By Terin Frodyma on SwimSwam
Scott Van Pelt, best known as the evening anchor of ESPN’s SportsCenter, is also a proud father of a young swimmer. Van Pelt shared an emotional and touching story on his podcast, the SVPod on ESPN, about his son Charlie, who is just eight years old, winning the 25-meter backstroke at a local championship meet.
His story resonates with nearly all swimming parents: the overwhelming joy and pride in what your child has accomplished. Van Pelt’s story goes a bit further, explaining that this was his son’s race and that, in most instances, he would have won the 25 back if the race had been 10 meters shorter.
“Life is not perfect. But every now and again, maybe, if you are really lucky, there is a perfect moment. And I got to live one.”
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Van Pelt mentions that in life, there are a few moments that you can honestly call perfect, and in this one moment in time, perfect was one of the only ways to describe it.
He begins by mentioning that his son had already had a strong showing at his championship meet leading up to the 25 back, having been seeded outside the top eight in a freestyle race, and ended up finishing 4th, which was already a cool moment for Van Pelt.
Then came time for the 25 backstroke, where Van Pelt recalls that he is usually in the lead for most of the race until he begins looking around or losing focus, but this time it was different: he just kept going and ended up winning the race.
Van Pelt adds that he is very conscious of not wanting to be the parent who is overtly loud or obnoxious, though at the final touch he couldn’t help himself, letting out a prideful “BOOM” as can be heard in the video of the race.
He references his son splashing water like Michael Phelps after winning. Van Pelt then goes behind the spectator stands where he and his wife were sitting, hoping to find Charlie. In a moment that Van Pelt mentions “felt like a movie,” he and his son, both looking for one another, run into each other. His son gives him a look and says, “Dad, I did it!”
Van Pelt responds by picking him up and says, “Yeah, you did, son.” His son, who Van Pelt claims is not much of a “squeezer”, was one in that moment.
Van Pelt then delivers a very pure outlook on parenting a young athlete and wanting to see them succeed.
“As a parent, all you want in your life is for your kids to be happy, and to know moments of achievement, or to really know feelings of joy. This was nothing anyone gave him; it wasn’t a Christmas present. He didn’t want some sneakers for getting a good grade. It was the work and the disappointment of not being first, of swimming for his life, of dropping a second, and of winning. This joy that he felt was entirely of his own doing. As a parent, to experience that and to see that joy, you feel a joy that I don’t know if I have ever felt.”
He adds that, in the long run, the 21 seconds of that swim will be lost to time, but in that moment, they mean everything.
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