He missed his supposedly first novice competition last May 27 due to on and off fever of unknown cause. Although he was a little disappointed, he graciously accepted the fact that he was not well enough to compete that time.
We woke up early because we had to be at Don Bosco by 6:30am. What we felt was a mixture of excitement and nervousness. Before we left, I sat down with AS and gently gave him the following reminders:
- Just do your best. Whether you win or lose, as long as you do your best, that is enough. Just enjoy and have fun.
- I reminded him of Philippians 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."; that he needs to acknowledge and depend on God and not on his own ability.
And then we prayed.
It was a special time for me to be able to teach and encourage AS in one of his momentous event yet in his young life.
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| Stretching |
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| Marikina Poseidon Swimming Club Novice and Class C participants |
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| Wacky. The calm before the storm. =P |
As first-timers, we didn't know what to expect. It was only there when we found out what events AS will be participating in.
Overall there was a total of 24 (I think..) events, with different categories: According to gender and age level. There were A LOT of participants, and since the pool only has 6 lanes, it took us the whole day from start to end. You could just imagine the organization it took for the Samahang Manlalangoy ng Pilipinas to execute this.
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| Don Bosco Technical College's 25m pool |
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| This event was hosted by TYR |
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| Praying before the competition |
When I first saw the program of events, it looked like gibberish to me. Thank goodness, a co-parent explained to me what it meant.
I found out that a "heat" in swimming is like a group of swimmers swimming the same event. Example in event 2 (Boys 10 yrs and under, there were about 120 boys divided into "heats" or batches since there are only 6 lanes.) they have to swim at different times.
AS's events were:
Event 2 50m Freestyle Heat 14 Lane 1
Event 6 25m Butterfly Heat 11 Lane 2
Event 14 25m Backstroke Heat 12 Lane 5
Event 18 25m Breatstroke Heat 12 Lane 1
Event 22 25m Freestyle Heat 12 Lane 2
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While waiting for their events, they pass time by playing ice ice water / langit lupa, and of course...gadgets. =D
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| with his swim buddy |
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| Waiting in line |
So in this heat, he placed first in 25m butterfly, but this doesn't mean he gets the gold. After all the heats are done, their scores/ time will be tabulated for the overall ranking. Also, the competition is both for novice and class C swimmers. Once a swimmer surpasses the maximum time for novice, he/she gets elevated and classified as a Class C swimmer.
At the end of the day, we finally got the results:
Event 2 50m Freestyle Heat 14 Lane 1 - Class C 2nd place 44.66sec
Event 6 25m Butterfly Heat 11 Lane 2 - Class C 5th place 24.38 sec
Event 14 25m Backstroke Heat 12 Lane 5 - Novice 5th place 29.66 sec
Event 18 25m Breatstroke Heat 12 Lane 1 - Novice 6th place 29.66 sec
Event 22 25m Freestyle Heat 12 Lane 2 - I didn't get the result for this...
It was truly a special and rewarding experience for As' hardwork and perseverance. I saw him mature in areas of obedience (to his coach), discipline and perseverance.
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| With his coach, Mar Casas who is a dead ringer for Aljur Abrenica =P |
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| Special thanks to Coach Mar for his patience and dedication in honing the skills of the kids. |
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| Congrats Team Poseidon photo credit: Lani Maningas (we left early and missed this photo op) |
It was a great, exhilarating and memorable first-time experience for us. We are still on cloud nine. =D
"I will give thanks to you Lord with all my heart." Psalm 9:1
