Team Spirit by Becky Barnes-Israel

Summer is ending and school has begun this week for my three swimmers. Looking back over the last few months, they made lots of memories as two of them participated in summer swim team and the third competed in the long course season with our year round club team. All three of my swimmers say their favorite part of swim team this summer was the fun team activities they did. I want to share these with you so that you too can foster the tight bond a swim team can enjoy at all ages. Maybe these will give you some new ideas!

Our summer team made a point to have a team potluck breakfast at least once a week. While not mandatory, different parents brought various breakfast foods and drinks for the kids after their morning practice. The age range for our team is K-12, so while the older kids ate breakfast, they bonded with the little ones. It was great because the young swimmers looked up to the older ones and felt included as important teammates. The older swimmers learned the younger swimmers’ names and because of this, during our weekly meets they cheered loudly for every young swimmer on our team. We had incredible team spirit no matter the age of the swimmer! Every swimmer mattered and they knew it.

One night after practice, the coaches asked the swimmers to stay and make signs with poster board and markers for the following night’s swim meet. “Go Penguins!” and the infamous “Eat My Bubbles!” etc were boldly written all over the posters along with some artfully drawn penguins. The kids were so proud of their posters and eventually used them in the end of season parade our league sponsored.During the parade it rained so much that the posters were falling apart, but the proud smiles on their faces and bond with one another made it all worthwhile.

My long course swimmer also enjoyed his team bonding with one another (despite him having a broken ankle the first half of the long course season). His coach encouraged camaraderie and hard work in a unique way. She brought in a large stuffed squishmellow otter and each night, the swimmer who worked the hardest and had the best attitude got to bring him home. The swimmers affectionately named him “Nelson.” After every meet, the swimmers kept track of their points on Nelson by writing them with a permanent marker. At the end of long course the swimmer with the most points received Nelson the otter for keeps. With this middle school age group, that was quite a hit! Even the parents talked about it amongst each other! What a creative idea and kept the kids engaged and having fun!

As we go into the short course season in a few weeks, I hope this gives you some ideas for keeping up morale and team spirit with your swimmers. As a mom, I really appreciated it, and I know my kids did too.