[Breeze]

I have been on these boards for a while, and I have done quite a few dynasties...including, Golf, Track & Field, and Baseball. However, I've never done a real life dynasty. I've thought about it a couple of times, because I've enjoyed reading some other real life accounts, but I've always held back, probably because I'm pretty private and I didn't want to bore anyone with the accounts of my athletic endevors. Now though, I've decided to go ahead a do one, but thankfully you won't have to read about my sorry performances...rather, if you are interested you can allow the efforts of my kids to bore you...

A little background is probably in order.

Let's start with the subjects of the dynasty

I have 3 kids, an 11 year old boy, and 9 year old boy/girl twins. All 3 are year round swimmers at Swim Atlanta, and all 3 are pretty good (in different ways too, which makes things interesting at times). When I say pretty good, I mean just that...none are world class, but they are good swimmers that post good times. They have their goals that they really work hard to achieve, and there is quite a bit of emotion between the 3 of them and their interactions with their friends. I will attempt to capture some of that as I go along so you'll know what is happening. I'll get more in depth about my kids and where they stand and what they've done in the past and what their goals are.

Year round swimming

The swimming season for my kids can be divided into 3 distinct seasons...

1. Short Course which starts in August and runs through March
2. Long Course which starts around April and runs through July
3. Summer/Rec league which starts in May and runs through July

Swim Atlanta

My kids are on the 3rd level of development for SA (Swim Atlanta)...they practice 4 days a week MWF & Sat for a total of 4.25 hours a week. At practice they usually swim about 3400 yards. While those of you unfamiliar with year round swimming might think this seems like a lot (and it is a lot), it is significantly shorter than most of the other year round facilities have their young athletes swim. It is not uncommon for some other groups to have their kids swim 5000+ yards. I say this so you will understand the philosophy of SA...they believe at the younger ages it is important for the kids to know the technique and to enjoy the sport. Swimming has a very high burn out rate, because practices are long, hard, and solitary (hard to talk while your face is in the water)...and forcing pre-teens to swim that many laps leads to more kids quitting. Moreover SA believes that until kids are fully grown, there is no need to have the extra effort, because what they don't put in now, will be a non-factor by the time they get full grown. In addition, they feel that pushing kids to swim that many laps leads to some poor technique due to fatigue.

I'll fill in more on the kids soon...

Please let me know if you have any questions or if you need more explanation on anything. Because I deal with this on a daily bases, and most of my friends I communicate with are parents of year rounders, it is possible I'll assume you know information that I have failed to explain or even post...