Well I Didn't Have to Wait 86 Years but Close Enough!

I have been working at experience.com for a year now and my favorite part of the job, besides reading the comments my adoring fans leave (most of the time courtesy of my uncle), is bugging the crap out of the poor intern who has to oversee our blogs. In the past it has been the lovely Jenna but Jenna is out, like Amy Winehouse's lungs and skinny jeans, and in her place is the ever so lovely Allison, or at least she seems lovely in her emails. And I simply ADORE the weekly email's from the intern to the bloggers and last weeks did not disappoint. Allison decided to give us some helpful hints on how to "spice up" our blogs and she suggested a haiku. So, Allison, I couldn't remember how many syllables were in each line of a haiku so instead I am going to write a short verse poem, dedicated to Allison the Intern.

Dear Allison,

Roses are red,
violets are blue,
I really don't give a crap that Spain won the Euro Cup because soccer is a sport that should be reserved for YMCA youth teams only,
so instead I am going to write about my summer swim team.

-Meredith

Ok, maybe that wasn't exactly Shakespeare but it got the point across. Those of you that read my blog last summer will recall that I became a first time, Co-Head Coach of the Clearwater Dolphins, a private swim club in my hometown, last summer. Last year we went 4-1 with our only loss, a heartbreaking one against what I can only call the Evil Empire, or Fish and Game, which is simply a stupid name for a pool club anyway. So, this year I am back in the coaching gig which is surprising to me because I had no intention of coming back at all. The job was just too overwhelming last year and I was really looking forward to my impending internship with 60 Minutes.

To make a long story short, Emerson, and this is the nicest way I can say it, screwed me over and it was bye bye 60 Minutes hello Clearwater! But I have to say, I'm happy I came back for another year because after a year of coaching, I am a lot less overwhelmed than I was last year. 150 kids last year was a number that almost led me into cardiac arrest. This year? Psh, bring it on, give me 250 kids I can still fit them all into a 53 event meet. Fish and Game is our first competitor of the season? Child's play.

Well the last part really isn't true. When I found out we were against Fish and Game to begin our season I immediately began panicking, and this was March. The loss last year can only be compared to when Tim Wakefield blew it in the 2003 playoffs against the Yankees. We were so close to winning and then a million things went wrong. So, although I wanted to beat Fish and Game, the idea of starting the season against them terrified me because nothing is worse than being 0-1 off the bat.

Luckily, I don't have to worry about that! I spent a year thinking about that loss, pouring over lineups with my other coach trying to figure out where we went wrong. Turns out, we had all the tools we needed, we just need to figure out how to out coach them.

And OBVIOUSLY we out coached them because we won! And we didn't just win, we destroyed them 319 to 228. For a meet that I thought was going to be a nail bitter, they didn't even come close. Our kids swam their hardest and that showed in the way they placed and the records they broke. As a coach, it was probably the proudest moment of my coaching career. Just like the 2004 Red Sox, it was a long road to get to the best team in the league, but once we did, it was smooth sailing. And sure, they can argue that they were missing kids and this and that but at the end of the day, we will be the ones, hopefully, presented with the Dual Meet Championship Trophy after we have an undefeated season. Now, I know it's a bit soon to be making room for our glorious new trophy but, as long as we stay on track and don't get too big headed, that trophy has our name on it.

So, does it stink that I didn't get my 60 Minutes internship? Yes. Will there be other summers to do it? Certainly. Am I glad I came back? Without a doubt. Because when you think about it, there is no better way to go out than on top and I plan to go out as an undefeated coach for the 2008 Clearwater Dolphins.