ABC-along

Have you heard about the ABC-along, hosted over at How the West was Spun? Here is how it is described --

The rules, such as they are, are simple: Photo posted to your blog in 2-week increments that matches that week's letter of the alphabet: 26 letters, 52 weeks of the year divided by 2 = 26 opportunities to post a photo and tell us a little bit more about yourself. For example, week one - "A" is for..........Abercrombie and Fitch, Appalachia, artichokes, abstract paintings, Asia (either the band or the continent - your choice)... or anything else that has some meaning for you.

Well, here is my "A" -- the ANA YMCA Synchers. They are the "swim" of Aswim in Knits, the synchronized swimming team that I coach.



This is their photo from last year's water show. I'm the one in the pink shirt, in the right front. Our swimmers are great! I coach our "B" and "C" teams, which are girls from 7th grade through high school. All of our swimmers are very talented ... our "A" team placed 9th in their age group at their national meet last summer. Our "B" team, while having fewer medals and other wins, is an up and coming group. Our "C" team, newer to the sport, also show good potential.

Boy, do these swimmers keep me on my toes!! They are all good kids, just with the quirks that come from being a teenager.

They are boy crazy ... space cadets ... intensely focused ... drama queens ... sarcastic ... sweet ... goofy ... serious ... hate their teammates... love their teammates ... hard workers ... hardly working at all ...

They are blonde, brunette, dark haired, and red haired. Tall, short, skinny, heavy, and everywhere in between. Every one of them thinks that they would like to be different ... taller, shorter, thinner, curvier, with different hair or skin. They have highlights in their hair (some even had professional salon highlights at the age of 12!!!), green nailpolish, pink lipstick, and sparkly eyeshadow. They have acne and porcelain skin, braces and beautiful smiles.

They hate their parents one minute, and the next day, they don't want to go to a meet without them. They will sniffle and cry and hug me, and they will ignore me as if I was not there. They will stay late for extra work, and will be the first ones to rush to the hot showers at the end of the practice.

They have inside jokes, silly jokes, funny jokes, and cruel jokes. They talk and laugh and cry and talk and laugh some more. They could talk a cat off of a fish wagon. They email, text message, IM, and blog (some have been bloggers longer than me), and I bet some still pass notes in school the old fashioned way. They use ballpoint pens to write on their hands, legs, sneakers, backpacks, notebooks, and anything else with a blank surface.

I love them all dearly, even when they make me want to tear my hair out. This is why I coach.