Teenage Dream

When I was in high school I thought that I was the coolest person around. I thought I knew everything and anyone who told me otherwise was OBVIOUSLY wrong. I am now coaching high schoolers in swimming and I have realized how hilarious I must have been as a teenager. I have classed teenagers into 3 different categories.

1. Drama Queens/Divas/Divos/etc.

One swimmer on this high school team is the definition of a divo. He has to have all the attention and everyone has to know how tired, sore, in pain he is because he is working the absolute hardest out of anyone. If something hurts he takes it to the extreme. Once he came up to the other coach and me and told us his scapula was ripping apart from his spine. Another time he told us his esophagus was severed or that he was coughing up blood. It was great really, but he was quite serious about it. When he works hard he gets this look on his face where his eyebrows furrow together, his lips pucker out and his cheeks puff out with every breath sounding quite strained. So hilarious.

2. I'm too tough for you

I have had many a swimmer that claims they don't need help and they can do it on their own. False. They are apparently too cool for school, I guess. These swimmers have presented a problem because they don't really try to learn, they think they can do it all on their own. These teenagers can be quite funny as well because they basically show us who is right in the long run...aka the instructor/teacher/swim coach/etc. Teenagers like this are actually my favorite because I have become really good at breaking them down, humbling them, and seeing their true personality.

3. I need my mommy

These swimmers are generally the same as the too tough for you swimmers in that they have the same attitude toward instruction, but they break down easier because really they just want attention and their mommy. I spent a whole practice yesterday being a mommy to a sick boy, 3 girls who didn't want to do their work, and a boy who severely injured his "jewels" with a pull buoy. I was going back and forth between all of these teenagers giving them the attention they desperately called for. Teenagers are very attention desperate. As my mom would say, up until I left the house, when I was upset: "What? Is your attention meter low again? Let's fill it up." This obviously didn't make my pride feel better, but it made me feel better in the long run.