A quick note: I know it’s been all Sarah Kate this summer on the blog, but I will share more about Nathan soon. We’ve had one HUGE behavioral breakthrough over the past few weeks AND another potential game-changer for his speech production (yes, I know I used that word for Sarah Kate’s Alinker but it’s true!) Coming soon…
Adaptive Sports USA Junior Nationals is a week-long “pipeline” opportunity for young athletes aspiring to qualify for the US Paralympic team. Sarah Kate competed in swimming, but the event also includes track and field, triathlon, powerlifting, archery, and table tennis. Junior Nationals 2019 was held in Eden Prairie, Minnesota – a suburb of Minneapolis.
Junior Nationals Day 1:
Swim Practice and Stress
We arrived late Saturday night and on Sunday afternoon Sarah Kate had an opportunity to practice in the competition pool. It was a fantastic facility – clean with big windows and lots of light, raised bleacher seating, and a nice locker room. But when it came to practice, all the amenities in the world mean little when the only “coach” you have is your mom who knows very little about swimming technique. We also figured out pretty quick that the majority of the athletes were with teams – many of them very large teams. It was intimidating and stressful.
Also, Sarah Kate fell at the pool a few days before we traveled to Minneapolis and tweaked her back. During practice she could feel the tweak during backstroke, so she decided to scratch that event and only swim the freestyle and breaststroke.
To add insult to injury, the pool’s design was a problem. Sarah Kate worked on her diving all summer and became comfortable with a seated dive on the edge of the pool, but the gutter was really deep – too deep for her to sit on the edge of the pool and be able to put her feet against the wall to push off. Stressful flashback to the start issues she had at The Fred last fall. Fortunately, Glen, the technical classifier we met at The Fred, was a meet official for Junior Nationals. She demonstrated the difficulties for him and he ruled that she could do seated starts from the gutter (but made her promise to stand to dive at The Fred in October). Crisis averted.
Junior Nationals Day 2:
Swimming Competition
On the first day of the competition, Sarah Kate swam the 100 breaststroke and the 100 freestyle. The meet started late because of issues with the timing system – the issues weren’t fully resolved so the competition clock wasn’t working. Although the swimmers compete in each event according to their classification, they are seeded based on their times – no matter what class they are in – to help the meet run more efficiently, so we were in the dark all day about how she finished.
Sarah Kate was seeded first in her class in both events. In the 100 breaststroke, she swam in the lane next to the second seed…and beat her by a full length of the pool. Sarah Kate was finishing when the second place girl was making her last turn. She didn’t set a personal best, but she did break the record – by 24 seconds.
The 100 freestyle was more competitive. Her seed time was faster than the record, but not by much, and the second seed wasn’t much slower. This time, they weren’t in the same heat, either, and with a nonfunctioning clock, we wouldn’t know where they finished until the results came out later…which ended up being the next day! She once again didn’t set a personal best, but still came out on top.
Junior Nationals Day 3:
Swimming Competition
On the second day of competition, Sarah Kate swam the 50 breaststroke and the 50 freestyle. Like the day before, she felt great about her chances in the 50 breast, and once again she blew the field away. But her time wasn’t close to a personal best and I was beginning to worry that the back injury was affecting her a lot more than we realized.
Her final event was the 50 freestyle. She’s been chasing a qualifying time for US Paralympics Nationals ever since December and earlier in the season had hoped that swimming with similarly-abled competitors in an indoor facility in a milder climate might give her an extra sliver of speed. But despite swimming fast enough for three gold medals, she didn’t feel good about the last race and neither did I. She called her swimming mentor, US Paralympic Medalist Cortney Jordan, for advice. The second seed swam in the heat right before her and the clock was working by then so we knew what time Sarah Kate needed for the gold – slower than her seed time, but not by much.
Because I was designated as Sarah Kate’s coach/assistant, I was allowed on the pool deck with her. She was seeded in lane 4 – the top seed for the heat – for the first time ever (well, the first time with other swimmers in the pool). I helped her into position and stepped back. The heat started and I bit my lip – it’s a silent deck so no cheering or coaching athletes on deck. I checked the clock at the turn and my heart sunk. She was too slow. Without a miraculous rally in the final 25 yards, she had no chance, and there would be no miracle.
Junior Nationals Day 3:
The Bright Side
Sarah Kate was upset, there’s no denying it. She didn’t mind finishing second, but she hated knowing that she was able to sweep the field – and the records – and didn’t. We retired to the hotel for a few hours to rest and regroup. The Welcome Ceremony and Parade of Athletes was that evening and she perked up by the time we arrived. All of the teams came in under their state flags, but the independent athletes were at the front of the parade in a group under the US flag. Guess who was asked to carry it?
