However, SWAMI will appear in array of meets between HAST and the JO State meet, namely, two "Last Chance" meets at South Davis and Park City, so our kids can get some more racing in (never a bad thing!). In mid July, we travel to Portland, OR for the Western Sectional meet for a couple of SWAMIs. That will be their final tune up for Junior Nationals at Stanford (we hope the second one can qualify), which takes place during the second week of August.
I must say... the summer season goes by quick! ...It feels like we barely got started. Whereas the high school season seems to drone on for months (which it does), the summer training bolts by like a strike of lightening. Since we returned from the Keys and Santa Clara it's been pedal to the metal. Thankfully, with lots and lots of preparation prior to each new week we face, we can stay on top of things as we move through an abbreviated season. I mistakenly use to think that the high school season was the season of quick and necessary adjustments while the club season was one of seemingly endless cycles. How wrong I was...
Still, it's been so much fun learning right there with the kids; of course from a different line of sight. For them, it's mastering the strokes, picking up on new vernacular, growing with the changes we make to their way of swimming. For the staff, it's just learning everything from meet entry protocol, "give and take" with the varying moods of your athletes, and just being a sponge on the pool deck and embracing the highs—and lows (from which you learn more from).
I do love—and hate—the ebb and flow of this experience—the obstacles and (brief) victories continue to pour themselves over this new club. On the one hand we might receive our blessing from the IRS as it relates to becoming an official non-profit entity; on the other, we might suddenly discover that we weren't accepted into a local meet— and, oh yeah!, we're out of money.
Having been through a number of business-related start-ups myself during my lifetime, I have come to find they are certainly a journey—and a very rocky one at that. But none of those experiences compare to this start-up of a totally different nature. Not only am I and my cohorts dealing with the pains of what a normal start-up would conjure up during the infancy/growth stages, but I'm also having dealing with some very tenacious teenagers... I call that the "x factor times 50"! I must say, cagey venture capitalists have absolutely nothing on a moody 15 year old.
So there are certainly my share of days when I ask myself, "how the heck did I agree to this?" when I'm feeling like everything is a lost cause... including my ever-growing debt that seems to expand on a weekly basis. But then I see the smiles on our kids' faces, adorned with the proud symbol of the fleur de lis on their forest green swim caps... and that symbol reminds me of the perseverance my daughter seems to conquer every day with a mito disease. And then that reminds me of our bottom line mission: to serve an underserved community that is full of flavor and vibrance and excellence.
We thrive to stand up and be a club with vision—not one of countless Olympians and excessive swimming accolades (although that would certainly be a nice by-product) but of a foundation that goes beyond swimming... one that teaches our youth about love, compassion, honor, accountability, mentorship, giving, being proud of oneself and the team... This is who we are—and aspire to always be.
Swimming is just the tool for which we bring these fine (and yes, sometimes moody) kids together... However, we want our SWAMIs to represent more than this one tool; for we want them to aspire to have a tool shed worthy of sharing with the world, a world that could certainly use a shed of worthiness in order to promote a better world... regardless of where we might have come from. Personally, we are proud to represent Rose Park and the "west side" of Salt Lake City. And we can't wait to make a much larger impact in this neighborhood.
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