The Bub in the Belly

I thought I'd post something light today, so here's a photo of Ryan flying into the pool last Sunday!

I remember mentioning a long while back on the blog that I prefer him to dive in head first instead of feet first, but seeing him flying like that... oh my, I wouldn't have it any other way. Just look at his posture and expression! So confident, fearless and joyful! I guess that's the important thing and, probably, the point of the exercise. When Coach actually wants the children to dive in head first, he will use a hoop and tell them to dive through. Otherwise, when it's jumping off the side like this, the children can jump in any way they like and all of them jump in feet first.

Apart from the free-flying posture, the other significant sign of progress is that Ryan was the first to jump in! He used to be the absolute last - he would watch all the others jump in first before he did. Most of the time, he would be pointing at each student as they dove in and saying "Jump!" (I guess he was making mental notes?). Actually, whether swimming or not, he always takes his time to observe carefully how something is done before going for it. The fact that he's not waiting around anymore here, means that he's satisfied that he can do it perfectly. And he did!