A Long, Hot Summer Day at the Pool

This was one of those classic Bay Area summer weekends in early August 2014, spent entirely at a community pool for a swim meet. It was bright, hot, and loud. Between races, there was plenty of downtime for kids to be kids, which mostly involved hanging out with their toys under a shady tent.

We were there as part of the support crew, wearing our matching bright yellow team shirts. The day was a cycle of long periods of waiting punctuated by a few minutes of intense action. The energy really built up on the pool deck as swimmers gathered behind the starting blocks.

The officials would call the event, and the kids would step up, goggles on, ready to go. You could feel the collective tension right before the buzzer. Then, in an instant, they'd launch themselves into the water, a flurry of splashes that quickly resolved into the rhythmic strokes of the race. We'd watch them churn through the lanes, cheering them on from the side until they hit the wall.