Sports round-up

Summer is drawing to a close, so it's time to take a look back at Isaac's summer activities: swimming and soccer.

The brief overview: he didn't want to enroll in either activity; when they started he hated them both; by the end he tolerated them both. Considering his dislike of organized activities, I hadn't hoped for anything better.

His attitude about soccer, as I wrote in my original post on the subject, showed great improvement as soon as I stopped sitting right on the sidelines. (And stopped nagging, threatening, and bribing!) In fact, on the day of the last soccer class we were picnicking with friends on the other side of the park. When I pointed out that the coach had arrived, Isaac jumped up and ran over to the playing field all by himself. I was very proud of him. He participated in almost everything that day, although eventually he did sit down on the sidelines while the other kids continued to play. (He was overheated, since I couldn't talk him out of wearing jeans and a long-sleeved black shirt despite the 85-degree heat.)

His attitude about swimming also improved. Before the lessons even began, Isaac said, "I just don't like this sort of thing." (I thought this showed remarkable personal insight.) During his first swimming lesson, Isaac cried continuously, wailing, "I don't like anything about this." But after his third lesson, when he voluntarily put his face in the water, he announced, "I like swimming better than soccer." This preference didn't last, however, because his teacher pushed him too hard, and he cried throughout the sixth and last lesson of the session.

What went wrong? The teacher had suggested that he jump off the diving board with her, and he got very upset. Even when we both told him he didn't have to do anything he didn't want to do, he was still upset. Poor kid. Ordinarily they wouldn't encourage such a beginning student to go off the diving board, but she had suggested it, I think, because it was clear that Isaac is fascinated by diving.

The swim school at which Isaac takes lessons also offers springboard diving lessons, and from the first moment he saw the divers, he was transfixed by them. His interest came as a complete surprise to me. I have seldom seen him so engrossed by anything, not even construction equipment! After every lesson we would watch the divers for a while, and then I would have to literally lead him away from the pool because he couldn't tear his eyes away to watch where he was going. One day I decided to stay as long as he wanted, figuring eventually he would get his fill, but after 45 minutes he still didn't want to leave.

Now that his preschool is about to start, will we continue to enroll him in sports? No, I think we'll take a break for a while, although I did sign him up for one last session of swimming. I didn't think six lessons would make enough of an impact, especially since he spent two of them in tears. He has a different teacher for this session, and the two lessons he has had with her went very well. I'm hoping to end Isaac's summer of sports on a positive note.

And what about the diving? Now that I'm writing about it, I realize I don't actually know why diving fascinates Isaac. Does he find it beautiful? Does he want to do it himself? Does he simply want to understand how it works? I'll ask him.

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Edited 8/24/09 to add:

When asked, Isaac said, "I think diving is interesting. I like it for the same reason I like fire trucks."

I didn't find that particularly informative, so I asked him if he thought it was pretty to watch.

He said, "No, it's kind of cool."

I asked, "Do you like trying to figure out what the divers are doing with their bodies?"

To this leading question he merely answered "Yes."