It's Okay to Cheat When Swimming the Breaststroke

One of my favorite Ole and Lena jokes goes like this:

Lena was swimming in the women's 200m breaststroke at a local swim meet. Everyone got off to a great start, but Lena quickly fell
behind. The other racers finished the race, hopped out of the pool, and started toweling off. When Lena finally finished swimming, she walked over to the judges' table and said, "I don't mean to sound like a sore loser, but I think those other girls were cheating. They were using their arms.

This week as we watched Braden swim in his first meet, my mom leaned over and whispered, "I hope Braden knows it's okay to cheat."

Apparently Braden figured it out. Braden swam in several races, and we were exhausted just watching. Well, watching and sitting in the humid inferno we call "The Natatorium." (It is a beautiful facility, and the meet was amazingly efficient and well-run, but MAN it was hot!)

Anyway, Braden swam in the 200m IM relay and the 200m freestyle relay. He also swam the 50m backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle.


Three weeks ago, he struggled to swim 50m more than once in swim lesson. But after 3 weeks of swim practice, he's made a lot of improvement. He actually won the 50m backstroke for his age group, which surprised all of us, but most especially Braden.

Here's him touching the wall at the end of that race.


What we were most proud of was his performance in the 50m breaststroke where, yes, he did use his arms. When his teacher called him to get to the platform for the race, I was very surprised. I'd never seen him practice the breaststroke. Never. Now he was supposed to swim 50m?!?!? Well, he was very slow, but he did it. He didn't have a powerful kick or a strong stroke, but he didn't give up. At the wall, he took a moment to catch his breath (actually, he did that in every race. sigh), turned, and started back. The other two racers just finished, and were out of the pool and Braden still had 20m or so left to go. We could tell he was tired, but he kept going. We started cheering for him, and one of the coaches from the other team would encourage him when his head came out of the water, "Go! Bring it home! Come on!"

He finally made it, and dragged himself from the pool. Later he said, "I was worried I would go under!" But he finished and didn't give up. Now he knows he can do it. He knows it will be easier next time. He knows he has more stamina and resolve than he thought he did.