Junior Nationals Takeaways
- When we walked in the doors at The Fred last year, Sarah Kate said, “These are my people.” It was true then, but even more true at Junior Nationals. For my part, I was fascinated with the different styles of starts and intrigued by the methods many of the athletes used to get around the pool deck.
- When we were on the plane headed home, my mom texted a question to Sarah Kate: What’s next? Her answer was Something Bigger. We chose Junior Nationals because it was a place we felt she would be competitive – after years of always finishing at or near the back – but in the end, she wanted more. A bigger stage. To get beat by Team USA superstars maybe, but still swim in the big leagues.
- She needs to figure out a way to use her legs. Her breaststroke class doesn’t allow her to kick, but for all of the other strokes it’s assumed she derives some power (even if it’s a small amount) from her legs. She used to kick, but over time she found that her brain would allow her arms to work better if she didn’t use her legs. If she is ever going to be competitive nationally in one of the other three strokes, she has to retrain her brain to use her arms and legs at the same time.
But the best takeaway from Junior Nationals wasn’t found in Minnesota.
Sarah Kate worked this summer as a swim coach for her long-time summer team, FAST. I fretted that the other coaches would resent that she wasn’t able to do some of the physical labor, like pulling in the lane ropes at the end of practice, and the meets were tough on her body because she both coached and swam.
But a funny thing happened… While we were in Minnesota, one of the board members asked if she could share my Facebook posts about Junior Nationals on the team page. I thought that was really sweet. And then a week later, at Awards Night, Coach Cathy began talking about the Most Inspirational Swimmer, and I thought it sounded a lot like Sarah Kate – but how could it be her? She was a coach!
At that moment I realized that the coaches, board members, and many of the swimmers were really and truly proud of Sarah Kate’s performance at Junior Nationals. Some of the little kids even wanted their photo taken with her, LOL! I realized that I had it all wrong, from the very beginning.
It’s a lot easier to be a superstar than it is to be the slowest one in the lane, but on a team with 270 kids, not everyone can be a superstar. Sarah Kate was the coach that many of the kids needed because she was both of those things to them – especially the ones at the back of the pack.
What’s Next for Sarah Kate
- It’s high school swim season again, so she’s working on getting back to the state meet…hopefully with some competition this time.
- She hopes to return to The Fred this fall, this time a little wiser and with a little more fire in her belly, because now she knows how far she has the potential to go with para-swimming.
- She’s still chasing US Nationals qualifying times in freestyle, but now she’s working on retraining her brain to use her legs.
- She has started a YouTube channel! I’m not going to say that I don’t plan to blog about her anymore, but if you want to get to know her better, go straight to the source and subscribe.
Don’t forget to join my email list and follow me on Instagram and Facebook! Subscribers receive notice of new blog posts, other tidbits, and links to Sarah Kate’s latest videos in their inbox.
Wow. And congratulations.
I have been watching lots of Against the Odds Olympic videos; about gymnasts who lose their moves [very relevant to Seidman’s post about regression]; bobsledders who lived on the streets until their grandmothers taught them discipline in Salt Lake City and Spanish blind swimmers who pushed through to be in Athens.
“At that moment I realized that the coaches, board members, and many of the swimmers were really and truly proud of Sarah Kate’s performance at Junior Nationals. Some of the little kids even wanted their photo taken with her, LOL! I realized that I had it all wrong, from the very beginning.
It’s a lot easier to be a superstar than it is to be the slowest one in the lane, but on a team with 270 kids, not everyone can be a superstar. Sarah Kate was the coach that many of the kids needed because she was both of those things to them – especially the ones at the back of the pack.”
That is just exactly the coach so many people need – in any sport.
It is so easy to be suspicious when inspiration porn is so common.
That is true respect and honouring.
And I would like to take time for Nathan too especially what you had said at the beginning.
The other swimming YouTube I subscribe to is Mica Botha from South Africa and Swimming Australia of course.
“Fortunately, Glen, the technical classifier we met at The Fred, was a meet official for Junior Nationals. She demonstrated the difficulties for him and he ruled that she could do seated starts from the gutter (but made her promise to stand to dive at The Fred in October). Crisis averted.”
This is another great moment.
Along with the Independent Athletes carrying the flag.
Often when we have Individual Olympic and Paralympic athletes they come from countries which have no infrastructure or have been severely compromised by war or natural or human disaster.
“When we were on the plane headed home, my mom texted a question to Sarah Kate: What’s next? Her answer was Something Bigger. We chose Junior Nationals because it was a place we felt she would be competitive – after years of always finishing at or near the back – but in the end, she wanted more. A bigger stage. To get beat by Team USA superstars maybe, but still swim in the big leagues.”
Hope the clock is fixed really soon and definitely by the next Junior Nationals! Are they advertising for a horologist?