The best inspiration is not to outdo others, but to outdo ourselves

I'm writing about what April's been up to again. She has just taken part in her first ever swimming gala. She has been swimming with the E group of the swim training scheme since January and only hasn't done a gala before because we were away when the last one took place. She was chosen to swim backstroke and front crawl, her breaststroke still has a few issues, although it is getting better.

So it was that we were at John Charles Centre for Sport not long after half seven in the morning, with a very long 'morning' ahead of us. Not surprisingly, April was pretty nervous - but then she didn't really even know what to expect. We bought a programme, she wandered off to get changed and I found my way up into the stands to make sure I'd be able to see what was going on.

Initially the kids did a warm up session, some lane swimming and then some starts practise. Then a very long wait. It was over three hours before April's first race came up! She was down on the poolside messing about with the other kids and talking her coach's ear off. I was taking an interest in the progress of the other kids from her group and looking at their times as they came up on the electronic score board. It was all very official, with boards for them to touch to record their time, timekeepers to catch things if it didn't quite work and kids getting disqualified if they didn't get the stroke right, turn right or start right. Pretty serious stuff.

Anyway, April's first race was the 50m backstroke. She made a good start and swam pretty well, she was obviously trying very hard. What was clear from where I was sitting, high above her, was that she needs to kick her legs more and then she'd probably be faster. However, she did her best and managed to beat her own previous time by 5 seconds. She completed the distance in 59:81, which put here in 28th place out of the 35 9 year old girls who were placed. She wasn't too pleased about that to begin with but cheered up when I pointed out that she had achieved a PB and that I was proud of her for making such a good effort.

Then, right near the end of the gala she finally got to swim her favourite stroke and take part in the 50m freestyle. Again, it was clear that she was trying and doing her best. The first 25m was considerably faster than the second one, so she clearly needs to build up a bit more race stamina. However, she got another PB, knocking 4 seconds off her previous time. She completed the distance in 55:09, which placed her 31st out of 35 9 year old girls. She was pleased with the PB and said that she understood now why she needed to make an effort in training! We shall have to wait and see whether that actually translates to making an effort or not!

Anyway, I am proud of her. She swam her best on the day, she bettered her own times, she coped with a very big and daunting new experience. At least next time she'll know what to expect.