Tali's team is part of a larger team from Salisbury. This is Hannah, who is one of the three coaches, but the only one that comes down to our Y for swim practice.
We were supposed to be there at 11:30, so we got there at 11 and set up our lawn chairs. There were so many parents in the team tents that most of us from the Stanly Y set up in another spot with a good view. We studied the program and wrote the event, heat, lane, and stroke in permenant ink on her arm, which is traditional on her team. (This pic was taken later, but it shows her looking up her info with a team-mate.)
Once the incompleted races from the night before had been finished (at nearly 1pm) Tali's team began thier special spirit presentation. On came the Hawaiian music and the team made a "conga line" to come around the pool. They did a hula (very broad use of the term, it was more like a line dance with the different swim strokes as the arm moves.)
Then the older swimmers lead the team in a "sacrifice" of illustrations of the other teams' mascots. Naturally this had a disquieting effect on the other teams.
After the fun, they all got in the pool to do warm up laps, and I got to do some pictures, once I figured out which bobbing head was hers.
She swam three races and one relay, got a lovely sun burn in all the spots I had missed, and got to sleep the whole way home. Thank goodness one of my employees had been able to cover my shift so we could go.
Way to go, Tali! Keep at it, girl; your Grandpa Lieby used to swim competitively, too. Only back then the sunblock stuff wasn't as good and he had to quit when his sunburn blisters on his back were so big that when they popped he drenched his shirt. Or something like that. You'll have to ask him; it's been a long time since I heard him talk about it. And the next time you have a sunburn, try putting apple cider vinegar on it to help cool it. You are loved! Granma Grace
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