Weise's World

Decisions, decisions... That's what we have right now...

Christian had another great summer of swimming, he really loves the sport and he keeps improving. This was a down year with the Sea Otters as he was at the bottom of his age bracket (a 9-year old in the 9/10 age group) but he still swam well and I'm very proud of his improvments and on-going love for the sport. We also had some coaching issues this year, it was definitely a building year for the team and I believe things will get better next year.

Now the summer rec swim season is over and typically Christian swims in a Sierra Marlins clinic (the Marlins are a competitive year-round USA Swimming swim team that offers rec swimmers a clinic to give a small taste of what swimming on a USA Swimming team is like). This year when swimming was over and we discussed the clinic, Christian noted that sounds good, but can I swim MORE??
 
That led to discussions about JOINING the Marlins which led to his try-outs with the Marlins today. I'm proud to say they not only invited him to join the team they want him to consider signing up for the more competitive "Black" group... With soccer going on, we may not be able to commit to the Black group so we may have to join the Red group, we'll see. We've also discussed following a great coach to another year-round swim team that's about 30 minutes away, but I think Christian prefers swimming with the Marlins here in town.
 
Now we have choices to make for the Fall:
Marlins Clinic: Decent instruction, two swim meets - cost about $250
Marlins 2-day Red Group: Good instruction, better workout, 5 swim meets - initial cost about $450 (registration fee plus initial cost of equipment/apparel)   and on-going $85 per month
Marlins Black Group: Competitive swimming, good instruction, best workout, 5+ swim meets -  initial cost about $450 (registration fee plus initial cost of equipment/apparel)   and on-going $145 per month

One other big difference is the volunteer requirements... As a clinic swimmer you are not required to do volunteer shifts, though help is never turned away. I don't mind volunteering and do I my fair share with the Otters, but my work is mainly away from meets. I'm not sure that'll happen with the Marlins, I'll have to see how that'll work out.
 
For the first time he's not sure if he'll return to the Sea Otters next summer - he's always talked about swimming with them until he was 18, but I think he's growing as a swimmer and wants to improve and has taken notice that the coaching is better with the year-round teams. Depending on what we decide to do he'll have another big decision to make as February rolls around...

Ugh, change is good and this would be a good change I just don't know if I'm ready for truly competitve sports. And now he's talking about wanting to try competitive soccer next year too... I don't know that I can handle it all!!