group laughter :)

last night
an almost trivial event occurred
i created a game
for the "little kids" on the team
to try to get over
their fear of jumping
off the blocks
it was a simple
but judging from the kids' pleas to
"can we try one more time! pleeeeaaasee???"
i think it was fun enuff
anyways,
the game was pretty simple
i hold a flutter board
a few meters out from the blocks
and they have to jump
and try to touch it
before they enter feet first into the water
then the second time around
i move the board
either farther away
or higher up
depending on how
they did the first time
i know...
simple :)
well,
after maybe round 4 or so
the youngest of our swimmers
and the smallest of our swimmers
but with some serious dive start power
(even the "big kids" admire his starts)
a plucky lil guy
by the name of matthew
decided he wanted to really go for it
so i held up the board
at height higher than my head level
and about 3 meters out from the blocks
as soon as i had raised the board
another swimmer spoke to me from behind
and i turned to answer her question
the timing was perfect
because as i turned
lil matthew
launched himself from the block
like a human missile
but with my head rotating
my hand had moved up and away
and in mid air
again from behind me
(as i'd turned away)
i hear this squeaky high pitched
"heeeeeeeeyyyyyyy!!"
followed by
what sounded like a massive belly flop
i turned back
in time to get soaked by the splash
and see a couple of my swimmers
laughing hysterically
and a bubbling water filled voice
coming from below me
(matthew in the pool)
stating with righteous indignity,
"you moved it! that's not fair!...
...can i try again? please?"
to which i laughed,
"yes, of course!"
as he swam back to the block though
i realized what had happened
as did the other dozen swimmers in my line
and led by the first kid behind the block
(who saw it all)
we all started laughing harder and harder
like an avalanche
gaining momentum
as it breaks away
down a snowy landscape
until
a dozen of my swimmers
(and me :P)
were falling to the ground
clutching our stomachs
because we were laughing so hard
like i said
trivial
...after the lil guy
scrambled out of the pool
and climbed back onto the block
he seemed preplexed
at the sight before him
and couldn't figure out
why we were all hunched over
on the ground
which of course
made us laugh
that much harder
and made the pain in our stomachs
that much greater
8)
i've not laughed like that
in quite a while
and i sure have forgotten
how freeing
such laughter can be
especially
when shared with a whole group of people

anyways
in the end
matthew got his jump
(after i managed to stand up again)
and if you can picture
an 8 year old
3 foot tall
human missile
with a huge grin
that would him :)

the moral of this blog?
games are serious things
when people are having a ton of fun
:)