Michael Phelps We’re Not…

I thought Erin needed something extracurricular in her life.  We tried dance and were a flop at it.  I really don’t think gymnastics would keep her attention for very long and she has no interest in soccer or softball. 

I put her in Girl Scouts a while back and 2 of the girls are in competitive swim.  Eureka!  That’s exactly what Erin would love.  I signed her up before talking to her about it and I was super excited.  I sat her down and told her all about it.  She was as pumped as I was.  I told her it was racing while swimming and they would teach her how to do it the right way.  She was all in! 

The night came to go and I had bought her the perfect Speedo racing suit and goggles.  I thought she would be nervous about going in but she waited with the other kids and when they called them to go she just marched off in line without a look back.  I was so proud and congratulated myself all the way to the bleachers to watch. 

She did fantastic for her first time.  They were teaching them the freestyle, backstroke and some other stoke on their back.  They went up and down the lanes about 5 times.  It’s a 40 minute practice and when it was over she told me how much she loved it.

Fast forward 3 weeks.  Instead of the girl coach she had been getting she got the boy.  Keep in mind these are all high school kids who coach them and most of them are on the high school teams.  She got the boy and was totally intimidated.  She freaked out on me on the car ride home.  She said she didn’t like having the boy. 

The next practice she told me her stomach hurt too bad to go.  They’re required to go 2 times a week but they have 4 practices.  I thought it wasn’t a big deal so I let her skip the next practice thinking we would just pick it back up.  Well, the next one came and so did the tummy ache.  Long story short, she flipped out on me and wouldn’t go back because she was afraid to get the boy.  If I didn’t know better and hadn’t been watching the whole time I would think something happened to make her feel that way.  Nothing happened.  She just didn’t like having him. 

I offered to talk to the head coach and see if she could just stay with the girl but Erin refused to let me.  In the end we let her quit because she was hyperventilating and really getting upset.  It was too the point that we took her to the doctor.  It’s apparently just nerves like we thought it was but I didn’t want to traumatize her into not wanting to ever do it again.

So, we’re washed up for now.  There is a non-competitive league I’m going to sign her up for this summer.  I think she’ll like it more.  No races and it’s year round.  We shall see.  She tells me she wants to keep swimming just didn’t want to go back to the Marlins.

Poor kid.  My little mermaid was so sad.