Annika's Perserverance

More than once, Annika has mentioned feeling nervous as we approached the local pool for her diving class. I knew the inward dive was in her head, so we talked about it a bit and I encouraged her to find other dives that she could work on until her confidence rebounded.

The reason for her apprehension was rooted in another diver (her age) banging her face on the diving board while performing an inward dive. No one could possibly blame her for being skittish around the inward dive! (Personally, I hate watching her do them because it looks like she'll whack her head every time ... 'tis the nature of the dive, I guess.)

I didn't realize until yesterday that it wasn't only the inward dive that was in her head. It was flips, too. I think when that other little girl got hurt, it made Annika realize that diving includes some element of personal risk. She could get hurt, especially if the other girl (who is a very talented and driven diver) could get hurt.

Yesterday, Annika did her forward dives beautifully and without hesitation. When her coach instructed her to try the forward flip, she walked down the diving board and balked a number of times, and even lost her balance and plopped into the pool. On her next attempt, I could see her talking to herself as she walked down the board ... a self pep talk, was my guess. Eventually, she decided it was a good opportunity to give the flip another try and did it! The smile on her face after that initial flip was priceless and I couldn't help but clap for her, as did her coach.

From then on, she flipped without reservation or hesitation. So proud of her!!