Ensuring a legacy

For the next three days, I will be hanging out in Lincoln for the Nebraska State Swim and Dive Championships. Three days of a middle-aged woman among teenagers in skin-tight speedos, jammers and speed suits. My ego will be in check.

But I digress.

First, I would like to wish all of the McCook swimmers and divers good luck as they compete against swimmers and divers from across the state. Swimming is unique in Nebraska sports in that there are no class divisions. There are no A, B, C or D distinctions to divide the teams. McCook is competing against every school in Omaha, Lincoln and across the state with a swim team. McCook is among the smallest schools - if not the smallest - with a swim team and remains competitive.

And to qualify for the state meet, swimmers must post not just qualifying times as set by the NSAA, but also post qualifying times which are among the fastest in the state compared to all the other swimmers. So to qualify is an accomplishment, although everyone who heads to the pool at the Deveny Center is not there just to compete but to be competitive.

In addition to celebrating these swimmers and divers, there are two reasons I bring this up.

The first is very personal since my husband, Jon Graff, is the head coach for the swim team. His assistant coach is Dan Burns. Both of these men are McCook natives and graduates of McCook High School, who chose to return to their hometown and raise their families.

Dan and Jon didn’t just go to school together. They also competed on the swim and dive teams growing up. As they have for many years, they are sharing their passion and expertise for the sport with younger people. In fact, this year they are both taking one of their own high school child to the state meet to compete.

So we are seeing one generation pass along their love of a sport and their high school and their hometown directly to the next generation. This is something that should be celebrated. As we look at the pictures of these state swimmers, are we seeing the next generation of coaches, teachers, workers, leaders, volunteers, city council members who will choose to return to McCook?

That leads to the second reason I bring up the swim team and yes, it’s personal again.

(I should have “pool” tattoo’d across my forehead because not a day goes by that I don’t talk about it.)

If we want to remain competitive in swimming on the state level, we must have kids who have a love of swimming to start with. They must enjoy being the pool just for fun, otherwise they won’t want to dedicate the countless hours needs to be competitive.

This means creating an environment - yes, creating a pool - where kids want to be, where they want to be for generations to come.

And building a pool isn’t just about having a competitive swim team.

We live among three lakes with a river which sometimes has water so kids need to know how to swim. Kids who know how to swim have the additional advantage of a job as a lifeguard. And it’s a lifelong sport…just visit the YMCA during lap time and you will see swimmers of all ages crisscrossing the pool.

The pool is just part of the big picture for our community which needs to be researched and considered as we try to build a place that our kids will want to return to. So ask yourself these questions:

Are we doing enough to encourage our young people right now to return to their hometown? Are we creating a welcoming environment that they want to be part of? Are we building a community that gets them (and us) excited to belong to?

Our young people, as well as other newcomers, should not be here because they don’t have any other choice but because they choose to, because they want to, because they know we are dong everything we can to make that happen.

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I would personally like to thank everyone who attended McCook’s town hall meeting last week. It was great to see every chair filled, even if they were six feet apart. It was also great to hear such passionate, articulate, thoughtful ideas from so many people.

It was obvious that people care about this community and what to make it even better.

There was a lot going on last week, from basketball games to winter break, so if you haven’t had a chance to share your ideas, there is still time.

In fact, there is always time to share your ideas. You don’t need a town hall or a meeting to contact your representatives and let them know what your think and how you feel.

Look up your city council person’s email. Google your state representative's phone number. Find your school board member’s address.

They can’t make informed decisions if they don’t hear from their constituents to know what you want or think, so take a few minutes to reach out to them. It will take all of us reaching out and working together to make our community an even better place to call home.