High School Swim Team

Final grades were posted a couple of days ago. My 4.0 run has finally come to an end; I got a B in Intermediate Accounting.

The eldest joined his high school swim team in November. He’s out of shape and they’d all been practicing since October, so for the first few weeks he was the slowest swimmer there. Now he’s getting in shape, and I think the main thing slowing him down at the meets is his dive—he hits the water more or less straight down, so he has to get started from a full stop instead of having that momentum going in. Have to mention to the coach that they need to help him work on that dive.

I don’t think the coaches realize that he’s serious about this thing. He’s a naturally reserved person to begin with, and the autism combines with that to make him a bit inscrutable for many people. I tend to forget this; last week I was surprised when another parent asked “Is he excited to be here (at the swim meet)? It’s so hard to tell with him.” He is excited, it’s a big deal for him. He’s quite aware that there’s a difference between the Special Olympics swim team he’s been on for the last two years, and the high school swim team. He knows the high school swimmers are far more serious about what they’re doing, and that he’s now in an entirely new level of competition. The team runs laps on the track on days when they’re not swimming; the coach said my son doesn’t have to run laps if he doesn’t want to—but he wants to, because the team is doing it. There will be practice over Christmas break, which is not mandatory, but my son plans to be there. I think if the coaches offered extra practice sessions, he’d be at those, too.

Last week at the swim meet we were running long, and it looked like one of my kid’s races would have to be cut out. The coach came over to let me know, adding “You don’t think he’ll mind, do you?” Because the kid is less expressive than most, it’s easy to mistake his attitude for indifference.

“You might want to talk to him,” I replied. “He really wants to swim.” The coach went over to discuss it with the kid, and wound up shoehorning him into another race.

Another kid might be exclaiming, “Put me in, coach! I’m ready!” Mine is too introverted to say it, but that’s what he’s thinking.