Swim Class

Astrid starts her new swim class tomorrow night. After the swim team season ended, I wanted to find a way for her to keep swimming. In previous years, she took classes at the Y on Huntington, but since it’s been bought by Northeastern and closed for renovations, I had to look elsewhere. In a list of summer camps, I noticed Charles River Aquatics and looked at their website. They hold classes at the BU pool, which would be close (pro). But it’s expensive, roughly twice as much as the Y (con). They seem really serious about teaching kids to swim properly (big pro). The swim team is just a lot of drills, not much teaching at all. And the Y was hit or miss; she had some good teachers and some not so good. At Charles River Aquatics, you have to go for an evaluation first. On the way to the evaluation, she kept asking me what level she’d be in. I had looked at all the descriptions on the website and figured she’d be in level 4 or 5, but I kept telling her that that’s what we’re going to find out. At the pool, the head coach told us that parents aren’t normally allowed on deck, but we could stay and watch. He was very intense. He looks a bit like Guy Pearce. The whole thing took 5 minutes, then he brought her back over to us and said his recommendation was that she be in level 2. He told us very specific things that she does that are wrong. He said he knew that she’s been swimming for awhile, but she needs to get the basics right. It pissed me off that we’d been wasting our time and money on other programs that weren’t even teaching her properly, but I was happy that we found something that would help her. I turned to her and asked something like, “What do you think?” and she smiled and said, “Great!” but I could tell she was upset. We went in the locker room and she changed, but she didn’t say anything until we were walking to the car, then it all came out, “You said I’d be in level 4. I know how to swim! I don’t want to be in a baby class.” I said, “No, I didn’t know what level you’d be in. I said we were going to find out.” “Liar!” I was rather shocked, but I said calmly, “I am not lying. That’s why we came, to find out.” She was crying and we all got into the car. Eliot was telling her how this class is going to help her, so when she goes back to the swim team, she’ll be better. I told her it’s not about what level you’re at; it’s about learning, about getting better at something you love doing. She was still upset; it didn’t seem to be sinking in. Then I remembered something. There’s a boy who’s probably the best swimmer on her team, and at one of the meets, his mom said how when he went to middle school and started swimming at his new school, he told her, “every day I learn something from my coach.” That seemed to turn it around for her and by the time we got home, she started thinking that this could be a good thing. So, cross your fingers that it all goes well tomorrow night.