Swimming pool ponderings

I've just recently come home from my vacation this summer. I went out west to visit some of my family. The weather was gorgeous, and there weren't too many days where swimming wasn't part of the day's activities. Many trips to various beaches, which I'll post some pictures of when I get around to uploading them to my computer.

We also frequented a public pool that was nearby my sister's house a couple times. One time that we were there, there was a little girl that is wheelchair-ridden, and it just facinated me to watch her in the water. She was about 7 years old or so. She used a flotation device, as she has no use of her legs, but she seemed to have incredible power in her arms for a little bit of a thing that she was! I couldn't help but think that this little girl could end up being a paralympic swimmer in the future.

I had read a web release about Nancy Burpee once, and was very much reminded of her, while watching this little girl paddle about in the water. Burpee was the world record paralympic swimmer that was sadly disqualified by an Australian ref on a technicality while trying out for the 2004 Paralympic Games. She ended up hiring a lawyer to take action against the United States Olympic Committee. Kevin Simmons of Simmons Jannace & Stagg took on Nancy's case, and did so pro-bono. Unfortunately though, an independent arbitrator ruled against Nancy, and she lost the chance to compete with the US Paralympic team at the 2004 games.

I can only hope that the little girl I saw at the pool won't run into the same type of issues and judges, should she ever decide to compete as a paralympic athlete in her future.