This weekend was something special as far as dreams and
ambitions are concerned. And a whole host of learnings and character building
was done.
Jispa has been swimming for, I think 5 years now. She has
slowly but surely kept scaling one peak after another. She keeps on swimming and
wants to push her boundaries on her own. She knows what her goals are and she
wants to achieve them. Many times we have given up and told her point blank, we
would be happy if you give it up but there is some inner fire, some inner
desire that she wants to achieve and that is fueling her dedication. She is
dedicated to swimming. As far as natural talent for swimming is concerned, I don’t
think she is up there with the natural born swimmers who just get into the pool
and know what to do and how to do it. These kids just keep winning championship
and break records one after another. They can do this with less effort and
dedication. They are just meant to swim and they feel the water and cut through
it much better than anyone else. Jispa is not that. For her swimming is hard
work, a lot of effort and a whole lot of grit. If she doesn’t work as hard she
will not be able to make it.
She likes to go for her sessions and she doesn’t miss many.
At least not even one by choice. She would miss only due to illness or some
other school commitment or our family vacations or something like that. She
wakes up on time without too much fuss these days and she eats her bananas and
she has her medicines (ayurvedic general health types) and she goes for her
swimming. I am sure if the pool was close by she would have gone there by
herself.
When the swimming timings started interfering with the
studies timing we made it very clear to her that we would not let one affect
the other. She has been trying her bets to keep up with studies as well. Right
now the new distraction is her cell phone and whatsapp. That is another
mountain for her to overcome. But all said and done, her quiet dedication to
her swimming is something that has our utmost respect.
Though I think she doesn’t listen to her coach enough on her
technique and that takes a beating and stops her from achieving the next level.
So all in all, it’s a tough swim schedule and sport for her.
But she has really done well, and I think we respect that. Jasmine is not prone
to showing emotions but I know for a fact that she is quite proud of her
achievements. Of course Jasmine has a tendency to keep upping the game and
demanding more and I tend to just be equally straight face. In the meets and
the competitions and in the training pool etc, we meet parents of all types.
There are always a bunch of fathers or mothers who are completely not bothered
by all this. They don’t come to the events and meets and they have no clue
about this and they are very clearly not in support of the swim schedules their
kids keep. On the other side you have the crazy parents where both are heavily
involved and bothered about the progress of the child and some who are
completely committed to their kid’s achievements. Their cheering is one thing,
their level of competiveness is another thing and the pressure they put on
their child is to be seen to be believed. Here there is plenty of stupid word
of mouth, half knowledge and a crazy ability and desire to push your child. Very
early enough I decided that I will not give any input to the child. I will keep
all my supposed intelligence to myself. In fact, I will do only what a father
needs to do. Wake up and take the child to swim. I will help in the auxiliary
things, such as getting the kid to eat, take care of her health and most
important of them all – massage the kids legs and back at night. Because the
coach would just kill her by giving the hard, really hard sets. Wow.
This year in the middle we changed our pool and we went to a
new coach. He set the target high for the kid and gave the toughest sets
possible to all the kids. He pushed the kids to work hard. Jispa also had two
sessions extra of land training. We practically woke up early every single day
of the week. The result – Jispa started performing beyond what she was doing
thus so far. It was a tough long grind. She was getting ready for the state championships
wherein she could fulfill her long cherished dream. DAD, one day, one time at least
– I want to go to the nationals. The state championships were held last week
and the weekend before that – She was down with fever and tonsils. Bam… out of the
blue she was out and her crucial taper period where the coach gives easy swims
to taper the kid so as to have relaxed and ready rested muscles, was lost.
There was no way she would recover from this. The antibiotics would kill her
muscles.
So she just made in time for the state selection meet. Her first
race was a 100 m free which she promptly lost to come 6th or 8th
place. She gave 2 seconds worse off her best. This was not going to be her
meet. She went through the other races, improving only a little by little. The
last race for her was the 50M back. I had seen her 100 M back and I had told
her, here is your last chance and I genuinely think you will max this. Jispa
has a good take off from the block. She inevitably has an explosive start
because she uses her legs well to kick off.. also the case with her tumble
turn... but she fritters away the advantage midway into the course. 50M is one
place where in spite of her ill health, she had a chance. I told her, I think
you will make it in the 50. It was a bit of a bravado but inside I knew there
was hope. Also the three days of competition meant that her body would get that
much more time to recover from the illness.
She started the race well and I followed her to the finish.
I think I also screamed and cheered her (something I don’t normally do)… and
then towards the last 10, I knew it, Jispa was not in the top two. Only the top
two qualify. And so I simply turned and walked away. I am very good with the
finishes and normally I know the podium finish order in a close race. In
swimming it’s not easy to do that. Jispa was a third or even a fourth. As I walked
towards Jasmine, I saw all the other parents crowding around Jasmine and
congratulating her. WTF? This can’t be true. It’s… it’s impossible. That’s when
I saw the screen. Jispa was in lane 3 and she was in second place. The touch
pads showed the result. Something happened and Jispa must have stretched her
last 5 meters to beat the the kid by 20 micro seconds, one fifth of a second.
JISPA WAS GOING FOR HER NATIONALS TO BANGALORE! THAT’S IT. JISPA HAS MADE IT.
WOW. She did it. She did it. Pune who came third did raise a
formal complaint which was dismissed. The touch pad is it. She did it.
She would have been able to do it in a few more races if her
tonsils had not acted up. But this was a moment to treasure. It was a big deal
for all of us. A very big deal.
I am not so sure what chance she has at the Nationals. All
the kids are within 1 second of each other. Jispa has only one event to
concentrate on. One month to work on only one event – the 50M Back. That in
many ways is a boon. So now she can work towards one stroke and one distance. I
think that will now be her best chance. No distraction and a clear focus to
achieve one event, one super burst, one chance for redemption and glory …
hehehe… now I sound like chariots of fire. *theme music playing already*
So let’s see now. She also has her vacations going unlike
the other kids which gives her the best platform to perform at the best
platform she could hope for.
I keep telling her that her next few years might be the best
yet. She has only had 6 months with the new training program. Imagine what a
year or so would help her achieve. So there… I only hope that you enjoy the
ride and don’t let the burden of expectations weigh you down.
