So 6:45am Saturday morning, I'm sitting outside my apt complex waiting for Marty, Brooke's mom, to come pick me up. I got bored so I started playing around with my camera.
Seah! Does the bag look familiar? haha. I carry it everywhere I go! =]
Yes, I was THAT bored.
Marty didn't come til 7:35.
Then we went over to Tim Horton's to meet up with Carolyn and her mom, Val. She had a larger car so Marty left her car at Tim Horton's for the entire day and we all piled into Val's car and drove off into the morning sun towards Lancaster. I was so tired cos I didn't sleep well the night before and I was trained to sleep whenever I'm the car but with Marty around, there is never time to sleep.
3and1/2 hours later, we arrived at Lancaster with 45mins before the pool opens at the Y. So we went over to Arthur Treacher's for fish and chips. They were pretty tasty and their fries, oh so chunky.
So we get to the pool, and everything starts to get crazy. I had to get the girls organised and attend coachs' meeting and get the moms' ready to do the girls' hair and makeup and stuff. It was crazy.
That's Jenny and her mom, the club's president
Crazy 1:
One of the girls, Paulina, that had a duet and team event fell sick and so didn't turn up for the meet. Thing was, nobody thought to tell me until 2 minutes before first event of the day, the solos. Her partner, Gabby, wanted to do a solo instead and her mom was not going to be happy until she swam. So I had to run to the meet managers, find out if she could swim as a solo when I should be getting Carolyn ready for her solo. After begging and pleading and annoying a couple of people, they finally agreed that Gabby could swim as a solo.
Crazy 2:
I was waiting with my trio by the competitor's area waiting for our turn to start when we hear the announcer announce "Up next we have the Trios, ten and under intermediate trios, team 1". I was like what?? Intermediate?? My girls are swimming Age Group! Not intermediate! Pat, the club's vp and the one in charged of registrations was also shocked. After the girls were done swimming, I ran out to check the start list and sure enough, our girls were registered under the Intermediate category. I nearly fainted right there and then. Omgoodness. The moms were not happy. The girls were not happy. I was not happy.
After the trio event, Pat went to check the registration list. Thank God thank God, it was not Pat's fault, she did sign us up for the Age Group. It was the meet managers mistake. But we couldn't do anything about it now. It wouldn't be fair to the other girls to move our girls up to the Age Group after they've swam. All we could do was just notify the meet managers and let her know of her mistake.
I don't like the Lancaster's head coach by the way. She pushed me around and practically took over my practice area in the Cincinnati meet and this time, she totally dismissed me as GCS's coach altogether. During the coachs' meeting, she wanted Pat present instead of me. It was a coachs' meeting and I was the only coach from GSC. Why couldn't, no, why shouldn't I be present?
Crazy 3:
The parents were talking about plans for next year, like who was coaching which group and all (I would be coaching the 11-12s, which is a huge deal if only..) so I took the opportunity to break the news to the parents that I won't be coming back next year to coach. They were not happy. The moms whose daughters I would be coaching next year were very disappointed and the two of the moms whose daughters I was coaching now were truly angry. If there's anything I'll miss at all here, it would be coaching these girls. Even though I don't agree with a lot of the things these people do, I really do think the girls have a lot of potential to be good. And I know I can do so much better with the girls than they're doing now.
Some of the moms told me not to coach for the enemy, the Columbus Carolinas, when I get to Columbus (Marty was saying how GSC's loss is the Carolinas' gain). But the president of the club was really nice. She said she would give me their contact number and all. I would love to coach for the Columbus Carolinas. I love their routines. And their girls are real dedicated athletes, unlike GSC. But they have so many junior coaches (one for each solo!) that I don't know if I'll enjoy working there. We'll see when we get to Columbus.
Anyway, here are some photos from the meet.
The 11-12 team minus Paulina
My Seamonkies!
Gabby and Carolyn
Pauline and me
Chloe and me
The gang
With their medals
In the end, Carolyn came in 4th for her solo. She's very disappointed. Technically, she's as good as the gold medalist. But unfortunately, no one can truly see her real potential so her routine's not as fabulous as it should be. Gabby came in fifth. Well, she wasn't suppose to swim a solo in the first place. The team came in first, they were the only ones in their category. My seamonkies came in first in the Intermediate category. But I've seen the scores. They would have come in first even if they swam in the Age Group.
After the meet, everyone drove home. But Marty and Val wanted to stop over somewhere for dinner. We ended up at Rooster's. It was a bar and restaurant kind of place. Food was not too bad.
By the time I got home, it was 9:30pm. I was so tired, I just plonked onto bed and fell asleep. Didn't wake up til 9am today to the sound of DaShu buzzing our buzzer. And even after DaShu left, I was so tired I just went right back to sleep for an additional couple of hours. hee.
I have a video I want to upload to show you guys, but I can't seem to get it to upload. Oh wells.
These girls are doing what their bodies were not made to do.
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