I Go Back. . .Memories of a Gator Dad (Vol. 2)

This is the Sound of Music version, because. . .well, after 16 years, these are a few of my favorite things:

Gator Grunts. . .The Awards Banquet & Campout. . .Gator relays. . .helping with set-up before the first home A meet of the season. . .helping with take-down after any home B meet. . .having adult beverages in the Pavilion after the B meet take-down. . .Gator Relays.

Setting up the team tents during the land rush of All-Star relay mornings. . .Michael Phelps. . .Gator Senior Day. . .parents attending their first A meet and realizing this is very cool. . .the courage of the disabled swimmers on NVSL teams. . .Gator Relays.

Watching my daughters set both individual and relay team records. . .watching any Gator set individual and team records. . .Coach Paul's car being "decorated" at the end of the season by the 13-18s. . .Jason Lezak. . .Changing a flat on I-95 at 2:30 in the morning coming home from my brother's Friday night wedding in NYC so the girls could swim an A meet. . .Gator Relays.

Katie Ledecky. . .All-Star Relays. . .working the deck with a great team of officials. . .watching the kids who were little grow up to become Gator coaches and work with those kids. . .having Paul Makin for ten straight years after going thru multiple coaches. . . Paul and Parker chopping off Dave Blondin's ponytail. . .Gator Relays.

Watching a seven year old who DQ'd in June in fly swim it flawlessly by mid-July. . .sharing the team rep job with my wife for three years. . .the tradition of great Gator team reps. . .the Haleys, the Metters, the Rholls, and now the Phalens. . .team rep gifts. . .Gator Relays.

Other teams coming for the first time, stunned at the beauty of MVP. . .going from Division 13 when Julia started A meets 15 years ago to consistently being Division 3. . .the trophy winning years. . .the IM Invitational. . .when Mount Vernon Park puts on a big meet. . .being told after our first Time Trials that we were booked for the next 11 years of Saturdays in June and July. . .it turning into 15 years. . .Gator Relays.

Being Stat Boy. . .making friends for life. . .seeing MVP Gator magnets on cars while driving around NOVA. . .the theme of the week. . .painted cars -- MVP or other NVSL pools, because we're all in the same zaniness. . .kids happy for swimming personal bests. . .several seasons of haikus. . .writing captions for David Anderson's great photos. . .Gator Relays.

Winning a meet and congratulating the coaches. . .the post-meet handshake. . .going to lunch after road A meets. . .Gator car flags. . .any Gator swag. . .the 2008 men's Olympic 400 meter freestyle relay. . .the goosebumps I get watching that video. . .writing the blog. . .knowing people are reading it and forwarding it to proud grandparents and slightly jealous aunts/uncles. . .Gator relays.

Teen night. . .not teen night, but when the teens get together anyhow to watch movies or just hang out. . ."Be nice!" -- Maddy's request of a slasher in a horror film they all watched in our basement. . .the coaches' retreat. . .paper plate awards. . .Gator relays.

Individual All-Stars, because the season is over and it's vacation time. . .Paul and the coaches photo time at the Banquet. . .Pasta Dinner says it is summertime again. . .having adult beverages at Pasta Dinner. . .there is no more volunteer intensive sport than swimming. . .answering questions from parents new to swim. . .Gator relays.

The end of season campout. . .David Anderson's videos. . .(Ken Rholl's videos too!). . .the GIFs. . .the fun of the All-Star party. . .the realization of parents that All-Star relays is a very, very cool event that Gators celebrate well. . .Primo's after Relay Carnival. . .winning the Sportsmanship Awards. . .Cassidy Bayer holding nearly every Gator record for the girls. . .relays setting NVSL records (broken this year). . .Gator relays.

Parents in work clothes at B meets. . .knowing they came from work for about a minute of their kid swimming two strokes. . .and the parents know nothing about swim (that was me in 1999!). . .how the hill by the 25 meter pool goes from packed to empty through the evening. . .Coaches swimming with the 5 and 6 year olds in their first B meet race. . .Refereeing a B meet, unable to get that Pat Green song out of my head -- "It came upon me wave on wave" as heat after heat of 8 & under freestyle came from Clerk of Course, of course. . .Gator relays.

Running into swim families at MVP and talk about swim. . .Running into swim families at MVP and talking about vacation plans. . .running into parents who used to be on swim team in years past, and getting the updates on their college students/college grads/great kids. . .having a beer with some parents at 3am at the campout. . .knowing your kids are safe at pool parties because they are strong swimmers at age 8 or 9. . .Gator relays.

The excitement the day of a big meet. . .the Gator Cake. . .dropping doughnuts off at practice for the coaches. . .sampling the goods at the pancake pep rally. . .smoothly run meets because of the great Gator volunteers. . .the Gator Cafe. . .warm-up rallies in the pool before the meet. . .relay rallies during the break. . .Gator relays.

Having the new 25 meter pool so we could have meets there rather than at the 50 meter pool. . .watching kids who don't regularly make A meets stick with the team to be coaches and walk the Arch of Fins for senior day. . .learning the great colleges and post high school plans the graduating seniors have. . .reading memories of a Gator from our graduating seniors. . .Gator relays.

Asking a young parent to volunteer and having them reluctantly agree. . .them loving it!. . .the amount of effort and caring the NVSL leadership puts into running the largest sports league in the country. . .a well run clerk of course, which means a well-run meet. . .divisionals. . .divisional plaques!. . .Gator relays.

Oh, there are a few things that would go on my list of least favorite things. . .the first of which would be "thunder and lightning on a Monday or Wednesday night!". . .but it's not about that.  And, FAR more importantly, the list of my favorite things is miles longer than the other list.  Please feel free to add your comments about your favorite things that I might have missed. . .or even mentioned.  I also reserve the right to add additional favorite things!

Oh yeah, did I mention Gator relays?