This weekend, I saw what an amazing racer my 11 year old daughter, Cadence can be!
It started with the 800 free on the 1st day of the Regional swimming championships. I was nervous waiting for her heat. I just wanted her to start the meet off with a swim she would be happy with. Some of swimming's lessons are hard. Her friend Sarah had recently been working very hard to try and break a club record, but fell short. Cadence, herself, at the last meet won a few events but was disappointed because they weren't personal bests. The clock doesn't lie, it tells if you've made a PB, won the event, made a qualifying time. But it doesn't tell you if you've done you're best on that day, with how you're feeling or how well rested you are. And it doesn't tell you to get back up and try again if you don't get the time you want; a swimmer needs to find this in themselves, and learn some hard LIFE lessons along the way.
So competing can be hard for a swimmer and for a parent of a swimmer. It's hard to watch your child be disappointed and hard on themselves, but to excel, you do have to be somewhat hard on yourself; being disappointed means you care about how you perform, it is what makes you strive to perform your best!
And when your child performs well, it can be so joyous to watch...
Cadence raced the 800 free, she took 29 seconds off her time. Her split at the 400 was also a PB. She got her provincial time. She won the event. And she came from over a body length behind in the last 25 to win the heat. I know some pretty good athletes and have seen some good races. This was one of them. Reminding me of my good friend Colleen, a real competitor, who I have also seen focus on the person ahead and 'hunt' them down. It was amazing, Cadence was already going way faster then she ever had for an 800, and yet she had the energy and drive to dig even deeper to catch the other girl and get the win.
Cadence was ecstatic with her swim, doing a fist pump and turning to me with a huge smile. She got out of the pool ran to her team mates and her coach for high 5's.
Well Cadence's reaction was well worth the tears from other disappointments along the way. As a parent, I try to be a shoulder to cry on and a listener. I also try and help her find a positive side, in order for her to pick herself up and race again... but it can be dramatic at times! I tell myself, and believe that these lessons will help my daughter in the long run, in life in general.
But sharing in the glory/the high more than makes up for the lows!! And she set herself up for an excellent meet:
800 Free 1st 10:57.1 PB (Provincial time)
200 Free 3rd 2:30.28 PB (Provincial time)
50 Free 2nd 31.90 PB
200 IM 5th 3:02.59 PB
100 Free 2nd 1:09.37 PB
100 Back 14th 1:26.50
400 Free 2nd 5:18.86 PB (Provincial time)
50 Free - lead off leg on relay 31.62 PB (Provincial time)
Also checking the power rankings, these swims rank her in her age group in the top 50 in Canada in 100, 200, 400 & 800 Free; and top 30 in Ontario in 50, 100, 200, 400 & 800 Free. WOW!
Congrats my girl on a great meet!!
Love you always, no matter how fast, win or lose.
