Swimmers alert!

For all you swimmers out there...this is an interesting retrospective written by my son John as he returned to the sport of water polo...and the reactions this waterlogged family had to that return, after 20 years.

Date: Fri, 23 Jan 2009 17:30:20 +0000
From: bagus@comcast.net
To: casa@tibet.org; haigs@pghsweb.net
Subject: [Casa] one score
One Score Years and 60 pounds ago, this body climbed out of the pool in East Lansing as a second time bronze medalist in Big 10 polo and hung up Its little funny cap with ear protectors for cleats and a flying disc.

20 years is definitely time enough to forget where the hell you are
supposed to be and who the hell you are supposed to cover. That left me playing D in the hole on the first play.

Tentatively, when the ball came in I climbed up his back reached over
his shoulder and knocked the dude's arm til the ball came loose. Is that
ok? I wondered? What are the rules again?

Whistle blows, ball goes out and comes back in, so I go up again but
there's some help out there and we end up getting the ball away from him and we swim the other way.

For twenty years, I've jumped in oceans and lakes and the occasional
pool and thought about how to tread water and then I'd whip out a few
quick strokes. My how impressive I was to be able to quick start like
that. My how I've forgotten that in a real game, after a few quick
strokes, come about 20 more and then a stop and a turn and then 30 more the other way and then 30 more the other way. We scored that first point and I called for a sub.

After my first stunning D stand, I had had no idea what happened to the
ball. I had no idea when to turn around and go the other way. I go all
the way to the net and find everyone going the other direction and I'm
way out of it. I stay out on top corner, but my defender goes the other
way even tho we still have the ball. But sure enough, turn over, deep
pass, and she gets an easy one on one goal. I didn't come close to
getting involved in a play for the next 20 minutes. Then I finally got
the ball on the wing. Threw it into the hole with the defensive wing
poaching in. It got there but just barely. The hole man says 'you gotta
go somewhere else with that'. Then I get the ball again out top and have to be told, 'walk it in' as no one is covering me. I walk it in and try
to lob one over the hole guy to a spot between him and the goalie. He
however is being held and can't move and the goalie picks it up for an
easy turnover.

I go back on D and try to follow someone but get admonished by the real hole d players, "get outta here" find someone on top. I drift into my
slackluster 10 feet off ultimate frisbee style D and the ball gets to my
guy and he has an open shot to the open hole guy. Goal! Whoops.

We get the ball and I'm out on the wing again and the guy on top
drives. He drifts out and squaks, "Rotate, dude". Huh? Oh, ok, yeah
rotate. End up on top.

Ah yes, so that's right, you have to drive in this game. I give it a
shot next time I'm at point and the hole guy actually throws the ball at
me as I drift out and my arm comes up late and it goes over my head and dude on D gets by me in a second for a turn over. Hmm. These guys and gals are all really really fast and I'd be surprised if I would be
number 15 on this team of 18 back on my prime.

If this was a team. It's just pickup polo. Never quite played it that
way before. So I swim to the side and call for a sub.

Next fit of exhaustion finds me behind my defender as she gets into the
play, but it happens... we get the turn over. I'm already past half pool
and start plodding exhaustedly towards the goal. Sure enough, someone makes a 30 yard pass to a spot 15 feet in front of me. I find a small reserve and get the ball between my arms and swim another 10 yards and pull up on the left side of the goal, which the goalie has covered solidly. I wave the ball around and reali ze I will have to take my lefty shot across the goal to the right side. Plenty of time. Bam. My first goal in 20 years!

Cough cough, "sub!!!!"

My body definitely feels less abused than a day of pickup ultimate, so
I guess I'll go again until spring league starts.



Eternally Grateful for Swimming
And the life lessons are rife! After watching 22 HEATS! of a relay
meet last night, I have spent some time thinking about what water sports have meant to this family.

First of all, acceptance. Andy was delighted to find a sport that he
liked and that liked him. It seemed that followed for all of our guys.

Second of all, humility. There's always a gunner out there who's
better, bigger and smarter than you are, but you can still be on the
same team and succeed.

Thirdly, try it! You might like it. Don't be afraid of new stuff. I
guess Tom is the example for that one. He's proven that you can do
almost anything if you aren't too afraid to try.

