SOL26: March 2: Piles of Crocs

I am writing as part of the Slice of Life Story Challenge to write every day in March.  Here is a slice of my day, yesterday.  

I started the afternoon in a large, windowless gymnasium where guests and grandparents were sent to await the "big event" that was, of course, running behind schedule. 

There were lots of boys clad in competition swimsuits and team-logo caps tossing every kind of ball imaginable along the floor and in the air. Those who could not find a ball, tossed balled up socks, bags of chips or their Crocs! The sounds of excited eight year-olds playing air and floor hockey, volley and basketball, as well as boy-in-the-middle echoed off the walls. Some of the rowdiest took to frenetic games of jumping over swim bags or piles of Crocs! The noise was deafening; yet, the boys and those parents assigned to protect them from serious injury seemed as if the scenario was a normal part of a swim meet delay. 

To be honest, to me it seemed like an absolute worst case, after a month-long indoor recess scene from a teacher nightmare! Then, in an instant, they were silent and bouncing down the stairs to their destination where all that energy was put to good use!  They smiled and talked softly to each other as they waited patiently for their turn to jump into the pool, and swim back and forth with all their might! I even overhead that at least some of them were tired after they located their Crocs and headed home.