Must Read – A Parent’s View of the Tigersharks Open Gala

What a day!

Exhilerating, nailbiting, exhausting, rabbits caught in headlights, are some of the expressions that were used to describe what was, for some, a very long day.

Yassmine & Jocelyne Girgis, Mollie Boyce and Alex Murphy did a fabulous job of representing Barramundi. They displayed their true sportsmanship by putting on tremendous performances in all their races.

Yassmine was so far ahead of her group she occassionally looked over her shoulder to see where her playmates were.

Jocelyne’s strength and style was far in excess of her counterparts.

Mollie, too, had great distance on her competitors.

Alex was so fast that he gained a speeding ticket in one of his events and a gold medal in the other.

All achieved personal bests.

Iryna did a fantastic job. The coach registers the team in and collects the paperwork with prepared heat lists. The coach organizes, talks tactics, soothes nerves, makes sure children (and adults!) are comfortable, warm and happy.”Warm ups” are an event in themselves and very important. They are tightly controlled. There are straight swims and then “sprints” that includes diving in off blocks and getting out the other end. It all seemed so fast and furious and done to serious Disco music. I likened it to passing your driving test and then having to drive on a motorway – take a deep breath and get in a lane and go with the flow.

Several heats make up an event, done in time order. Keeping track is an art form, sifting through times and lane orders on the electronic display board is a science in itself, paper and pen essential! Swimmers’ times are rigorously recorded with an electronic touch pad at the end of the lane, electronic pushbutton timer and good old stop watch with the timekeepers. Referees are all round the pool looking for incorrect starts, strokes and turns and finishes. Disqualifications are not unusual.

In session 3, around 6pm (we had been there, since 10am) there was a pool sing a long. Kids dancing on the blocks, seats and poolside, all rocking to YMCA! We soon learnt all the arm movements and the place was buzzing.

Tigerfeet was played more than once because it was Tigersharks Anthem. The National Anthem was played at the start of the day – to get you prepared for when you swim for GB!

Hints for Gala days are now available on the Guides page – courtesy of Guildford Swim Club. It is Parents’ guide for all things to do with swimming; language, technical terms, food to eat, clothes to wear etc. Can I say here, pool shoes and a spare pair of socks are essential. Keeping warm after warm ups and between races is so important. There was not one camera in sight, so please be awre of Gala rules.Once again, congratulations to our Barramundi swimmers and thanks to all who made this possible, particularly Iryna for coaching the children so well.

Well done, too, to all those parents who support their children in their swimming career.