Once, a long time ago, when Heidi was coaching swimming for our middle school, she asked an excited-to-join sixth grader what his favorite stroke was. "Underwater!" he told her confidently. He was more than a little crestfallen when he discovered that underwater was not recognized in swimming competitions.
We still giggle a little at that memory sometimes, especially when we're at the pool trying to earn our activity goal. Treading water is effective, but we like to mix it up a bit, too. Heidi will do a little breast stroke, or even butterfly when she wants to show off, and I rely on the crawl, that one solid stroke I have.
"I'm going to do 10 lengths with flip turns," I'll announce, "but it's going to be the short way."
"How about underwater?" Heidi will suggest.
And then there's the side stroke, the one our moms and all the pool ladies of the sixties and seventies used to do so that their hair would stay dry. "Scissor kick and pick a peach and put it in the basket!" was the way somebody taught me to do it, and I learned! Even though it's not a competitive event, I can still sidestroke like nobody's business, and I usually do, all the way to the ladder whenever the guard calls break.
We still giggle a little at that memory sometimes, especially when we're at the pool trying to earn our activity goal. Treading water is effective, but we like to mix it up a bit, too. Heidi will do a little breast stroke, or even butterfly when she wants to show off, and I rely on the crawl, that one solid stroke I have.
"I'm going to do 10 lengths with flip turns," I'll announce, "but it's going to be the short way."
"How about underwater?" Heidi will suggest.
And then there's the side stroke, the one our moms and all the pool ladies of the sixties and seventies used to do so that their hair would stay dry. "Scissor kick and pick a peach and put it in the basket!" was the way somebody taught me to do it, and I learned! Even though it's not a competitive event, I can still sidestroke like nobody's business, and I usually do, all the way to the ladder whenever the guard calls break.
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