Swim Team picture day

Picture day is probably the most difficult day a swim team faces.  You are presented with a number of challenges:

1. Getting every kid on the team to practice on the same day
2. Placing slippery kids in correct height order
3. Placing them in rows according to height
4. Getting all 50+ of them to smile and/or not make a goofy face

I think we came close.  I just counted 45 swimmers so there were definitely some missing.  Every single swimmers' eyes are open and no goofy faces...probably the closest is a few overly exuberant smiles.  One swimmer jumped his height-dictated place in line but I remember about 15 parents working on getting him to sit up straighter to match the row.  So, overall, a success.

Swimming: individual or team sport?

I've noticed something weird at the 50 or so swim meets I've been to...team cheering increases exponentially the closer the team canopy is to the pool.  I could probably graph it with the highest cheering ratio being at meets like this past weekend, where Montclair's canopy was sitting at the 50 yard line over by lane 8.  If kids just have to stand up to cheer, they will gladly put down their cup o' noodles and do it every single race.

But there is one meet where the canopy could be in Timbuktu and they'd still cheer like crazy.  The relays.  Montclair used to host the relay meet but switched to the Pentathlon two years ago.  Now, our only obligation at the meet is to swim fast and cheer.  There might not be a louder meet.  Swimmers line the side of the pool, hang out at the turning end, and the three non-swimming relayers get in the timers way over on the blocks.  It makes you realize that in the hundreds of individual swims these kids do, they still become a team.

The Montclair Swim Team might have the grossest relay tradition of all time.  The four swimmers traditionally each bite a corner of the relay card before turning it in to the timers.  This started at least as early as the late
80s based on the Facebook alumni group.  And it continues to this day.  If chewing on the corner of a relay card doesn't build camaraderie and teamsmanship, I don't know what will.

The swimsuit as a fashion statement

Many credit the jammer with bringing boys back into competitive swimming.  I credit crazy jammers for bringing boys back to fast swimming .  Before jammers, boys had the option of the speedo or the speedo.  Both of which are undoubtedly well suited to swimming in the water but not the most comfortable for roaming around a swim deck.  Especially in those awkward pre and early teen years (full disclosure: my awkward period lasted from about 10 until I luckily met my future wife 18 years later).

Once jammers made the scene, the number of boy swimmers started climbing back up.  But something was still missing, that quirky goofy I'm-different attitude that young boys need and black jammers with a colored stripe just don't convey.

Then came Splish and Dolfin and boys could be boys.  Prints that are technicolor conflagrations of pure energy were being put into nylon/spandex blends.  Parents were blinded, stroke/turn officials were confused, and boys were in their element.  Times dropped, Michael Phelps happened and Montclair's own started getting bolder and bolder.

Jolen swam a JO time in the 50 back last summer and just got a new one in the 50 free.  We could credit his hard work, great coaching and natural skill.  Or we could face facts and realize that the jammers that looked like they were cut from the Barnum & Bailey Big Top caused the time drop.  Either way, he got the time and we can look forward to more blinding displays of speed and fashion as he swims his way to more.

Check out Montclair's new affiliate link with SwimOutlet, buy some technicolor jammers and support your team with an 8% rebate to Montclair Swim Team.