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| Prep-up with Coach Oscar before the heat race |
Yesterday, I watched Alexander with great pride as he competed in his swim age group in Freestyle, Backstroke and Breast stroke.
Despite being nervous, he managed to rise above the pressure and delivered a sterling performance - he placed 1st in his backstroke heat at 22,19 sec, 2nd place in freestyle at 24,0 sec and 5th place in breast stroke at 30,0 sec (he was not happy with this finish as he complained of an unfortunate goggle-malfunction during the actual race).
I am so proud of my dear son as I watched him struggle to catch up after the near "fatal" dive drop for his freestyle heat. He dove way too deep and when he resurfaced, he realised he was deadbeat last. This didn't demoralised him at all. Instead, he flung his arms beautifully in quick strides and swam like a fish to nick 2nd place. It was an unbelievable show of courage not to give up. He fought hard and determined to catch up. I was beaming with pride from the sidelines as my video caught all that on film. I saw how his coach ran down the side of the pool to catch up and give him a high-five and told him he'd done a great race. Alexander was all smiles as he looked up to where I was seated and we exchanged a double thumbs up sign.
Equally amazing was his backstroke performance where he finished first. It was one very tight race but halfway through it, Alexander displayed such determination to cut and surge in an even and quick strides. He breezed past and broke through the pack in one comfortable lead to win the heat hands down. I was holding my breath to the very last second until he touched the black plate and cried: "Yes!" He didn't realised he won the heat until he saw his coach clapping and giving him those two thumbs up sign. He broke his delicious and wide grin of satisfaction, looked up and waved at me.
Instilling in his young mind how important it is never to give up makes me so proud of him. Time and again, we have taught Alexander to trust his capacity of doing the best he could and never to fear the prospect of failing. Mistakes and failure are to be treated as challenges to overcome and not feared, we tell him. His performance yesterday convinced him of his strength and capability to make things happen. I can tell how extremely happy he was over his performance and contribution to the team. I know in my heart he's ready to face bigger challenges ahead of him.
And to cap this great display of courage and accomplishment, I would like to proudly announce that Alexander's competition score has earned him a spot in the swim league to start training with the junior level group - this would mean some serious swim training for competitions! Is he ready for it? You bet he is!
Eye on the prize!
