First swim meet

Well not my first swim meet ever, but first one in India took place today. It was all the Manav Rachna schools from Noida, Faridabad and Gurgaon that came together at the school in sector 46. ( the school where I coach the girls ) 

I knew it would be a different experience... and it was. Biggest thing was the IST .....it felt like it really stretched today...the girls , we , where told to come at 8 and it would start at 9 but by 10.15 and no meet up and running I was starting to wonder ( and sweat like crazy...)

no back stroke flags....at first I couldn't find the starter because he was behind all the swimmers !

I don't think there where any rules of how you could swim the strokes ( but I will find out about that on saturday ) , meaning almost everyone should have been disqualified in breaststroke for instance,( read international rules rec. to FINA ), if only one swimmer ended up at the starting blocks they didn't have to swim it, they got a gold medal anyhow !!

the youngest ones swam 25 meters of each stroke, no fly and the rest swam 50 and 100 in all strokes

each swimmer could enter 3 events and 3 girls in each event from each school

for some of the girls it was their first time at a swim meet so lots of nerve but they did so good !!!

the girls where cheering the boys on and some of the boys where cheering on the girls

Last event at the meet where the relays and we won !!! 4x50 freestyle !! Happy happy girls

Almost everything around the swim meet was run by the seniors at school, speaker,timers and so forth and I must say they did a really good job.......and 

before the meet started the cheerleaders did a dance by the poolside 

We where lucky today because the rain started at the end but most importantly...the thunder and lightning didn't come until it was almost over ! 

Conclusion of the day: I have never been so hot and so sweaty at any swim meet and I have never welcomed the rain at an out door swim meet as I did today !