7 things I learned this week…a few days late.
1. Shopping of any sort right before a snow storm stinks. We usually do our grocery shopping Friday after school. Pick up Script. Pick up Kara. Pick up groceries. Of course, with a huge storm predicted for Saturday, everyone was rushing to get their milk, bread, and toilet paper. I hope they also had generators to keep that milk fresh.
2. Listening to trees crack and limbs fall is not particularly entertaining. My neighbors lost a HUGE branch and immediately went out into the snow and slop and started hacking down any low hanging branches that were looking suspect. We lost two huge branches from our maple tree in the back, but luckily the garden fence was only a little smashed and the REALLY BIG branch that would have taken down our yard fence didn’t fall. We lost power around 1pm on Saturday and honestly thought it would be back on quickly. We had already lost power around 4am that morning from a car accident and they had that back up in 2 hours. Unfortunately, the lack of power continued until about 5pm yesterday. Thankfully, our two freezers stayed nice and frozen and we were able to move the inside stuff to a cooler and/or the freezers and have almost everything stay fresh. I chucked a few things that just weren’t saving, but overall we were blessed and didn’t lose anything. And slushy milk is almost as good as plain old cold milk!
3. I like to keep the house cool, but 48 degrees is a little too cool. At one point yesterday it was warmer outside than inside. The first night it was fun sleeping in the bed with K and the dog (B was at work) under a ton of blankets. The second night…it was down to 53 when we got home from the swim meet so while B slept, K and I went to my parents to shower and eat and then I took the dog home and left K there to watch I Love Lucy with my mom and to sleep in her warm, fuzzy sheets. Pippi and I didn’t fare quite as well the second night – I kept waking up thinking the power was back on and, even with the heavy sweats, fleece jacket, wool socks, and knit hat, under 4 blankets, I was cold. So was the dog. Monday I actually slept in until almost 7am since I wasn’t able to work at home. I got up, called in, put on another fleece, walked the dog, noted the temperature had fallen to 48, and packed K’s lunch. I spent the morning putting away all the 1) canning crap that had been left in the kitchen when the power went out Saturday, 2) all the other crap that had been put in random places in the dark.
4. Coaching at a meet is tiring. The meet was delayed an hour (thank goodness I texted another coach since I didn’t have e-mail) so we got there about 7am. I felt really bad for K putting on her swim suit in a 53 degree house. I then ran around like a chicken for an hour trying to check kids in, figure out where I was supposed to be, etc. I was there on deck then until about 1:30 and I was exhausted. My cheeks were permanently red and my feet were sore from standing in flip flops. It was fun though. And I get paid for doing it, which is unbelievable!
5. I have so much to learn as a coach (I knew that one already)! I was all about the “hey great swim, look at that time, big picture, etc. and honestly, didn’t notice all the fine technical points of strokes. Another coach who is an amazing technician took care of that for me. So, I pep talked my kids before the race, cheered for them during the race, high fived them after the race, and let her do the constructive criticism piece. I’ll continue to work on stroke with them in practice. It’s amazing how well some kids can drill at practice, but then totally forget about technique in the race!
6. I am too competitive. There are certain kids (a couple from our team, but not too many) I REALLY want my kid to beat. I don’t tell HER that of course, but I secretly rejoice when she crushes them in the event. Does that make me a bad person? Probably not, but it is most likely a sign that I am already a bad person, right?! She did so well…best times in everything (of course, two of the events she had never swum before!). She beat her 100 IM time (converted) from the summer by over 3 seconds, which is super and did really well in her 1st 50 fly and 100 frees. She finished way down in the pack in everything, but was 4th or 5th among the 9-10s on her team, which I think was great, especially since two of those girls are nearly 11 and will be swimming 11-12 this year! I was so proud of her.
7. Coaching would be more fun if no parents were involved. I love the kids. I love watching them improve. Parents who expect miracles and perfection…not so much. My least favorite comment from a kid… “my mom/dad says.” Last week I heard about the correct way to drill butterfly (wrong), where to look in freestyle (wrong), timing a breaststroke kick (kind of right), and how to hold a kickboard (who cares?). Apparently though, I did not perform miracles and make little Buffy (thanks, Sara for the name) able to do a perfect start, backstroke flip turn, or butterfly kick. I can teach them the correct way until I am blue in the face and have them drill it at practice until THEY are blue in the face, but that doesn’t mean they will do it right or at all in a meet. Hell, half of my group can barely make it through a practice without drowning…what the heck do they expect? Even Olympic swimmers got DQ’d when they were kids.
The biggest obstacle as a coach, besides kids that don't care or don't listen, is parents with no perspective. A close second would be parents with just enough knowledge to be dangerous but not enough to realize they don't have enough knowledge. Just smile, remind them we work on it ever day at practice and sooner or later it will click at the meet, and end with a compliment about little Buffy/Biff. :-)
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