Yup. And her coach-to-be was at the meet and I introduced them

Summer swim and dive season is here! Hector took first in the dive last night against a strong team, and Hebe and Thor both took third. Then today, at the swim meet, Hebe and Hector took first in all of their events and Thor got a first in his relay and 4th in the 50 free -and he's one of the youngest in the age group! Partciluarly stunning were Hector's victories -his diving has always been somewhat erratic, and two of his first places were in his individuals -one of which was the backstroke -easily all my kids' worst stroke. After 6 months off. Unbelievably Awesome. Very proud and especially happy because our team won against a team which has a few parents who sneer openly at our tiny neighborhood pool :D

Minifob earned his white belt! :)

:)

wonderful!

Aww...how cute! Hmm...just curious. What's the order of the belt color? Is this Taekwondo?

Yes, it's Tae Kwon Do. The order is

No Belt
White
Gold
Orange
Green
Purple
Blue
Red
2nd Brown
1st Brown
Black

They also do "stripes" on the end of each belt (made of colored electrical tape) to designate partial completion of certain belt requirements, and to give the younger kids a more ongoing sense of accomplishment. To earn the white belt you have to be able to recite the student creed and class closing routine from memory, and demonstrate proper form on a few basic kicks and punches.

My girl has decided she IS a swimmer. It's summer vacation. She gets up at 5:30 and does a 2-hour long-course practice for high school swimmers... then she goes to our summer pool and does a 75 minute practice with her summer team... then she coaches for two hours as an assistant to her stroke coach. And she's happy the whole time. And excited, and yabbers about how awesome the drills were en route between the two pools. And goes back to the pool later in the day for recreation splashing. And then for Dive practice.

But more than that.... She had her first big win 6 months ago and hasn't looked back. That was great. And she's been winning events at our dual meets -which is cool -she just aged up so some girls could be 18 months older..... But as I was looking over the times today, I saw that she was the fastest in the pool every meet, every stroke she swam. She's 13.5 and she's beating 17yo boys in the fly and the free (breastroke is her stroke, so we kinda expect that there....). that's pretty fuckin awesome. She didn't swim the backstroke race. (She's crap at that, comparitively ;) )

So, do we get reduced citizenship fees for potential Olympians :)

That's awesome, monster! If she makes it to the Olympics, I will actually watch them for once.

Thanks. And I'm impressed with minifob's first belt! (I posted then read back...) ...but how does he hold his uniform closed, pre-belt?

The uniforms have two pairs of little ties for the inside and outside flap. The belt doesn't hold together very well anyway, the kids are always having to tighten or completely re-tie the belts during practice.

Great!

I remember when my son earned his orange belt. I got those professional photos with the rapiers. I remember the pride. I'm happy for you both.

Championships for Hebe. 4th in the 200IM, 5th in the 50 Breast and 7th in the 50 fly. And her medley relay team was 3rd. Not too shabby for her first year in the 13-14age group :D

My son holding his son. Both are first children.

Congrats Chris and son and son of son!