Let's Call Her "E" (Day 442)

I was told an interesting story a few weeks ago. There is a young girl I coach, let's call her "E". This year, E won many awards at our end of the year banquet. She has taken off and become quite the talented swimmer. She's one of my girls who is always smiling, always laughing, but always attentive and focused. Honestly, for her age she's a perfect pupil.

I was told a few days after our banquet that after winning all of the awards, E thanked her mother for taking her to practice. E is only ten years old! A girl that young was able to see that all the hard work she had put in was not because of her alone. If it hadn't been for her mother, she wouldn't have the opportunities to practice and travel to meets. It got me thinking and it made me realize I needed to thank my parents for all of the mornings, evenings, and weekends they sacrificed for my swim career. Without all of that I wouldn't be a coach. I wouldn't get to live this life.

A few weeks have gone by since that incident but I never got to tell E about it. Well tonight, after she swam her last event at the meet, I pulled her to the side and told her I knew what she had thanked her mom for. I successfully held back tears as I told her how kind that was and that she had inspired me to thank my parents for the same thing. She gave me that smile I get every day, the same smile she won an award for, bounced off to the locker room, and was gone.

I hope I can and am an inspiration to my swimmers but at the same time I am so lucky to have swimmers that inspire me. She isn't the only one who has done something that has stopped me in my tracks. Almost everyday one of those little ones says or does something that makes me think about how I'm acting. I am one richly blessed coach.