Swim meets are supposed to be fun. It is suppose to be the time that you show off how hard you have been working in practice by doing best times. But sometimes one needs a little bit more of a challenge at a swim meet. A bigger goal other than personal best times. So for this meet I challenged everyone in our 1st Annual Battle of the Ages. It was the 12 & unders versus the 13 & overs.
Each group was given criteria for earning points. The easiest way to earn a lot of points was to drop time as an individual for your group score. After that it was about working together as a collective group. You had to show up for warm-up on time together, warm-down after every race, show team spirit, and keep the team area clean. Each group was scored on a scale of 1 to 5. The objective was to swim best times for yourself and drop as much time as possible for your group and to hold each other accountable for their actions as teammates.
Both groups earned all the points for the team spirit, warm-up and warm-down procedures, and for keeping the team area clean. This was awesome! Everyone took charge and was their for each other. I loved how everyone was making sure that their teammates were on top of the warm downs and that everyone showed up on time for the meet ready to swim. The team spirit was really cool for being such an early meet in the season. Everyone was cheering for each other and when given the chance to race one another, they really went after it. It was awesome to see how much fun everyone had with this challenge. The score up until now was tied 20 to 20. Time to swim!
On Saturday the youngers started the day off with some great swims. Colleen earned 5 points, Chris earned 13 points, Grant earned 18 points, Salem earned 7 points, Katie earned 11 points, Kat earned 21 points, Anna earned 6 points, Ashley broke even with her swims, Suranee broke even with her swims, Trent earned 10 points, and Richard broke even with his swims. The 12 & unders dropped a combined total of 91 seconds in their swims of the 100 back, fly and breast. The olders showed up in the afternoon ready to do the same. Kelley earned 17 points, Delaney earned 12 points, Hannah earned 23 points, Ruth broke even with her swims, Amber was a plus 8 points, Diane earned 4 points, Dani earned 17 points, Jobin earned 6 points, and Brie earned 7 points for the group. The 13 & overs dropped a combined total of 78 seconds in their swims of the 200 back, fly and 400 IM.
On Sunday the youngers had a slight lead, but could not let up. Colleen earned another 10 points, Chris earned 18 points, Grant earned 18 points, Salem earned 38 points, Katie earned 13 points, Kat earned 35 points, Anna earned 1 point, Ashley earned 14 points, Suranee earned 9 points, Trent earned 18 points, and Richard broke even. The 12 & unders dropped a combined total of 174 seconds for their swims in the 200 IM, 200 free and 500 free for the 11/12 year olds. The 13 & overs had some ground to make up, but they weren’t going to let it get to them. Kelley earned 7 points, Delaney earned 29 points, Hannah earned 25 points, Ruth had a plus 5 points, Amber broke even, Diane had a plus 3 points, Dani earned 39 points, Jobin earned 3 points, and Dee earned 34 points for the group. The 13 & overs dropped a combined total of 127 seconds for their swims in the 200 breast, 200 IM and the 500 free.
What a swim meet! I couldn’t of asked for better results. The 12 & unders dropped a total of 265 seconds and the 13 & overs dropped a total of 206 seconds. Everyone swam great and was so supportive of their teammates the entire weekend. In the end it was the 12 & unders who outscored the 13 & overs in the 1st Annual Battle of the Ages. The final score was 285 to 226. The competition was great and the kids were awesome. At the end of the day we had a lot of Junior Olympic, Far Western and Zone times achieved. We had Kat and Dani tie for seconds dropped with 56 total. But more importantly, everyone was there for his or her teammates throughout the entire meet showing support for the entire team regardless of what group they were in. After all, we are all one team with one dream and each of you play a vital role in the success of the San Diego Aquatic Club.
Coach Tim