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Stretch
by Pete Temple,
Express Sports Editor
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111 E. Grand St. P.O. Box 191, Monticello, Iowa 52310 • 319-465-3555 • mexpress@n-connect.net
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Sports Editor's Column |
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Home
Stretch
by Pete Temple,
Express Sports Editor
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| It's been a splash |
A few years ago, one of the first years with our boys at the Monticello Aquatic Center, the harsh reality of the end of the pool season became abundantly clear. A girl took the public address microphone as the pool closed on its final day of that year. After the usual statement, telling us to “exit the pool safely,” she offered another, more ominous remark: “Have a nice fall and winter.” Words like those tend to hit you as hard as the water after you jump off the high dive. It’s going to happen again, probably this weekend. We are going to have to say goodbye to the pool for another year. In general, I’m not one of those who sheds a tear over the end of summer. I’m more than ready for the heat and humidity, not to mention the bugs, and my current case of poison ivy, to be in the rear-view mirror. Fall means football and the rest of the fall sports, and later, it means hockey. Best of all, it means cooler weather, bonfires with friends and great sleeping nights. Still, it will be a little sad, as it always is, when we drive by and realize the water has been drained from the pool for another year. Every year at the pool with our boys, now 7 and 5, is a breakthrough year in some way. This year, the older one started off timidly climbing the ladder to the high dive, and by the end of the season he was jumping off and catching a Splash Ball tossed up to him by yours truly. The younger one finally got the courage to go off the low dive early in the summer, and by the end of August the number of his jumps probably reached four figures. We enjoyed it too, of course, watching them gain courage and find new ways to have fun. But there are a whole lot of people who made this a special summer at the pool: • The lifeguards, particularly the few who stuck around after their colleagues had gone away to school and sports, and worked extra shifts so the pool could stay open a couple extra weeks. And special thanks to Tami Bartram, whose hard work made sure the season ran smoothly. • The Monticello Swimming Team, which put together another hugely successful year and two well-attended home meets. The number of volunteers it takes to pull off one of those meets (not to mention the patience to stand with a stopwatch for several hours) is staggering, but they did it. • The divers whose high, dramatic, athletic, twisting dives made me watch with awe. I don’t know how many times I turned to my wife and said “Watch this one.” And I don’t know how many times I thought: “I wish I had the guts to try that.” • The friends who played with our boys in and out of the pool. There was rarely a day when there wasn’t at least one favorite playmate nearby. • The Man Upstairs, for keeping everyone safe for another year. • The other kids who picked up on my Splash Ball tosses with my boy, and wanted to participate too. On some days I was tossing the ball up to five or six different kids, and it’s very possible I had more fun than they did. • The lifeguards again, for taking 15-minute pool breaks. The kids hate these, but those of us who are 18-and-older (and in my case, way older) suddenly have a free path in which to lap swim, if we so desire. The tough part about the pool season ending is that it is such a long time before it opens again. Oh, well. Have a nice fall and winter. (Contact the writer: ptemple@monticelloexpress.com) |
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