APSS Novice Swim Meet 2013

This certainly marks a milestone for Xav as he took part in his first ever Swim Meet on 10th September 2013.

With the intention to expose him to competition, this is a friendly one of course. ? To also allow him to build up confidence in himself, have fun at the events as well as to teach him on what's about having good sportsmanship.

We have always emphasised to him that in every game or race, be it whatever the outcome is, the most important factor has to be, one has put his/ her best foot forward. Should one wins the race/ game, one has to learn to be humble. Should one loses the race, it is even more important that one does not get upset or feels sore over it and should even have the right mindset to do it better the next time.

The swim meet began with a march past of all the participants.

Spot him !

The first event he took part was 15 LC Meter "Treasure Hunt", mixed 4-6 years old. He had to go underwater and hunt for 8 coloured chips. He came in third at his timing of 22.16. A trophy officially earned based on his own efforts ! Well done, Xav ! He was beaming with joy and yes of course we were proud of him !

The second fun event that we signed him up was 30m Fun Swim for Front crawl kick. He has to swim using the front crawl kick method and at the same time, balance the bowl containing a ping pong ball, without letting the bowl capsized. Sounds easy for us but definitely not for the 5 year old as I believe it be pretty challenging for them.

We realised through this event that he was so conscious of how fast others were, probably to pace himself better ? Eventually, he did not come into the top three. Still, we encouraged him that he had tried his best and he shall aim to do better the next time, with better concentration on how he himself is performing and not being too concern about how far his competitors have gone.

This reminded me of what his Mindchamps trainer told me. He was so mindful over his scoring that he kept wanting to "look" at how his gradings were, which I told him that this should not be the way. He should just perform his usual self and not stressed by the final result. We have never "pushed" him to perform but allow him to perform and shine at his own pace but certainly from here, I felt his stress. We hope that he enjoys whatever he is doing now to have a happy childhood and not feel the stress which would start to creep in once official schooling starts.

Back to the swim meet, he took part in the 30m Pizza category as well. We watched him, his strokes are not perfect and he didn't come in the top three, but I would still say this to him "Well done, my boy !" Seriously, I have doubts if he can "survive" and finish this 30m event as he just learned this stroke recently. He has definitely surprised me with his determination and confidence in completing the pizza swim.



The school is really encouraging, they encourage the students to strive and perform better by giving medals for 4th placement onwards. See how he was beaming away, another medal to add on to his collection.

 His supporters for that evening of course got to be his best daddy, best mummy and of course Baby Vera was there too! The youngest supporter of all.

All we got to say is, it's more than just a race. We taught Xav the determination to keep going, never give up easily, strive to do better if there is room for improvement and be humble should there be a victory !

Most importantly, we want Xav to "Stay healthy and grow up a happy boy !"