Swimming Badges

We came  to the end of an era a couple of weeks ago, when R finished his swimming lessons and waved goodbye to his swimming teacher for the final time.  It was a time of mixed emotions for all of us.  The three younger children all swim at a private pool that was recommended to me years ago.  It is not cheap to have lessons there and with three of them especially, there were times when my husband and I did question whether we should continue.  We did continue however, and I am so glad that we made that decision.  R has been swimming there now for nearly six years and has developed into a fine swimmer.

At this pool, they are always taught in small groups with a maximum of four children and there are only ever two groups on at a time.  The teacher is always in with them and this has made such a difference with all three children. R was never comfortable in new situations, yet he settled really quickly with the teachers there and we have never once had a battle about going there.

Last summer we were told that he would be doing his bronze award and he was so nervous going in. As he sat there on the side of the pool, looking worried, I wondered if I had done the right thing letting him do it, but once he was in the water, his natural competitive spirit kicked in and he was fine.  He was buzzing when he came out of the pool, he passed and after that, his swimming went from strength to strength. Silver soon followed and the difference in his swimming even from the summer was incredible. Then the big one; gold. I had no doubt that he would pass. The Gold Award is 800 metres continuous swimming made up of a set combination of different strokes which has to completed in 25 minutes and as a complete non swimmer, I am in awe of him. He passed with over five minutes to spare and was very proud of himself.

The Gold Award also signals the end of swimming for him. He could start with a local club if he wanted to, but he is happy and wants to try something new. So he hugged his teacher goodbye and said farewell to the other kids that he has been swimming with for a few years now and I was left to sew on his final badge and reflect on six years of swimming.

The ‘sewing on of the swimming badges’ has become a right of passage with all of the children and for the boys in particular, it is as important as sewing their Beaver and Cub badges onto their uniform.  Each of them has a special swimming towel with their names embroidered on (and no my sewing skills sadly don’t stretch that far, I buy them with the names on) and each has all of their swimming badges on from the first to the latest.  I may occasionally have moaned about this job, but in reality it takes me half an hour or so and looking at R’s finished towel, I am so pleased that I did it.  It is a record of his achievement and even though he has made the decision to stop swimming now in favour of trying something new, something that he can keep and treasure long into adulthood.