MST Banquet 2009 (in 2010)

The Montclair Swim Team celebrated 2009 this past weekend.  Swimmers and their families sat down to enjoy reminiscences of the past year, eat  a delicious meal, revel in a delightful slideshow and then get down to the serious business.

The serious business was, of course, Coach Bill Aden giving highly personal, emotional and instructive reviews of each swimmer as they stood at the front of the stage with hundreds of eyes on them.  As frightening as that sounds, the swimmers enjoy it due solely to the incredible amount of sincerity that Bill's words bring.  For some swimmers he praises their flutter kick or suggests that more kicking will be helpful.  Others might get a reprimand for spending time underwater when important instructions are being discussed at practice.  Some start with the simple comment that this swimmer makes him laugh.  Some of the examples are funny, some heartfelt, all of them speak to the great bond that Bill has with the swimmers as both a coach and a friend.

The swimmers get their turn also as those aging off get to take the stage.  Dominick recalled the only time in 6 years that he heard Bill swear, recalling how he deserved the exasperated "dammit Dominick" before Bill went underwater to keep from saying more.  Samantha talked about the time as a 9 year old that she had fallen into the water and Bill asked how she was before he would let himself laugh at the absurdity of it.  Hannah wrote a poem with all of the funny terms that Bill uses to instruct while Emma and Lindsay did the same thing with a song and dance that they had recorded and choreographed that day.

One of the highlights of the evening was Bill speaking about the history of the club, revealing to the swimmers the long history as MST celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2010.  Keep in mind that these swimmers are between 7 and 12 years old, they really don't care about what happened 50 minutes ago, let alone 50 years.  But Bill had an ace up his sleeve...special golden caps for the team to wear this year:

This got the kids' attention.  New caps!  He didn't even spill the beans that they're going to have the option to wear silicone this year.  2009 was an excellent year with great swims, great friendships and a great banquet.  But 2010 is starting better....MST has new caps!