Hi, guys. The reason I'm shooting this series of episodes is to present a fact of american lifestyle
today's episode is about American loves sport, swimming.
hope you guys enjoy this video
today is the second swimming meet of the youth summer league of this season in this region
They are setting out the event center
putting up the tent
let's take a look at what she's doing
there are some kickboard on the ground
she's writing down numbers on the kickboard
these will be the seeding number which are corresponding with the lane numbers swimmer assigned
Here, she's taping the age group gathering zone sign
this spot is for 6& unders
I think this is really funny, that's how American writes the number 6
the first time I saw this type of 6, I thought it was a ugly 4
I think it is an American style 6(I'm not sure how the people in the other country write numbers,we Chinese doesn't write 4 in this way)
the meet starts at 11:00PM
it's 10:39 right now, people are start coming
let's take a look here
most kids are here to perticipate the meet
the youngest swimmer in this team is 5 year-old
the oldest is 18 year-old
they group kids by age
6 & unders are in one group
you can see the parents bringing their kids to the meet
if there are younger children in the family, they will bring them along
the folding chair and cooler and picnic blanket are for outdoor activity
there are some more
in English, there is a phrase called:"soccer mom"
which means the parents spend a lot of time bring their kid to the sport event or other activities
American is enthusiastic about sport
swimming is not the most popular sport they played
The most popular sport should be football, baseball and basket ball
Due to the aggressive nature of football, kids don't play tackle football in their early age
baseball is probably the most popular sport activity among youth
everything is setting up now
Today's swimming meet is the second round meet of this season in this region
There will be 4 meets and 1 final championship meet during this swimming season
even for this sized event, they have home team and guest team to perticipate
they have 5 youth summer swimming leagues in this region
this is interesting: they are setting out the tent
this kind of outdoor products are quite rare in China, like the folding tent
because American has a lot of out door activities, so this is quite common in the States
American value sports so much, some people looks really fit, but most people...
ah, are over weight
I think this is the contradiction side of the sociaty
They value sport, but also been bothered by obessity
see, in less than one minute, they have set up this tent!
right now, they have four tents setting up on the outside for this event
and something worth mention is : the tents are brought by the parents, not provided by the host
If you have it, you just bring it over, share with the others
So the cost won't be too much for the organization who host this event
They call this system "volunteer"
to put together this meet needs over ten volunteers
shepherd parent, timer, judges, inputting the record into the computer, etc, were all volunteer worked by the parents
nobody gets paid for the work
today's meet is taking place at a swimming pool in local high scholl
I think the swimming school rented the place from the school
let's take a look at the pool: it's a short course swimming pool
25 meters(actually,should be yard)
inside the pool, there are 6 lanes
25 meters long(again, I got this wrong, it's 25 yard)
because maintain a swimming pool cost a lot of money
not every public high school has the fund to build or maintain a swimming pool
now we can have a look at the pool
1,2,3,4,5,6, 6 lanes
diving blocks are on the other end
The process is highly organized
every swimmer writes down his/ her name on the shoulder
we can see some words on their shoulders
then you write down the event heat lane number on your arm you are going to participating
1-1-4 means event 1, heat 1, lane 4
the second line is 13-1-6, which means the event 13, heat 1, lane 6
this is some thing interesting
Beside her name,this kid has a slogan on her back
eat my bubbles
it's like a statement against her opponent
obversely, you have to swim behind me to eat my bubbles
see the truck over there, has a penguin on it
That an Ice cream/ shaved ice truck
I don't know how did they find the way here, how could they know there is an sport event
over there, another tent, are selling swimming suits,goggles,caps, etc.
so you can tell how sport industry embedded in America's life
before the meet start, each team have their warm up
It's warm up now
the swimmers are getting into the water
those are older swimmer on that farther of the pool
there are younger swimmer on this side of the pool
younger swimmers are slower than the older ones
and their stork is ugly
right now, the warming up team is the home team, Comet
the one across the pool,with orange swimming caps standing by on the pool deck is the guest team, Baracuda
barracuda is a fearsome fish
the coach is crying out the slogan of the team to cheer them up
the warming up the end for the home team
everyone is going to the waiting area
Now, the kids are stand by for the first event
get ready for the race
heat 1, heat 2, heat 3, heat 4
when the first heat go inside, the others will move upward
one row was gone, then the rest of the moving up
let's take a look at the inside of the pool
these peoples are timers
they are standing on the end of the pool
the kids are on the starting side of the pool
adult is helping them getting seeding
when the kids are waiting
there is an iPad watching kids for us
it's the cheapest nanny you can find the in US
today's episode about American loves sport, swimming is over
I wasn't try to present how good they are at swimming
or how this sport's development in the US
I was more focusing on how much they involve in sport
Hope you like this video