More Swimming

Swimming is officially over for this school year. We spent this weekend in Boise at the State Swimming Championships. There were 426 athletes from 44 high schools across the State of Idaho. Many of these swimmers compete year round on club teams and are very good. Scott had qualified to swim in 4 events which is the limit. He swam the backstroke in the medley relay, the 200 yard freestyle, the 100 yard backstroke, and the 400 yard relay. We were very proud of him. He took seconds of all of his times and swam very hard. The medley relay team placed 15th and the top 16 places swim in the finals on Saturday.
We had a very touching day on Saturday morning. There is a young man on Scott's swim team who has cerebral palsy. He has a hard time walking and you can see that he has had several surgeries. He has been swimming for 3 years and this is his last year. He doesn't use his legs, but he gives it every bit of energy he has and finishes. It isn't fast and he has never qualified to swim at State. The boys on the team wanted to give him a chance to swim at Boise, and so Scott gave up his spot for Saturday to allow him the chance. It was a touching moment when the crowd cheered as he struggled and finished.

Later they gave him a special award for his courage in trying. I was equally proud of Scott for stepping aside and not needing any recognition. He is a great boy!


Channel 8 News did a sports clip of the experience. I am attaching a copy of the video.