Broadcasting Life

my sister, the stud

last weekend, pretty damn exciting. i went home to see my sister swim in the north dakota high school girls state swim and dive meet. it's the meet that pretty much became what my life revolved around for 4 years and now she has the opportunity to do it for 6 (1 down,5 to go). it's dressing up for the parade of athletes, wearing a fastskin II, not shaving your legs for 3 months until the day of the big meet, wearing crazy colored tights and swimsuits to recreate the drag that you just shaved off for warm-up, getting your last gift from your secret sister, giving your last gift to your secret sister, cheering, and last but not least: swimming out of your mind.

before i go on, i have to tell you this: i went to go see fredrick winters, the hypnotist when he came here to bsu for a little show. he sells cds with his hypnotic practice on them for $5 a pop and he had one for sports and since i knew my sister had a mental issue when it came to swimming, i picked one up for her and mailed it to her. she became addicted to it, listening to it every night before bed and right before meets. i have a feeling this is what helped her, as she made sure to listen to it on the car ride over to the pool for prelims last friday.

alli was seated in the upper 20's for the 200 IM. my parents and i weren't sure what to expect. we weren't sure if she was going to swim her time or bomb it ... or maybe she would drop a second or two. or she could do what she did: drops 5 seconds and takes 21st. she didn't make it onto the next day for that event, but my parents and i had our hopes up for the 100 fly.

going into the fly, alli was seated 19th. being a seventh grader competeing against seniors can be slightly intimidating. she had a 1:08 seed time that she earned at eastern distric championship (edc) the prior weekend. i knew she would have to drop at least a second to make the consol heat, and i knew my mind was blank when the beep went off for her race and she dove in. i had no idea what the outcome would be. she had a strong first 50, staying pace with everyone else...then all of a sudden she took off! i know my mom and i were screaming, urging her to go faster...she touched the wall at a 1:05, now seeded 11th...we were so impressed. my parents took us out to eat that night so she could get a decent pasta meal and to celebrate (it was my 2nd time of the 4 times that weekend that i would eat restaurant food for a meal...it was a swimming weekend, what can i say?).

next morning, is finals. i'm in charge of running the video camera for the scoreboard at the meet, which naturally, i had fun with, warming up the crowd, zooming in on certain swimmers having fun and such. alli and the team warm up (alli wore red tights i had bought her as a fire up gift, pink fishnets, drag suit, and my brothers red short drag suit...stylin), then they have parade of athletes, and then relays start. she was on the 200 medley, swimming the fly leg, which was right away, she looked good during it, but they missed getting up on the award stand. then, later, after diving, is her event. part of my job was to zoom in on every swimmer and get them on screen. when i got to her, she blows a big kiss to the camera...what a ham. i started to worry she was going to bomb the swim, as her mind might not be in the right place...but boy was i wrong. last 50 she takes off again...cruising by everyone, touches the wall at a 1:04.49 and winning consols...taking 9th! as a 7th grader! she's pretty much a stud in my book.

so yeah, anyways...as state swimming comes around every year and i hear all the talk about it, it puts me in a swimming mood...shaving my legs is veeerrrrry minimal, and i've been at the pool as many times as i can make it to whip out a couple of sets. it's too bad bemidji doesn't have a team.

ahh...i heart swimming.