete in these meets.
Jocelyn on the Ready Bench during the meet against the WestPark Marlins swim team. The girls are shivering in the cool weather but they still are so brave to dive into the water and swim their hearts out!
Jocelyn gets ready to dive in the pool to swim freestyle. Notice how dark and grey the skies are today. Yesterday was sunny and perfect in the high 70's. Today the clouds came back and turned the skies grey all day. Hard to believe that tomorrow is the first day of summer when we are still having June Gloom cold weather!
Blake is ready to swim!
Here is Blake getting ready for his freestyle lap!
Mark on the starting blocks getting ready for a swim event. Michelle O'Neill is standing behind him. She is one of the timers.
Jocelyn on the starting blocks getting ready to swim Breast Stroke. Deepak is behind her. He works with Wendy in the Ready Bench area.
My sweet Blake gives his very best at each practice. We are proud of his efforts and will be praying that he develops into a strong swimmer with good strokes.
It's going to be a fun summer (that is, if the sun will ever come out! This June Gloom is getting old and cold!!!) 
