Football Kind of Family these days

Ok, so now i'm trying to catch up on my blog. My goal was to at least post once a month, so this month I may have three to catch up for September and October. We had barely finished up swim season, when football season began. I am not a big fan of my son playing "tackle" ball but Kevin said if he wanted to try it, we should let him and be supportive. So I have been VERY Supportive, at least I think so. Brandon made the "B" team of the Olney Bears Team. In the beginning he was a little timid about the tackling, but he has a great set of coaches and he has definitely improved since the beginning of the season. Its hard when you tell your child his whole life not to put his hands on someone else and then when they start playing football, you need to tell them to tackle or basically be tackled.

With the great coaching came a great season. At the end of the regular season, Brandon's team was 9-0. In 9 games not one team had scored on them at all! Not the usual i'm told. Last weekend began the playoffs and they won the game. When I asked Brandon why he wasn't more excited , he said "they scored on us Mom". More the norm I'm told. The Bears won 32-14. So this week he's still practicing 3 times a week with the 2nd playoff game scheduled for Friday night. I'll keep you posted on the outcome of the game.

Here are a few photos that I have taken of him:

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All Star Update

Well, yesterday we went to All Stars. Shelby did very well and had some stiff competition. She ended up 11th out of 16 which I think is great, especially given that it is her first time ever to All Stars. We celebrated afterwards with the coaches and the Corcorans (who had an All Star diver, too) at Fuddruckers. It was a fun evening for all. The best part....at the end of the night Shelby told Kristen, her coach, "I'm going to keep diving every year until I'm 20". Like I've said before, she never stops surprising us!

Kudos also belong to....Brandon

I'm not going to let Brandon's accomplishments go unnoticed either. Early in the season Brandon earned the "Tarpon" pillow for helping out during swimming and helping the younger kids. I was proud then but very proud and surprised at the banquet when he received the Jr.Coaches Trophy. The head coach recognized two kids that were there consistently, over at the coaches table asking what they could do to help, helping the younger kids, pulling in the lane ropes, cheering on their fellow teammates and in general just going over and beyond what is asked of them. I was stunned! But this season I saw a change in Brandon. We are at the pool for 3 hours every morning. He has 1 hour of swim practice, she has an hour of swim and an hour of dive, so basically he has 2 hours of just being there. This summer, I didn't get from him the usual, "I'm bored, there's nothing to do" without any prompting from me, he began to go over to the coaches, hang out with them and then began asking them what he could do to help. By the end of practice everyday I was having to practically drag him out of there because he didn't want to leave! I love the swim and dive team because not only is it a wonderful "team" sport but there is a true sense of community. The kids really help each other and cheer each other on. I said to Kevin that although Brandon had a very good swim season, I have been most proud of the sportsman like behavior and his want and desire to help and be a bigger part of the team. It makes my heart swell with pride and love. BRANDON, You Rock! Love you! The Mom

Off to ALL STARS!!

We always tell the kids that Swim is mandatory and dive is optional;however, this summer I told Shelby she had to dive, as it would be her third year diving 8 and under. This I told her, might, put her at an advantage. She reluctantly agreed. Well, now we are at the end of the season and she placed 2nd place in 4 out of 5 meets, got the high point trophy for 8 and under girls, made divisionals and placed yesterday 3rd at divisionals and will now go to All-Stars on Wednesday. Who would of thought!!! She has even told me recently that she would like to dive next year and that she has been having dreams about diving. She's come a long way this summer..from just knowing a front and back dive and front and back jumps to learning a front flip, a back flip, a front dive tuck and she wants to learn a front dive pike. We are incredibly proud of her accomplishments this summer and look forward to what she might do next summer!!! GO SHELBY!

Now for the banquet pics..

Top Left, Brandon receiving Most Improved Swimmer, Shelby receiving Tarpon award, both kids with Assistant Dive Coach Zach Foster and each kid with Head Dive Coach Kristen Roth.

And let us not forget the...

Happy Parents,

glad that Swim and Dive Season is over!

A little video...

I have more of the banquet pictures to show but wanted to include a small video of each kid diving....

And now for Miss Shelby...

I know there is no picture in this video window and I'm not sure why but just click on the arrow and you still should be able to view the video.

Dive and Swim Season Comes to an End

Well, another successful season of swim and dive has come to an end. Saturday night was the Banquet where recognition and trophies are handed out. This year it was catered by Mama Lucia's and there was a DJ for games and dancing. We were especially proud of both of our kids, for not only having a great season, but each them got individually recognized, too. Shelby got a Tarpon Award for diving. Every year 5 kids from swim and 2 from dive are recognized for this award. Basically, she was recognized for always showing up for practice, doing what was asked of her, having a good attitude and being willing to try new dives when asked. Brandon was recognized for Most Improved Swimmer of the season. Coach Erin asked me at one of the meets what had happened to him. He just kind of took off and started shaving a lot of time off of his original times. He took 12 seconds from his 50 meter free from the beginning of the season and I think around 6 seconds off of his backstroke. Way to go Brandon! He thought they had forgotten his trophy when the announced 9-10 boy swimmers but it was because he was getting recognized for this. He has now told me that he "Loves Swimming!" and he is interested in doing winter swim. The rest of the banquet was a lot of fun--the kids had a blast. Towards the end of the evening they have a slide show of the season. There is a dad that comes to almost all of the swim and dive meets and takes photos of the kids. These photos are incredible and then he compiles them into a 20 minute slide show. I think he photographs every kid on the team at least once! Way to go Tom, it was awesome. I have some other photos but need to get them off of Kevin's camera of the rest of the evening, so I will try and post them later. Shelby and I had to leave early so she could dive at Divisionals at 8am the next morning. More to come on that.

Robin Hood

Well, the swim and dive season is almost to the end. Yesterday, Brandon participated in the Robin Hood Dive Invitational. Robin Hood is open to all divers from all the pools in the Montgomery County Diving League that don't go to divisionals. It is a fun event where the judges score just a little higher than normal and the kids just get to have fun. Brandon, as much as he eats has always stayed so thin but after the first 3 weeks of swim and dive, he put on 5 pounds! He's still thin but I could tell that he was heavier by the height of his jumps on the board. He says he won't be diving next year (will see since he said that the last 2 years) so I'm glad that he participated yesterday. Here's a few photos of his dives and jumps.

He got 6th place. Way to go Brando!!

Esther Williams in the Making....

I would of never guessed that Little Miss Shelby would be picked to go to Dive Divisionals!! Way to Go!! At the beginning of the season both she and her brother were unsure of whether to even do dive this year but both decided to give it another year. I always tell them that dive is optional, swim is mandatory. Both kids were struggling to get their back dive down but after lots of practice, Shelby totally surprised us one day last week and did it on her own. The coach was up on the board but stood back and there she went!! Over the next couple of days she even added a push to the back dive and starting asking me which way she should do it at the dive meet. She is always surprising us. The meet went well (even though I got there too late to see her dive), and when we got home our neighbor called to congratulate her on making divisionals. No one was more surprised than me! Of course when I told Shelby, her response was "What's so great about divisionals?". Divisionals takes the top two divers of each age group and gender (so 2 8 and under girls and 2 8 and under boys, etc). Coach Kristen said Shelby worked hard all season and deserved it. On Sunday the divisionals will be held (very early), so keep your swimmer toes crossed :))) I'll let you know how it goes and post some pictures. I'm glad its early so I won't miss it by being at work.