Swim Team--Not for Pansies

In the Shumway family, swim team is a right of passage.

We had to do swim team every summer, no questions asked.

"It's good for you." Mom would say.

I hated it for a long time.  It was hard.  It was grueling.  I wanted to quit.

So of course I had to enroll my own children on a team. :)

Olivia started her first summer of swim team on June 1st.

She was excited and a little bit nervous before it started.

Here she is pictured with cousin Tatum before they started practice on the first day. (She has no idea what's about to go down).

Right off the bat they have them swim all the way across the 25 yard pool.  

She could never do this before but lo and behold, with a coach telling her to do it and other kids doing it all around her, she busted across the pull with gusto! (I must say my heart was bursting with pride).

What most people don't realize about Olivia is that for all her girlishness, she is actually quite competitive, driven and athletic. 

When she is playing baseball her eyes light up with fire when she swings at that ball and she almost always connects.

Now with swimming she pushes herself hard to pass kids up and swim as fast as possible.

The only problem with this is it stresses her out to no end.

"My throat hurts" & "I can't breathe" are top complaints and apparently just hearing the words "swim team" makes her stomach drop.  (I remember feeling the same way).

But when she's at practice she won't let up.

She just wants to be the best.

I like that. :)