Swim Team Party and Team Photos

I've been the photographer for the neighborhood swim team photo in the past, so I decided that I wasn't going to volunteer this year. I did, however, take this photo of the other parents getting their own photos while the "official" photographer took her photo of the team. I thought it was hilarious that there were so many people taking pictures. It's not like they won't get a free copy, but people just like to get their own photos.

For the first time this year, they not only took a team photo, they also took a team photo with the parents included, and photos of the kids grouped into different age groups. That's partly why I didn't want to volunteer to take the "official" photo--because I didn't want to have to take all of the extra photos.

They offered hot dogs as well as pizza at the team party this year. They also usually get rid of some of their extra stuff that people donated for the concession stand--drinks and ring pops included. Natalie got one of the ring pops and I was able to catch this photo of her. She was looking through the ribbons she and Eric had received for the first three swim meets this summer.

Poor Natalie. She was so happy that she has been able to swim, but she was having some back pain again since last week. There was a chance that she wasn't going to swim at the meet last weekend, but she said that her back was feeling okay, so we let her swim. When she went to her physical therapy appointment yesterday, the physical therapist noticed that her core strength had decreased. When she and Patrick gave Natalie the third degree, Natalie admitted that she did indeed have back pain even during the swim meet last weekend. Poor Natalie--she wanted to swim so badly that she didn't tell us how she was really feeling.  That's how her back pain got so bad the last time. Patrick had another talk with her about how we wanted her to look at long term gain. She may not get to swim now, but then she won't aggravate her back and she'll be able to swim pain-free in the future. So, Patrick told her coach that she won't be swimming in next weekend's swim meet. She can still go to cheer for her team and teammates, but she won't be swimming. Maybe this way she'll be pain-free again for the Championship Meet the following weekend.