Field Day and Swim Teams

On Thursday we met with our co-op for the last time to have a field day. It's been a few years since we've done a field day, and I was so happy the kids got to participate. I always loved field day when I was growing up—I loved getting the whole school out there, having older students and younger students working together. It was competitive, but more fun than truly competitive...I don't know. For someone who doesn't really enjoy "sports," per se, I have some awfully good memories of field day. 

When Rachel and Miriam were in school, they always had to move around field day stations with their class...which I found less fun...but still nice...I guess.

Anyway, at our co-op field day the kids were divided into red, blue, yellow, and green teams, and each team had a mix of little and big kids. The teams sure were competitive and winners were announced after each event, but honestly no one had any idea who won overall (because nobody was really keeping track) and everyone cheered loudly for the last competitors to finish (which, honestly, was usually the yellow team—the team I was helping coach). But we all just had a lot of fun. 

I didn't take a lot of pictures because things were busy (we had about 40 kids there, with 10 kids on each team). Here's Zoë (blue team) racing against Alexander (green team) in the sack race:

And here they are coming back:

Each event was a relay-style event, so the whole team had to cycle through.

Here's Benjamin (green team) making some really enthusiastic leaps for his team:

I'm trying to remember all the games we played. 

Benjamin and Zoë (on the left) racing with their cups

We had balloon popping, wet-sponge passing, dress-up relay, golf ball on a spoon, cup-with-a-hole, a few other games I am probably forgetting, and tug of war. That was probably a favourite game for many!

I would post videos, but we're supposed to avoid posting recognizable faces of other kids (which I think I've largely avoided). Alexander and Benjamin's (green) team played against Zoë's (blue) team first, and green one. 

Then yellow and red squared off and to no one's surprise...red won. And then they had a mother's pull, which the kids were super excited about (my team won!). 

And then green team went against red team and won!

Here are a few sweet screen grabs of a video I took post-win (again, cutting out other children who are not mine):

Zoë immediately rushed in to high five her brothers, which was so sweet:

Phoebe mostly just hung out, as toddlers do during field day. Here she is tossing a spare balloon around (we spent quite a lot of time picking up balloon bits):

You might notice that she's wearing leopard-eque print pants. And a Minnie Mouse shirt. Her outfits make no sense sometimes, but that's okay. A keen observer will have also noticed that I also wore leopard print pants to field day. 

I got dressed first and when Phoebe saw what I was wearing she ran to her room to find pants that she declared "matched" mine, which was just the sweetest thing. Technically these pants have a cute matching shirt that goes with them, but Phoebe was determined to wear Minnie Mouse with them...so that's what she wore.

And we matched perfectly.

Here she is giving Zoë some snuggles after the day's events:

And here she is enjoying a freezie:

And now we're just about to jump into swim season! I'm kind of excited for this and am crossing my fingers it's a sport some of my kids will want to pursue. I loved (and still do love) swimming! 

I'm still amazed that the summer swim team only meets for six weeks. And only for four days a week!

Now, when I mentioned that I felt that summer swim team was less intense than I remembered it being as a kid, Darla assured me that the swim season is plenty intense here. And I believe her. But, guys, I looked up my old team's practice schedule (the High River Otters) and I am not kidding you when I say that summer swim team was more intense in my neck of the woods. 

For starters, our swim meets here are on Thursday evenings. For like three hours. And they seem to only ever be two teams meeting at a time.

Swim meets on the teams I was on were over the weekends—Saturday and Sunday—all day, with multiple teams invited to each meet.

That allowed us to practice at the pool Monday through Friday (for 90 minutes a day!!) from May through August. School doesn't even let out until the end of June in most parts of Canada. I used to walk from school to the pool for practice (when I was at the middle school). 

The Marlins website also states that the swim "season runs from May 1st to mid August. Swimmers train between 4–12 hours per week with competitions on the weekend." Our team here has kids swimming only 45 minutes to an hour four days a week. 

I'm not saying that one system is flawed and the other superior, but when we look objectively at the intensity of the summer swim program, I can say with confidence that the programs I see here are less intense. 

Again, this is not necessarily a criticism. It is merely an observation (I also observe that swim team is a lot cheaper here than it is in Canada (at the clubs I've checked)).

I actually appreciate less intense programming and frequently bemoan how bizarrely intense Americans are about their sports. Like, you can't just play soccer because you enjoy it...you have to live and breathe it. But, like, I don't want to live and breathe soccer, you know? We just kind of want to play for funzies...but somehow that seems impossible and sports either take over your life or...you don't do them. 

So I was actually excited to find that swimming is a little more open to the idea that people have a life outside of the pool. So maybe it won't take over our entire life...

That said, I just completed my stroke and turn certification (scored 100%...like a boss) so...I dunno...it's possible swimming will take over our lives for the next little while.