You Cruise You Loose!

Any swimmer can tell you what a millisecond is. It’s 1000th of a point. Who cares? They do!

Today was our annual swim team invitational fund raiser. With a team 300 strong of kids between the ages of five and eighteen the energy is high as the crocs and gators turn out to compete against their age groups as well as beat their lowest times.

As with any sport you have the kids that are just in it to have fun and the kids anxious to come in first and beat their time. I love the relaxed swimmers who are happy to finish as well as the feisty ones wanting to know their place and time as their hand (or head) hits the wall. With all three of my kids on the team Sam is the one putting no pressure on himself. When he races he’s pulling as hard as he can and is pleased to win the race, yet just as happy if his friend comes in ahead of him. Emeline and Zachary are more concerned with their times and placement. Events, heats, and lane placement…..it all matters!!

Emeline excels in the backstroke. With a first place in her heat for the freestyle she was confident for the same in the 50M backstroke. She had a strong start and made her turn in first, yet at the end the gal swimming right next to her pulled ahead and won the race by three milliseconds!

In the 2008 summer Olympics Michael Phelps won the gold for the 100M fly by 1/100th of a second. As one headline said “You cruise you loose”. The difference was so minute that it was invisible to the naked eye, it was only confirmed electronically. In that last 1/100th of a second, Cavic (the other swimmer) glided and Phelps stretched touching the wall first. Although Phelps did not think he would win the race, he didn’t give up.

Last week I played in a USTA tennis match with someone I not only hadn’t played with before, but I really didn’t know her as a person. Would she be nervous? Would our game styles compliment one another? The team is on a track for advancing to play-offs so our court mattered! Our first set didn’t go so well. My partner turned to me as we were down 4-1 and said “We have a bit of a climb ahead of us”. Giving up the first set put pressure on us to win the second. God and I had a talk in the beginning of the second set, I committed my all to Him playing one point at a time. Winning the second set 6-1 and then the third 6-2 was a great feeling. We played hard and didn’t give up, we came from behind and finished well.

In sports you can’t slack off, “If you cruise you’ll loose”. If our competitive edge can bring a drive and determination to sports, surely we can bring it to the areas of our life that are much more important—our marriages, our parenting, and our relationship with God. After all, “It is in Him that we live, move, and have our being.”

Blessings

Debbie