Summer Water Polo !

Today is the first day of Summer Water Polo Practice. Again. 30+ years of summer practice. Again.

If you want to come to the pool and work hard, you are always invited to the biggest and best pool hop of all. Same great coach teaching all the right stuff for 30+ years. Able to give 10 years of knowledge in less than 10 minutes of lecture on the pool deck. Amazing. Veteran, Rookie or old and washed up- all treated the same, all yelled at the same. Fairly and equally. Even when you completely screw up and are yelled at the entire practice, somewhere along the way, somehow, Coach always finds a way to stick you with a kind word and a smile to draw you back in and make you work all the harder and want excellence all the more. And if you screw up so bad we all start laughing at you, we ALL laugh hard, because we all know- I am next- and that is ok. It's done and handed out- fairly and equally. We are lucky to hang out at the pool with Coach. He really is a special human.

We come to the pool to work hard, to learn how to pound you so hard your snot bubbles through your nose and ears, so we score more than you, and we win. Always. Nothing else is acceptable. That's just what we do in Summer Water Polo.

How many times have I made the 10 mile bike ride over to the pool and 10 miles back home? Countless too I suppose in the last 30+ years. Some days its all uphill over and back. Ugh! Some days its all down hill both directions. And oh how we pray for those great down hill days with endless energy! Those are the days to put it harder and faster than I have ever gone. Take it and GO!

On the ride, on the way over to the pool this evening, I was thinking how much I take for granted along the way and how wonderful being outside really is. Sunny, cloudy, hot, cold, foggy, rain, wind, some of the best sunsets with clouds on earth that get swallowed up by the mountains, the full moon rising at dusk to light my way home in the dark- on the ride I have everything Mother Nature has to offer. The orchards that are left, the huge old oak trees that have survived countless car hits and semi-truck top limb tear offs, the neighbors fruit trees they let me nibble off every year. The hawks, falcons, seagulls, crows, song birds, the snails I get to wheel crunch, the squirrels that cluck at me from up on high and run across my path and jet up the other sides of the trees they pick, all my dog buddy friends I have made over the years that I have to stop off and give a good pet with a good ear and back scratch, the cats in the house windows that wave to me with their tail flicks, the old cat that slept on the car in the sun- but would wake up when I came by and hop off his car and run out to the curb and demand I stop and give him a good back scratch- and I always did- his poor old creaky and skinny body with the hair gone in so many places I was mostly petting skin and had to be so gentle and careful with him- and he enjoyed it so much I always felt bad when I stopped because he loved being touched so much.... I miss him now and always think about him when I ride by that house...., snakes of several varieties, the little lizards that make their homes on and along the paved bike paths I ride. All the people at their homes I know on a daily basis with a nod but have never met. The several creeks I cross, with frogs, rats, skunks, raccoons, herons, ducks, the countless variety of birds that haul ass and use the water ways as a path to only they know where. The guys at the fire station that have never run me over when they leave the station lights blazing, but, we always wave to each other, emergency or not. The train engineers in the huge locomotives in tandem that pull 100+ coal cars that occasionally block my way so I can marvel at the largest piston driven engines to ever cross my ride- those guys are cool- they wave too. And the people in their cars and trucks, they sometimes wave too, but they usually only use one finger. What's up with THAT wave?

So. First evening practice. The early group of High School and youngers. Young and eager to learn. Working hard for 2 hours. 130+ guys in the pool, split into 3 groups. That is a lotta balls in the pool banging around. Good thing they all have helmets on! When they are done, they don't stick around. They all leave- fast. Not sure that is a good thing. I hope a few stick around and watch the next practice and learn by watching the more experienced.

Last evening practice. All us older guys and a few women. Tonite they got a good lecture, banged the balls around, and swam long course scrimmage. It was ugly, sloppy, and dirty, the way the first practice always is. Everyone was seriously dragging on the head up flys at the end of practice. I swam 7 500's and was seriously dragging on that last one too. Mostly a lazy mind, hardly any body issue. I owe that extra 500. It won't happen any time this week as I will be doing the same workout all week. Next week I will catch up when the body catches up with the usual strain. It's no fun getting old now. In the early days, the balls would be put to the wall and just gun and grit it out and go the proper distance and to heck with being sore. However, with no place to go, and no serious event to ever train for ever again, who really cares.... Well, I do. Have to look myself in that workout mirror and always measure up. And Coach does. And I don't want to be on that end of that head shake sideways with the whistle in the mouth with no words and the walk away....That silence says it all- and its ugly. Ugh! Being the best is never easy. Damn. Adding that 500 next workout!

First day of Water Polo Practice! Over and put in the history books! Onward and upwards! Eat well! Rest up! See you back in 24 to pound your ass to the bottom of the pool !

The Pool!

I rode my bike by the pool tonight. 

As always, that late,  the gate was locked, the water lights were on in the pool, the water was like glass, water light blue, clean and clear. Everything in the pool area was safe and secure. And. it is. 

Because I look after the pool. Every time I swim in the pool, I clean the debris that has been thrown or blown in the pool. I always pick up the trash some idiot left on the pool deck and in the locker rooms, clean the leaves off the deck that have blown in off the trees and shrubs, clean the filter baskets, and turn off the water someone left running. When I'm done, the pool is in safe and happy. 

The pool was happy after my swim tonight. And called out to me as I rode my bike away, thanking me and inviting me back again tomorrow.