Fourthly, introspection...Yeah, You! Spending hours in a pool
practicing lends one to either zone out or try to fix the earth's woe's
as you paddle along. I'm glad you have all become such caring, good
guys. DanS recently joined the board of Hope House, a transitional
living facility for families in crisis.

And as for me...patience is it's own reward! It's worth it to watch a
gazillion kids that you don't know swim their hearts out in a me iet
just to see your own Tim do well in the 100 free. Chlorination, you
bet! (And I guess I should have remembered about not wearing a sweater to a swim meet! It gets HOT and WET!) But I loved every minute of that swim meet last night.
Thanks, Tim - for letting an old lady get back in the swim, figuratively!
Thanks. John. for the interesting perspective on a 20 year hiatus from
aquatic competition. I think we all enjoyed hearing of your re-entry
into the pool. Keep it up.
xo mom

Andrew Haig andyhaig@umich.edu
Mom is right. After sitting through another steamy, chlorinated swim
practice last night I realize that we do indeed owe a lot to swimming.
There are other, more....well more personal benefits from our aquatic
heritage:

Fifth of all, hypoxia. There is nothing quite like the numbing feeling
of your intelligence fading away during a 25 no breather

Sixth of all, blowing donuts. I cannot tell you how much my career has
been advanced by the ability to lie on the grid at the bottom of the
pool, plug my nose, and shout 'Poop! as explosively as possible. The
resultant ring-shaped bubble has indeed helped me influence friends and
forestall my enemies. (Tim? You done it yet? )

Seventh of all, engorgement. We shall never lose the sense of duty to
gorge ourselves with 3 McDonald's shakes and 1 1/2 full sized pizzas for
lunch, 'just in case' practice might happen and the piano might drop on
our heads after 7,000 yd. Even now. 'So you gonna finish that cherry
cheesecake, Vice-Minister Chou?'

Eighth, woollen caps. In moderate temperature as well as frigid. The
nice social worker at the free clinic told me it's OK to empty the jar
of nickels I have hidden under my bed, but I don't think I'll ever get
rid of the rest of my Post-Walters-Stress-Disorder. At work, I'm still
drafting behind the other guy. I promised him I'd lead at the end of
the practice when he's tired.

Ninth...An irrational need, whenever we come to a body of fresh water,
to calculate our ability to cross it. Regardless of lamprey's, power
boats, or hepatitis A. Without a rescue boat, and for god's sake, no
wet suit! Lake Champlain was OK last summer until the thunderstorm
hit.

I'll stop here in order to allow other swimmers to wax on their delight
and humility and et cetera.

Gentlemen? Ladies?
Andrew J. Haig, M.D.
Professor
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
The University of Michigan

From: gizard@gmail.com On Behalf Of Dan Haig
Sent: Saturday, January 24, 2009 8:40 AM
Subject: Subject: RE: [Casa] one score
10. The out of body experience once you get past 5000 yards
11. Making me listen to my own stupid brain for so long that even it
gets bored and shuts itself off, when the fun really begins.
12. Prodigious lung capacity.
13. Prolonged exposure to frigid waters and heavy exertion renders one
immune to the usual boredom that creeps in after 10 minutes of taking
a shower, enabling the 30-40 minute showers otherwise unattainable by
mortals.
14. Introduces one to bizarre characters of dubious sanity.
.d

Tom Haig tomhaig@hotmail.com
Subject: RE: [Casa] one score
Did you see any polo from Beijing? Those guys were absolutely
huge - size of linebackers, belly and all. I remember the Polo team on the cover of SI before the Atlanta games. They were all a bunch of in-shape pretty boys. Not no more. These guys look more like Bagus and Ox than Brad Pitt. It's a mean, mean game. Tom Haig

Haig/Johnson Communications bhaig@wi.rr.com
Subject: RE: [Casa] one score
The lung capacity thing was certainly made clear last night! Tim and
friends had another improv night, and one of the scenes involved two people yakking about something while a third put his head in a bucket of water for as long as he could (when he finally came up for air, the skit topic changed to whatever he made up that he was doing - eg, just got spurted by a whale, just came in from a hurricane, etc). Needless to say, the two had to REALLY vamp while Tim was underwater!

BH