Getting into JO’s
“If I don’t do this, I’ll never forgive myself,” dire words from my 7-year-old son, Lynx.
In mid-January 2025, days leading up to it, Lynx was at his team’s swim meet with his best friend Liam. Liam swam faster than Lynx that Saturday, but despite that, Lynx was so happy with his results. He was also happy for Liam.
But that all changed the next day. On Sunday, Liam swam so fast that he qualified for a big meet, the PVS Championships, formerly known as the Junior Olympics (or JO’s for short). Even though Lynx had swam that same event and had done really well, now that Liam was going to the Junior Olympics and he wasn’t, Lynx was devastated.
He spent that entire afternoon crying, and talked about it incessantly for the next few days. But, luckily, his coach decided to sign him up for one more qualifying meet. If he got a qualifying time, then he’d get to go, too. This meet was in just three weeks.
A few days later is when he said that quote: “If I don’t do this, I’ll never forgive myself.”
Despite my efforts to put this goal into perspective for him, he just couldn’t accept it. So, I stepped into a new mode: to encourage him to do what I would do.
We put together a plan, and worked through some mindset issues.
THE PLAN: He went to all four practices each week, every week, and we set up two private lessons. Beyond that, we completed several ‘dry land’ workouts together, and I took him to the pool on three additional occasions (missing school for two of them!). It was just us during these extra swim sessions. And, my understanding of swimming is limited, so they had to be managed by him. Which he did. He put together a plan for each 40 minute workout, and executed each plan to perfection. I watched, cheered, and encouraged him.
THE MINDSET WORK: He wanted to attain this goal, so we talked to him as if it was the only option. Changing tack in this way, we focused our messaging on how to work hard, stay focused, and keep swimming even when tired.
For example, when you’re swimming an event, there’s no way to know whether you’re going fast enough. You can’t check your watch like you can while running; you can’t look at the scoreboard to know if you’re winning. You just have to swim faster. So I told him, you may think you’re going fast enough, but you’re not. Go faster.
My husband told him that even if his muscles start to burn, he can keep going. Don’t let that stop you. Your body is capable of more.
THE CONCLUSION: So, in mid-February 2025, the moment arrived. He was on the blocks, ready to dive in for this one, final chance he had to qualify for this Junior Olympics event. In that split second that he was on the blocks, I was helpless. It was all up to him now. I hoped that we had done enough, and had told him the right things.
He dove in and started swimming. During the first half of the event (which lasted 15 seconds), I knew it was too soon to know how this would turn out. But, as he completed his turn and started back to the finish, I knew he had it. His form was perfect. He didn’t slow down at all, like he always had before.
He reached the wall, turned around and saw his time: It was a full half-a-second faster than the JO cut off time!! He had done it! I started crying and he did a fist pump in the water. His best friend, Liam, was next to him and shouted at him, “You did it!! You got into JO’s!!”
Upon leaving the meet, I asked him what he was thinking about during the last half of the swim, and he said, “I thought ‘I have to swim faster. So I did.’”
Here's the video of this incredibly important swim.
And, I took this picture to show how little he is compared to most of the swimmers who ranged in age from 9-14. haha! So cute.
