CSC bANquet

       This year's Carmel Swim Club Awards Banquet was yesterday and about 500 parents, swimmers, and siblings turned out for a nice brunch and salute to the swimmers.  First photo here is of Matt and his USA Swimming coach, Chris.  I think Chris has about an inch on Matt yet...but we are definitely closing in. 

      We had a table of eight of us who have been around a long, long time, and each year we marvel at how many years we have all been doing this and how little our swimmers were when they started out...we see the little ones go up for their awards and think that there was no way ours were ever that little, but they were...and Alex at the time was the littlest of the littles for about three years running.  At the table with us were John and Jan, whose son Johnny could not be there as he was at a church retreat in southern Indiana.  As it turns out, Johnny won the award for "most improved swimmer" in the senior group and didn't get to go up on stage to receive it...disappointing for his parents as well as for Johnny!  Jan said, "Take picture of the group of all winners up there, and I will Photoshop Johnny in later."  We all had a good laugh over that.   Laurie and Buddy were also at the table, and Harrison's dad Jay, but Krystal never did make it as she was driving Harrison's brothers to various soccer games. (Our loss as Krystal is immensely entertaining always.) 

      I tried to go around and get as many shots as possible, but usually I just ended up chatting and would forget to take photos while standing there with camera in hand...oh, well...here are a few favorites (not all, and apologies to those of you that I did not get photos of...next time, okay?).

      Here are Mike, Matt, Charles, and Elliot.  Elliot is a senior and kept us all laughing during his senior speech.  He first began swimming when he was in 7th grade and we all remember him as this little pudgy (okay, fat) kid who could barely make it from one end of the pool to the next.  He had us all giggling with memories of that and how, as he said it, "My parents decided that I needed to get out of the house, off the couch, and into some exercise.  Just my luck they would pick a sport where the uniform was a skin tight Speedo, not much to it, and showed all my rolls of fat!  I remember one of my first meets, swimming a 100 and stopping at the end of 75 and begging the lane official to let me get out of the pool as I didn't think I could make it to the end."  Elliot is one of the finest swimmers on the team and will leave a big hole when he graduates this year.  Everyone loves Elliot. 

      Lauren and Morgan, if you remember homecoming, Lauren was Matt's date for that and a good friend.  Matt, Mike, Scott, and Lauren have all been invited to some fancy invitation-only swim camp/meet in Arizona in June for swimmers who are 15-16 years old, have very fancy swim times, and might be thinking toward the 2012 Olympics and trials for those...WHAT, ARE YOU KIDDING???   Anyway, we told the boys that they need to look out for Lauren as she is the only girl going and that they should remember to include her so she has some fun and doesn't get lonely. 

      Matt S. and Nick: Matt heading off to college in the fall and Nick being just a year ahead or our Matt, also invited to the fancy swim camp, but apparently could not go for one reason or another.   

      Lacey and Caroline, Lacey who broke all kinds of club/meet records this year and can swim circles around just about anyone on our circuit, and Caroline who used to follow Matt around when she was little because "Matt is just so nice to everyone." 

Brendan and Lauren, an "item" these days, although Brendan will be headed off to college this fall and Lauren still has two more years of high school. 

      Ali and Harrison, NOT an item, but both in close range at the same time so I could say, "Stop.  One minute...can I take a photo?"  One minute was about all they stopped the entire time...nailing jello to the wall trying to get those two stationary for any given length of time.        Caroline again, Sarah, and Matt.  Sarah's dad is Kelly, our friend with ALS who we are constantly asking for prayers for, again...please join us in prayer.  Sarah is the same age as Matt, a terrific swimmer and runner, and her brother Scott is one of CSC's star swimmers.  Scott's birthday is almost exactly a year before Matt's and Scott and Matt look like they could be brothers...when they were younger people often confused them.  Scott was not able to make the banquet, but he is going to the fancy swim time camp in Arizona with Matt, Mike, and Lauren. 

      And, finally, some photos of the parental units...John and Jan posed with Matt as Johnny wasn't there so I could get my annual photo of all of them at the banquet like I have for the past nine years. 

      And, last, but not least, Charles' parents, Paul and Carolyn, who make all the swim meets, meetings, practices, phone calls, carpooling craziness a whole lot of fun!  Congrats to Carolyn on her BIG FANCY NEW POSITION AT WTHR (NBC)...wow...Carolyn is now the News Director at Channel 13!

     Lastly are a couple of photos from the play West Side Story at Guerin on Saturday night that we attended after my birthday dinner at Keltie's.  I had, I thought, a really good photo of Matt and Samantha, but alas, Samantha's eyes were closed, so I will wait and get another soon of the two of them...Samantha was one of the Shark girls in the play and did a great job singing and dancing. 

      In the photo is Sam H., Jared, Meggie, Maria, and Julian.  Meggie had the role of Anita and Maria had the role of Maria...they are both Barb's girls and have been in ICC choirs with Matt, and you might remember Maria from the photos on the choir tour to Italy last summer.  Matt really wanted to try out for plays this year, but play rehearsals and swim practice do not mesh. 

      In this last photo is Daniel, A.J., Katie, and Sam G.  Daniel and A.J. were homeschoolers in our ICHSA group, so Matt has known them both, but especially A.J. for many, many years. 

      And, that wraps up today's post...all the kids are looking forward to seeing their photos today, so I better get this posted before I am out the door for a little volunteer work, lunch with Aimee, and then some more work before picking Matt up and driving to swim practice.  What's up over there today?  Yikes, it is almost 10:00...gotta go..........