Yesterday I worked the swim meet - yeah, I know...I'm a track coach. However, I'm a struggling grad student...and I gotta make ends meet some way some how. So anywho...this was the 1st swim meet I've ever attended and while I'm not a fan of being so close to the pool and getting splashed every time someone jumped in, I had a really good time.
The one thing that stood out to me above all was that Smith women competed as a TEAM in what many people would consider an individual sport. Everyone cheered for each other, even if the last place person was a cool 4 laps behind the second to last place person. No matter what place you came in, the coach provided words of wisdom and made each woman feel like she had won the race. For me this was huge because coming from track (which is also considered an individual sport), this type of treatment is not always observed. Back at Rice, it was not a requirement to attend the entire meet. In fact it was somewhat discouraged in that you only needed to show up 1 1/2 hours before your event. For me this always meant I got to see the whole meet because long jump is almost always the first field event. But the majority of my teammates never once saw me compete. I wonder how much better might I have been had I had someone cheering for me on the sidelines. I don't think people realize how you can receive a sudden burst of energy when you hear someone scream your name....or just simply show they care by making themselves visible.
I truly value the idea of a TEAM, and I wish I could instill that into every athlete I know. I was really moved to see a girl who might not be up to standard to compete at the collegiate level, get out of the pool with a smile on her face because she knew that as long as she gave it her best...she had 100% of her TEAM behind her. I can only hope that one day my team will have that same support system.
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