Our Dolphins

When we lived within driving distance of the University of North Dakota, our daughters used to take swimming lessons on campus in the summers. We'd sign them up for two two-week sessions of daily half-hour lessons sponsored by SwimAmerica held in the swimming pool in the Hyslop Sports Center. They really enjoyed it and made good progress, and now every time that we're in a hotel swimming pool or at the lake or at the West River Community Center's water park, Susan and I feel good knowing that our kids are able swimmers. (They even give me, a non-swimmer, mini-lessons when we're swimming together!)

The first summer that we lived in Dickinson, the girls took swimming lessons at the outdoor pool across from the park just a couple blocks from our house, and Susan and our neighbor Reba together walked all the kids to the pool for their two weeks of half-hour lessons. The swimming program was run a little differently from SwimAmerica's, but the girls had a good time and wanted to do it again this past summer. However, the times for swimming lessons conflicted with the times of their numerous other activities. We chose the other activities and decided to skip swimming lessons since we have memberships to the West River Community Center and can go there whenever we'd like to swim. So it has been a while since they've received any instruction in swimming.

Well, a week or so ago, the girls came home from school with information about the Dickinson Dolphin Swim Team, a chance for kids to take swimming lessons and swim competitively for much of the year (quite a bit more intense than a two-week session in the summer!). There was a "come and try it out" week, so Susan took the girls . . . and they loved it! Susan was impressed with the instruction that the girls received; she herself will be able to work out while the girls are at practice (the Dolphins use the lap pool at the West River Community Center); and the girls will get excellent exercise on a regular basis (thrice weekly) in a sport for which they seem well suited (you should see them in the water, Dear Reader!).

All three of them started gymnastics lessons once we moved here, but Suzanna asked to stop this year, and the other two are more than happy to give it up in favor of swimming. None of them started gymnastics early enough to really get the basics down, and their once-a-week practices aren't frequent enough for them to have made any notable progress in that sport. They're like fish in the water, though, so we're hoping that they'll find success as Dolphins. At the very least, they should have a good time and get some good exercise in the process.