Just 3 reasons I love my kids to swim

I love what swimming has done for our family

Even though I grew up in Southern California, I was not a strong swimmer. Ironically, I took my only formal swim lessons in a little Idaho town where I was staying with my dairy-farm cousins one summer. Other than those lessons, I learned to swim by being tossed in our next-door neighbor’s pool and dog-paddling my way through childhood. 

Swimming took on new meaning 12 years ago when my own children started swimming competitively for the Mission Valley Barracudas. Tomorrow they will, once again, participate in the East Bay Swim League Championships. Today, along with all the other 1200 swimmers, they’ll go to the Olympic-size pool at Chabot College to get used to the deep water, high blocks, and multiple lane lines. Today is also my first time not going with them to the day-before warm-ups. Yep, they’re growing up, and I kind of miss being part of the excitement and pre-meet buzz.

When our children first started swimming, I was puzzled but also a little annoyed by the minuscule digits by which races were measured. You dropped your time by three-tenths of a second? Is that good? Really? Did anyone notice? Does anyone care? After more than a decade of swim practices and meets, I now understand the digits and I can talk the talk, too. In fact, with all the things I’ve learned, I could almost coach a team. (Just don’t ask me to get in the pool and demonstrate.) I’ve come to love having my kids swim for many reasons. Here are just three:

1. They compete against themselves and as a team. Swimming is the perfect combination of individual and team competition. Even if a swimmer never wins a race, he can improve his own time at every swim meet. What's even better is his efforts also chalk up points for the team’s overall score. In other words, everyone can be a winner—truly!
2. They don’t have to compete on Sundays. Do you know how hard it is to find an organized sport that doesn’t demand an athlete participate on Sundays? Nigh unto impossible! We love keeping our kids moving six days a week, but we also love that blessed Day of Rest.
3. The family stays together. Another wonderful rarity about swimming is that our entire family can all be at the same venue watching each other compete. For years, our family has spent summer Saturday mornings together, cheering each other on at the poolside. Fun and efficient! Occasionally, we’ve had a couple boys swim against each other or even swim on the same relay team. Those times have been rare treats. Later, together again at home, we’ve spent many dinner-table conversations reliving the meets and discussing goals. At least for the Perrys, swimming is truly a family sport, and we love it!

What sports would you recommend for growing families?