Our Oldest Daughter's First Swim Meet Was Accidentally on Hard Mode

It was a bit of a Scott Pilgrim situation, where my daughter had to fight the hardest bosses.

Photo by April Walker on Unsplash

Over the weekend, my nine-year-old participated in her first athletic event with real stakes: a swim meet. Winners and losers. More specifically, she could lose. It’s possible to goof up a routine while cheerleading, but nobody takes a medal away from you!

We don’t have any specific “you need to be playing a bunch of sports until you’re in high school” policy like my dad imposed while I was growing up. We merely ask that our kids are participating in at least two activities per season. Gymnastics and learning how to draw a comic? Sure. I don’t care if you never throw a baseball!

That’s why I was holding my breath. How would she handle this new dynamic?

Naturally, everything started with realizing the organizers of the meet had fucked up.