After our kids' fifth year on the Del Prado Stingrays summer swim team, the training is paying off in ways our family did not expect. By "training," however, I'm referring to more than the enthusiastic on-deck encouragement the Stingrays coaches provide.

Not only are my kids growing stronger each summer, but this year they're displaying the benefits of an intense, at-home craftiness training program I enrolled them in a few years ago. Now, to their relief, my three kids can fabricate clever gifts for their swim team "buddies" - with little reliance on Mom.

For Del Prado Stingrays, the last week of swim season is filled with spirit. Each Stingray is paired with a "buddy" on the team to help build excitement for Saturday's championship meet.

It's all about craftiness. Unfortunately, as a mom, I am not at all about craftiness.

Sometimes, however, a mom must summon skill, or at least the illusion of skill.

Although I'm a pretty good mom, a handy task-master, and one of the best quick-thinkers to have around during an emergency, I am not adept with crafts.

Fortunately, I'm a decent teacher who's willing to let my children pave their ways independently.

The kids, you see, are supposed craft the clever gifts for their buddies; not the moms.

Seven-year-old Del Prado Stingray, Lauren Graham, for example, used an entire bag of miniature foil-wrapped Reese's candies to spell out the name of her swim buddy, Kelly Renton, on poster board this week.

No one minded that the display accidentally fell apart and created a splash of foil-wrapped peanut-butter and chocolate confetti; Lauren's effort is what mattered to 11-year-old Kelly.

By our kids' second year on the Stingrays, I learned to teach them to create low-cost, inspiring gifts for their swim buddies with objects such as beads, fabric paint, glue, tape, candy and random foodstuffs. Instruction was less about "how to" than about freedom of expression.

The result was a new level of resourcefulness.

One year, when my one of my daughters was paired with a buddy who liked watermelon, she summoned ingenuity. Finding a slightly-torn swim cap, a too-small pair of goggles, a permanent marker and duct tape, my daughter "dressed" a round watermelon as the head of a swimmer for her buddy.

This year, the swim-buddy process moved even more smoothly because of friends.

On the afternoon the kids wanted to paint t-shirts for their buddies, I was out of my mind trying to finish a writing project for a client. Meanwhile, the kids were running amok in the house after I delivered a "No TV" edict, and the grilled cheese sandwiches I expected to serve for lunch were aflame on the stove.

While frantically waving smoke away from my face, I received a text from my friend, Dara Hogue, whose children are also Stingrays. Dara asked, "Do ur girls want 2 join us to decorate swim buddy tshirts 2day?"

Dara, incidentally, leads our daughters' Girl Scout troop. She calls me co-leader, but I'm not fooled. Dara is the crafty, organized one of the leadership pair.

I replied quickly, telling Dara I would purchase supplies and we would come over when I finished working. Imagine my surprise, however, when Dara said she was already at the craft store and could save me a trip.

Score! I reimbursed Dara for the supplies and gave her a bottle of merlot as a thank-you gift.

In that moment, I recalled that the strength of our summer swim team is not only in the kids' athletic ability, but in our bonding, spirit and love. Even if we're not having a winning season, we're close-knit; parents willingly step up to volunteer at every meet, people watch out for each other, and team socials are events to remember.

Big kids cheer for little kids, while little ones stare in disbelief as their teenage buddies finish two laps of butterfly in half the time it takes a little one to complete one lap.

This weekend, I'll wear my volunteer hat and my cheering voice as eight teams from Pleasanton and Dublin descend on the Dolores Bengtson Aquatic Center for the Tri-Valley Swim League championship meet.

And while everyone on the Del Prado Stingrays will hope our team wins, most of us know that we have already hit the jackpot – in our hearts, our friendships and our collective spirit.

Cameron Sullivan is the author of the blog, Candid Cameron.