Sweet Victory

Last week, Megan and her team mates competed for her school's swim team in the Toronto City Finals for swimming. She came in first place for her event. This was her redemption for the heart broken result of the same event in 2010, where she stopped, thinking it was a false start but wasn't. This makes her victory extra special.

Megan is an agile swimmer.  She has consistently won first place in most events for the local swim meets. It's a feast for the eye to watch her swim, especially in a competition.  But victory does not come easy without hard work. We enrolled the kids in the swim program as well as the swim team in the local community centre very early on.  For many years, they practice twice a week in the local swim team, and sometimes, an extra day for the swim program. It takes dedication and perseverance, both for the parents and the kids.

There are lots of benefits for enrolling the kids in local community events. Kids get to interact, compete, and collaborate with others. They get to learn about sportsmanship and to experience both victory and failure.  Most importantly, they learn to set goals and how to achieve them.  Both Megan and Dillon have taken extra courses related to jobs offered by the city for youth, especially courses offered by the Life Saving Society to become a lifeguard.  Megan is still too young to work, but Dillon has been working with the city for the last two years in various jobs.  Early this year he completed the necessary courses and is now fully certified as a member of the Canadian Lifesaving Society and he was offered a job as a lifeguard this summer for the city.  The jobs teach the kids about responsibilities, time management (school and work), money management (what to do with the money earned), and self-esteem.  The benefits are enormous and the experience builds a good foundation for future career and life skills.

Megan - Olympus E-M5 & Contax S-Planar 60mm f2.8 Makro @ f2.8