Kids and Swimming

After spending another weekend at a swim meet, I thought I'd update everyone on the Otto children's achievements. As some of you know, Ethan began this swim journey the spring before he turned 8. We put Ethan, Isaac, and Elizabeth into swim lessons at SafeSplash Swim School in March in hopes that someone would learn to swim before summer. We have a free neighborhood pool that our HOA dues pay for and we wanted to enjoy it that year. Within a few months, Ethan had learned the freestyle and backstroke strokes, and we started talking about next steps. Ethan joined Aces that next fall. Isaac followed suit by swimming with the neighborhood team that next summer. We quickly became involved with the Smoky Hill Sharks and Ethan(8) and Isaac (6) had a great summer. That fall Isaac joined Aces and swam year-round. This past summer, Elizabeth decided she wanted to swim with the friends she made last summer. As a 5-year old we were not expecting much, but she quickly caught on and proved to be quite the backstroker like her big brother, Ethan. She too wanted to try for Aces, and we decided to let her go to rookie week expecting her to change her mind after the first practice. We were wrong again. Elizabeth has become a fierce competitor as a swimmer, and has shown more dedication to a sport than we ever expected from a 6 year-old. We are 100% committed now to being a swim family and our lives pretty much revolve around practice and meets. At this last meet, David started taking off his clothes because he expected that he was going to swim too. It might just be time to get him involved with lessons in the coming months.

Broken down by child:

Ethan - he's 10 years old and has the body of a swimmer. Ethan has such long arms and legs that he has this natural ability to swim long distances. We've learned that sprint swimming isn't his thing, and although he does well with the 50Y events, he excels at anything 100Y or longer. His coach thinks that Ethan will be even stronger with long course swimming. Ethan has qualified to swim at both Silver State Championships this year, as well as State Championships. He has been swimming 4-5 times a week since the beginning of the season to make those cut-offs.

Summer 2013 top times                                Aces 2013-14 Top Times

100IM   1:44:12Y                                          100 IM   1.29.15Y       200 IM   3.05.63Y
50 back  40.88Y                                             50 back  37.04Y         100 back   1.20.66Y
50 free  34.15Y                                              50 free 32.43Y              100 free  1.13.77Y
50 breast 1:05:57Y                                        50 breast   51.13Y       100 breast 1.45.15Y
100 free  1:22:34Y                                        200 free   2.45.55Y      500 free   6.59.61Y
50 fly   48.86Y                                               50 fly       42.40Y             100 fly  1.41.26


Isaac - he's 8 years old and has the determination of a swimmer. Isaac hasn't had a growth spurt in several years now, so he's built more stocky than Ethan. Rather than having long lean arms and legs, Isaac has very muscular arms and legs. The child is pure muscle. His goal at the beginning of the season was to pass the Jack's test and move up to swim with Ethan's group. He just turned 8, and has proven to the others that he belongs in that group. He moved up 2 months before his 8th birthday, and has had to work extremely hard to catch up. He tends to finish his set as they are beginning a new one so he rarely gets a break between sets. His favorite part of swimming is moving to the dive well where he gets to compete against the other 8 year olds.  Isaac will get his shot at a championship type of event when he swims at the Aces Mighty Mini meet. Each event is broken down by age and gender and there are medals for each event. It is the highlight of the season for children aged 8 and under.

Summer 2013 top times                             Aces 2013-14 Top Times               

25 back  24.10Y                                          25 back  22.39Y               50 back  50.48Y
25 fly  22.04Y                                             25 fly     22.00Y                50 fly     57.39Y
25 free 19.14Y                                            25 free 17.34Y                  50 breast  1:06:43Y
100IM  2:16:24Y                                        100IM  1:50:38Y              100 free 1:30:60Y
25 breast  30.79Y                                        25 breast  25.69Y
50 free  44.64Y                                            50 free   40.03Y


Elizabeth - she's 6 years old and a princess in the pool. My little girl loves to swim, but it must be on her terms. She has her routine down pat to get ready for swimming, and knows just what she needs to do during practice. She loves her coach and does her best to get his attention all of the time. She loves to swim, and I'm not sure which is her favorite: freestyle or backstroke, but she's proving to be strong in both strokes. This past weekend she swam her breaststroke, but she's still disqualifying it, and she does not like the butterfly at all right now. It is amazing to watch Elizabeth swim. She doesn't work as hard as the others in practice, but if you put her in the pool for a meet, a whole different swimmer comes out. She pushes herself so hard during her events and strives to touch the wall first. Elizabeth will get her shot at a championship type of event when she swims at the Aces Mighty Mini meet. She'll finally swim with just 5&6 year olds for a medal.

Summer 2013 top times                    Aces 2013-14 Top Times

25 free   31.11Y                                   25 back   27.34Y          50 free    59.68Y
25 back  28.17Y                                  25 back   26.06Y
25 breast  52.88Y                                25 breast  35.93Y

I'm going to keep this post updated so we can keep track of their top times for the age. They are excited to see the differences over time, and we are too.