Ketchup & Greenie Beanies: Summer Swim Team: Dunsinane Dolphins 2012 Champions!

So most of you know that this year we made the move from Sycamore Creek to Dunsinane. Max was pretty worried about having a new "home" pool for summer swim team. He had been at Sycamore for three years and made several friends (mostly girls... hmmpf) and wasn't sure about starting over somewhere else.

Turns out it was the best decision we made all summer! Max aged up to the 7-8 boys team for the Dunsinane Dolphins and immediately fit right in. He made many great friends (mostly boys! yay!) and quickly became known as one of Dunsinane's strongest swimmers in his age group. In fact, he is officially the fastest 7-8 year old butterfly guy on the team! That is now his favorite stroke, of course. :)

Summer swim season is only 6 short weeks. We had 6 dual meets and then the SSA (Suburban Swim Association) Championships to end the season. Dunsinane went 6-0 this year AND won championships by nearly 1000 points! Max and his buddies played a key role in this as well. And I'm sure all the screaming and hollering I did from the end of the lane totally helped, too. Right?

I am so sad it's actually over. I really enjoyed our routine of heading to swim around 8:30 and then staying after to play tetherball for a bit... and on the way home hitting Speedway for a drink. There is no rest for the weary though, short course (winter swim) starts in just one month. Max is making a move here as well, heading over to join the Washington Twp Sharks this year. His coach at Dunsinane is also the coach there and Max really enjoyed learning from him, so off we go...

Here are many photos from our great season, including from the banquet tonight. During championships the top three places per event overall get a trophy, places 4-8 get a medal and places 9-16 get a ribbon. Everyone else goes home empty. :( There are hundreds who swim and it's a pretty crazy meet. Max's Medley Relay A Team brought home a 3rd place trophy, his Free Relay A team also brought home 3rd... Max also won a 5th place medal for his backstroke (knocking 2 seconds off his previous best time and coming in 6 places higher than he was seeded) and he worked so hard and swam the individual fly so fast that he came in 3rd and got a trophy for that event as well. That was his favorite!

Thanks to my parents and to our friends the Weinbergs who braved the horrific parking and came out and stayed late to watch Max and cheer him on! Now we are REALLY ready for the Olympics. If only those "Thank You, Mom" P&G advertisements didn't make me cry so much...