I should have known something was up when they hired a Diversity Specialist. The ning site might have tipped me off, too.

But, on the same day that I read of the 105th drowning death in Texas this year, I read something encouraging. The USA Swimming Foundation has funded 12 learn to swim programs, to the tune of $50,000. One of the programs is in my home town!

Again, I knew where our swim coach’s heart was by his actions. I’m glad he’s being reimbursed for his energy and time. I can’t think of a more deserving recipient.

Read this to find out how your club can become a Make a Splash Local partner.

I know. I left you hanging. I couldn’t even post last night because of a server issue. That wasn’t on purpose. But, then I wrote about a personal swimming incident rather than give you the latest installment of the black history swim meet. But anticipation is a good thing, right? Just not too much. I didn’t want you to forget about the series, right? So here it is, the third installment. Enjoy.

My younger son, 5, is taking swimming lessons for the first time. My oldest daughter, almost 18, is his teacher. She said that he just jumped in the pool with a cube and was struggling to keep his head above water during his last lesson.

She gave him some foam water wings to help him stay above water, and he proceeded to flail around getting nowhere fast.

I know about the 10,000 hour concept of mastery. My question is, when does it just click, and you’re swimming? Are you just practicing and practicing, not knowing what you’re doing, then one day you look up and can swim?

I remember watching my 7 year old take her first swim lessons. She was young at the time: 3 I think. The teacher just carried her around on his hip for most of the lesson. I thought it was a real waste of time. Then, at the end of the lesson, he threw her up in the air and she landed in the water. She loved it! Pretty soon, she was putting her head in the water, and by the time she was 4, she could doggy paddle a little bit. She can swim now without flotation devices, but needs to work on technique.

My 9 year old went through several sessions as a 3 year old before it clicked for her. She swims better than her little sister, but needs a lot of practice to get to the next level.

I wonder if I blink, will I miss that moment when swimming happens for my son?

You know what I like about these videos? They look good and sound homemade. They’re not intimidating that way. I have a friend that takes her daughter to these national swim meets, so I’ll be featuring her family story soon. Until then, enjoy last year’s meet, part 2.

Last time I talked about how he got to the World swim championships. Here is Cullen Jones swimming the 50 free in Rome. There are some fast folks out there!

Note: I follow Cullen Jones on twitter, and read this tweet a few days ago: “Well the 50 went at expected 19.4 since I’m not at my fighting weight… 21.2 in the fly today not expected let’s get it !”

That’s quite a bit quicker than the National record he set last summer! Talk about a rapidly advancing sport. Another note: I’m now reading that Cullen is in Seattle at the Nationals right now. More news on that later.

That last video made me curious about Cullen Jones’ showing at the World Swimming Championships in Rome. I follow him on twitter, but I didn’t know what he was talking about when he mentioned that he was in Italy. Duh! That was for the Fina Swimming World Championships. When I looked for video and news about how he did, I couldn’t find anything. It was like the Olympics all over again with all the Michael Phelps coverage. And then I found a video from the National finals which qualified him for the World Championships. Cullen Jones had an exciting battle before going to Rome. He tied with Garret Weber-Gale for 2nd place behind Nathan Adrian in the first trial. So Cullen and Garrett had a showdown.

In winning that showdown, Cullen Jones made a new American world record in the 50 free: 21:41. (This beat Nathan Adrian’s time of 21:52 two days earlier).
to be continued. . .