Summer swim team 1977 vs 2014

I have always loved swimming. My sister and I swam on swim teams in the summers in the 70's and 80's, and we also swam year round when we lived in Virginia.  My best stroke was backstroke.  My sister's was breaststroke.  The smell of chlorine always reminds me of fun times at swim meets and practices.  Our Moms let us eat Jell-O powder (with sugar) right out of the box for "energy" during swim meets.  In the summer our hair turned to straw and we had the best tans ever.  Our nylon swim team suits had white stripes down the sides and we would get tan through the white stripes. 


1977:
I am the blonde girl standing right in the middle

2014: Crazy pose with my 2 girls in the mix

I have always hoped that my kids would love swimming as much as I do.  When we lived in Omaha, my girls learned to swim at the YMCA through swim lessons and summer camp.  I convinced them that summer swim team would be fun.  And since I am now a stay at home mom here in NC, I have plenty of time to take them back and forth to the pool.  Swim team is a pretty big time commitment for the parents as well, and I had to agree to volunteer at several swim meets. 

We are now midway through our first season, and I have noticed several differences between summer swim team in the 1970's and summer swim teams today. 

1. 2014: EVERYONE gets to swim, even if they can barely make it across the pool. Some events have up to 30 swimmers! There are up to 7 heats so that everyone gets to swim freestyle.  1977: There is 1 heat.  The best 6 swimmers compete.  If you aren't the fastest in your age group, you don't swim. 

2. 2014: Goggles.  They are everywhere. Children won't swim without them. They fall off when they dive in at the meets and kids will stop mid pool to adjust them. 
1977: No goggles allowed in meets, only in practice.  Actually I don't even think we practiced with them most of the time because we lost them at the beginning of the season, and our Mom told us,  "Too bad."

3. 2014: For backstroke, parents hold kickboards against the side of the pool, so their kid won't hit their head on the side of the pool at the end of the race.  1977: We had to count the strokes from the flags to the end of the pool.  No one "caught" our heads; I banged the crap out of my head on more than one occasion swimming backstroke.  I quickly learned it took me 8-10 strokes from the flags to the end of the pool. 

4. 2014: Swim meets take up to 4 hours to complete, ending around 10pm, due to the number of swimmers (see #1).
1977: We were done by 8pm  and got to go out for pizza afterwards at The Mad Italian Pizza place.

5. 2014: Everyone (just about) gets a ribbon.  Places 1-6 get ribbons, heat winners get ribbons, and kids also get ribbons stating their personal best times. 
1977: places 1-3 get ribbons. That's it.

6. 2014: parents must write on their kids' arms with a Sharpie stating their event numbers.  Parents volunteer to be "child gatherers" and tell kids when it is time to line up for their events. 
1977: Kids had to watch for their event and line up.  If you missed your event, you got in big trouble. 

My kids aren't the fastest swimmers, but I think they are having fun in spite of all of the helicopter moms (including me) spraying them with sunscreen, taking their picture, and keeping up with 6 pairs of goggles.  I sure do love watching them swim!  Go Marlins!