Healthy Young Athletes

My kids were keen swimming trainers over last summer and all moved up into squads of varying difficulty. But it's clear to everyone in our family, that though they have lovely technique, they don't really have the speed to do really well at swimming.

I love the kids playing team sports through winter because I think it teaches them so much about the world. They learn how to work with others, even when they don't really like them. They learn to take direction from others and to sacrifice their own goals for the good of the team. The learn to win and lose gracefully too. But overall, I think getting kids into sport gives them physical activity habits that will set them up well for adulthood.

Other friends have had their children swimming through the winter, and the coach has often asked through them when we are coming back. We returned to swimming just a few weeks ago, but then the colds and flu moved in, so we held off while everyone got well. It's now been six weeks and the kids are still coughing and sneezing, so I think we still have another couple of weeks rest ahead of us. But still the coach asks.

I have to say it's really starting to annoy me. I'm feeling pressured to get our kids back to swimming. But lets face it, they're aged 7, 9, and 11. They could still be Olympic swimmers and not have been in the water yet. So today I'm just reminding myself that I'm the parent and she's the coach. As a parent, I know my kids need to be well to enjoy life to the full, so the best place for them at the moment isn't the pool, but at home.

There's plenty of time to swim next month and the month after. Now I just have to pluck up the courage to be strong in front of the coach. That might be a little harder...

State of Origin 3

Yesterday on my way to work I saw this intriguing scene at a house opposite Suncorp Stadium where the 3rd State Of Origin match was played.

The people who live in this house obviously didn't have tickets to the game, but spent the night enjoying a few drinks and soaking up the atmosphere of the game, from outside the stadium, not in it. They might not even have been watching the game on the TV, just following it by the rise and fall of the crowd's mood.

It got me thinking about how we can often forget to enjoy what we do have and make the most of the things around us, and just keep wanting what other people seem to get so effortlessly. If only we could all be content to enjoy the roar of the crowd and a few beers with friends, rather than chasing the action in the middle all the time.

It reminded me how important contentment is to a good life.

Swimming Squads

My kids returned to swimming training this morning.

It took some effort, being the first day of the school term. I'd packed the towels, goggles and caps the night before and put the drinks in the fridge ready to go too. But the morning required that effort to get up, get the swimmers on and leap in the car as the sun was peaking over the hills.

Ordinarily, my oldest child would be swimming in the darkness, but I thought he should ease back into the pool, particularly as he's throwing off the end of a cold, so we arrived at the pool at 6.45am reading for 7am plunge.

After about 4 laps the kids looked tired. It had nothing to do with the pool - it was a balmy 29 degrees, but the kids had got out of condition over the last 3 months while they've been concentrating on hockey and soccer. By the end of the hour they needed all the encouragement they could get to pull on their school uniforms, down a quick breakfast and head off to school for the day.

A part of me doesn't really like pushing the kids to do swimming as there's such an big expectation on them once they get to squad level, but my eldest boy wants to be age champion this year. He's got a good shot at it, but he's going to have to work for it too. He'll be needing to put in 3 or 4 90-minute sessions a week if he wants to do it. That's a pretty big commitment. Then there's the other 2 kids, who gain a lot of fitness from swimming. It's a good sport for Australian kids, because we have such long summers, so we're keen for our kids to be confident swimmers. But how much is too much?

Only time will tell, but I find that as a Mum I walk a fine line between letting the kids do everything, keeping the kids active enough, balancing the family budget and helping them realise their dreams. Share that around 3 kids and it can be pretty exhausting.

After the kids got to school today, I needed to sit down with a cup of tea and have a rest - it had been a bit of a shock to my system too, and I didn't even get wet! Lets see what Thursday brings, when we next head back to the pool.

The Road Less Travelled

I remember studying a poem by Robert Frost in high school which talked about the two roads in life that we often have to choose between, and how infrequently people choose the less travelled road.

My children attend a small school but every Friday, the children in the upper grades participate in interschool sport against other schools in the area. Most of these schools hire buses to transport the children to various other schools and sporting fields to be able to participate. Our school is unable to do this because there are so few children and each team generally plays in a different location. So we rely on a band of willing parents to transport a carload of children to the games each week.

There are many parents who work and aren't able to help with sport transport, and there are still others who choose not to. But I actually think this is the best time of the week, and this is why:

• I get to enjoy a car trip with 6 pre-adolescent boys who invariable spend the trip talking about cars, producing body odours and singing along to my cd's. This week I could only laugh as all the boys sang along to the High School Musical soundtrack and made requests for the next song.
• I get to spend time with my son in the company of his classmates. As they talk, my replies wash over them as adult wisdom, but it's only through spending time with them that they respect and accept my opinions.
• I get to engage in The Amazing Race, where the boys eagerly try to ensure that we are the first car at the sporting ground and back at school. I'm still yet to work out why they want to get back to school first, but every week, we try to take shortcuts to ensure that we're back before the other cars.
• I get to connect with other parents who value this opportunity to engage with their child and others within the sporting teams.
• I get to connect with the teachers who have my children every day. They value the input and support of parents, that only increases their willingness to keep putting the long hours into the job that they do.

There are many things that I could be busy with on a Friday afternoon, but I'm glad I've chosen the road less travelled and taken the time to drive the kids to sport. The pay offs for myself and my son are wonderful.