Our first swim season was a success! Ellie and Ryan had fun and both improved so much.
Ellie started with both swim and dive team for the first couple of weeks to see which one she liked best. Swim turned out to be her favorite.
The first event of the season was time trials, where each swimmer does all four strokes in order to set their entry times for the season. It was a frigid day but the Hallbrook pool was nice and heated.
Ellie enjoyed the team tradition of donuts after practice on Mondays.
The first meet of the season was at Indian Hills. Ellie swam backstroke in an individual race and a medley relay.
The 10 & under group had an ice cream party with the coaches.
Pre-compet started in June and Ryan was a little overwhelmed by it at first, but he stuck with it.
These three liked to help out with pre-compet after their practice.
They had a meet against the Country Club of Leawood, where a lot of their classmates swim. Ellie was nervous to compete against her friends but it turned out to be her favorite meet.
Ryan swam in his pre-compet "meet" and earned his medal. He worked hard overcoming his fear of jumping off the blocks, and he was so proud of himself.
Ellie's team had their team photo and pep rally for Champs.
The last practice of the season was in the cold rain but she stayed in the pool!
The night before Champs, her coaches surprised her with a poster on our front door.
Emma and Ryan were excited to watch the livestream of the meet on tv.
Ellie got to see a lot of her friends and she swam really well.
She had fun shopping at the booths in between races.
My favorite part of the whole season was when she finished her last race and climbed out of the pool to big hugs from her coaches. Those college girls were amazing and made swim such a positive experience for all of the kids.
The final event of the season was the Team Banquet, where they had a award ceremony and dinner followed by a dance party. Ellie said she already can't wait for next year's banquet.
Ellie is going to miss her favorite coach, who is also an Ellie.
