I Mustn't Pull a Farve

Photo from flickr.com.

I understand exactly why Brett Farve came out of retirement.

I never thought I'd say that and I know most of you expect me to make fun of him and heckle the Packers even more for taking the old geezer, nevertheless attractive geezer, back on the team, but I'm not. Because on Saturday, I officially retired from swimming, so, for a bit of closure, I am going to blog about my last season as one of the Clearwater Dolphin's Head Coaches.

For starters, I am not an athletic person. I love sports, but as far as playing sports goes, I'm injury prone and don't enjoy sweating so me and sports don't get along very well. But for some reason, swimming was that sport that I always just got (mostly because it's a non contact sport and who can tell if you're sweating when you're in water anyway? It all looks the same!). And Clearwater is the reason I started swimming. Like Brett Farve I have been with Clearwater for so many years I've lost count. Two years ago, I was lucky enough to become one of their Head Coaches. I was sort of the Brett Farve of the team, the play maker, the QB in a sense.

Me and Steph, the other head coach at a night meet. Photo by MaryAnn Badenoch.

And as is the case for most coaches, I had a tough first year. Although the team went 4-1 and placed second at the All Team Meet (sort of the Superbowl of swimming) it was a season I could have done without. And if anyone read my blog last summer (thanks mom) you have already received an earful about last summer from nasty opposing coaches, to narrow loses, and to my biggest fear, scary Summit Mommies watching me like a hawk, poised to attack at any opportune moment. It was almost enough to make me not want to come back.

But of course, I couldn't stay away and agreed to another season and thank god I did because this has by far been the best swim team experience of my career. Everything just fell into place and we easily went 5-0, serving a can of you know what to every team we faced. And since we were the only undefeated team in the league, we became the Dual Meet Champions of the league.

Then came the All Team meet this past Saturday. The All Team Meet is sort of like the All Star Game and the Superbowl all in one. It doesn't matter how you got there or what your record was for the season, this meet determines who is the best team in the league that season. With one swimmer or relay team per team in each event, it was truly the best of the best and a meet that we hadn't won in 30 years.

And something magical happened that day. We were supposed to get rained out and we didn't. We had swimmers break records we hadn't even imagined they could break. We had some of our swimmers seeded 5th and 6th place 1st and 2nd. And we did the impossible. We won the meet. And we won by an incredible amount considering it should have been a close meet with all the top swimmers competing from each team.
Photo by Jen Nerby.

And after the last race was swum, and I knew we had it in the bag, I walked over to my team's area to gather up my squad and give one last meet wrap up talk. And that's when it hit me, that's when I knew what it was like to be Farve. The end of my career was minutes away. I had just completed my last meet and a history making season. I was retiring and leaving the perfect situation. I had an unstoppable team that will only get better as the years go on. I had parents who supported me and a club that wanted me to come back and kids who adored me and the rest of the staff. I was crazy to want to leave all of this. And that must have been how Farve felt. People in Wisconsin idolize Farve. He's their star, he makes them feel safe and they know that he's a reliable QB and a team leader. Why leave?

So after we had received our numerous trophies, shook hands, hugged our swimmers, and parted ways, for a split second I considered pulling a Farve and returning to the team. What could it hurt? They wanted me back, I wanted to be back, why not?

But then I realized that coming out of retirement was not the answer. The team was going to be fine without me and there were people ready to take over the team that were just as capable as I was. What I don't think Farve understands is that, it's time for him to move on and give others the spot light. It's time to grow up and pursue other avenues in life. Go out on top because most likely, you won't have some magical season after you come out of retirement. I know the chances of us replicating this season are next to impossible so why come back just knowing that I'll always be thinking, why can't summer 09 be like summer 08? That was the season to remember.

So I might as well go out on top and not be greedy with my time spent with the team. I had my time with the Dolphins just like Farve had his time with the Packers. So although I understand his desire to return and I completely sympathize with him, I know that I have to remind myself that I cannot do the same. It's been a good run with the Dolphins but alas, it is time to hang up the polyester blend coaching shirt and Clearwater bathing suit and move on with my life.


Photo by Me.