When we arrived in Michigan last week I asked Eva how they introduced each swimmer at her swim meet. I expected something like, “Ladies and gentleman, Please draw your attention to lane one where Eva Tebo will be representing Hamilton Middle School.” And then I asked, “Do you think that they would let me be the announcer?”
Her reply was concise, “That’s not how they do it.” I expected as much. My being a guest announcer was not an option.
Eva swims the 50 meter, 100 meter and a leg of the 200 meter freestyle for her middle school. She’s a sixth grader on a team that includes sixth, seventh and eighth graders. She learned to swim in the lake at her cottage, but most of that swimming is just for fun. Swimming on a team, representing your school, is the real deal.
Swimming, much like track, cross country, tennis, wrestling and golf requires an individual to put herself out in front of everyone. It’s you vs. you. You are trying to do your best, and improve, each time you compete. Each step forward should be celebrated. While you may be part of a team, your individual performance is on display for everyone.
On teams like football, basketball, volleyball and soccer, individuals can sometimes rely on others to help carry the day. If you’re the one in the pool, that’s all you.
Eva is our only granddaughter, and we’ll love her no matter what she does in life. We traveled to her swim meet to offer our support and encouragement, but that’s all we could do. The actual performance was all on her.
Eva did great! She improved her best time in the 50 meter by 1.44 seconds for a 3.6% decrease. She won her heat, and I was bursting at the seams when I heard, “The winner of this heat is Eva Tebo from Hamilton.” She was the first girl in the competition to have her name, and thus the name of her school, announced over the public address system. Moments like that help validate one’s success.
She also cut 5.42 seconds off her best time in the 100 meter race for a 4% decrease. Both reductions were huge! That’s what swimming is all about. Improving yourself and helping the team. We saw both performances up close and personal.
I spoke with her briefly before we left the meet. We wanted to catch the last half of Brady’s basketball game and had a thirty minute drive. I told her how wonderful her performance was and that she should be very proud of herself. I wished her luck in her final event, the 200 meter relay.
While we spoke she offered up a bit of a surprise, “It would have been better if you were the announcer.”
Eva and Lindsay made it to the basketball game as it was ending. It was there that we learned that she had cut her time in the 200 meter relay by two seconds, boosting her team to their best time ever.
Eva worked hard to improve herself. I videoed her first race, so I could share her accomplishment with you. “Ladies and gentleman, Please draw your attention to lane one where Eva Tebo will be representing Hamilton Middle School.”
If you listen you’ll hear the words of encouragement offered up by her fans, and led by Ruth, AKA Nana, when she yelled, “Go Hard Eva!” Lindsay summed it up best when she said, “She did it.”