A while ago Zach chose to enter the races for his swimming school. He has just recently moved into the class where he swims the full length of the pool. He has been going to swimming lessons for ages, but I can finally say that he can swim 'properly'. Anyway, a notice about this race evening got sent home after swimming lessons. I asked Zach if he wanted to participate. He was apprehensive at first, but decided that he would like to do it. I was so pleased that he chose to take part, this was a big step for him.The race evening was on Thursday. I picked the kids up from school and then we pretty much went straight to the pool. There were so many kids there, and even more adults! The races were streamed by swimming level and were for one, two and four lengths (25 m, 50 m and 100 m) of freestyle and backstroke. Zach entered into the 25 m freestyle and backstroke races. His first race was the freestyle. He was in the race with 9-11 year olds, so was one of the younger kids in the heat, and he did so well. He swam such a consistent pace the whole length. And, he got second! He got a ribbon and everything! I was so proud of him. He also did really well in his backstroke race, but no placing unfortunately. After the races, Zach, Paige and I went out for dinner to Brew'd (Zach's choice) and had a great meal to celebrate.
The other moment this week that made me very proud of this great little guy was that he chose to take part in his music school's end of year concert. Because there is now little or no music taught in Primary schools, a great business in Lower Hutt has decided to fill that niche. The Goodtime Music Academy offer a number of music tuition services in the Wellington region. One awesome innovation is the "Music Bus" which travels around the schools in the region and offers group lessons for drums, ukulele, keyboard and guitar. The bus is all fitted out with all of the instruments and the lessons are held on the bus. It is also reasonably priced at about $11 per 30 minute lesson. The Music Bus lessons are intended to prepare kids for private tuition (which Goodtime also offer), and eventually Band lessons (which they offer as well). Furthermore, they have set up a charity offering free lessons to children in high deprivation areas that would otherwise have no way of experiencing music lessons. I am a big fan of what they do.
Anyway, Zach attends drum lessons each week on the Music Bus (Paige also has lessons, but she learns the keyboard). He has been going for about 2 years and finds it difficult, but enjoyable. When I talk to him about his lessons he says that he really enjoys them, but he swears black and blue that he does not want to be in a band, or perform in public. So when I received the email about the concert and asked Zach if he wanted to take part, he initially said 'no'. A day or two later, I asked him again (he had obviously been mulling it over in his head). This time he tentatively said 'yes'. Not wanting to waste this opportunity, I promptly signed him up and he got to practising! And he actually practised really hard, each day for several weeks.
On Saturday afternoon, Paige and I, and Zach's Grandma and Papa, went along to watch him perform. There were a lot of kids performing that day, not only from the Music Bus, but from the private tuition and band lessons as well. There was some excellent talent on display. Zach's performance was the last one of the afternoon, and I took the liberty of recording it (excuse the fuzzy video, but Zach is the one on the far right at the front). These kids had not practised together at all, so I was so impressed and proud of Zach gave it a go, and that he excelled!
So, I guess that the lesson for this week is to persevere with the kids. Eventually they will come to things in their own time. I was proud of Zach for succeeding, but I was even more proud of him for taking a risk and having a go.
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