Cedar Park
Sectional Development: Sectional Development
Shelby has been making improvement in leaps and bounds since I began coaching the Sectional Development group. She has consistently worked her tail off at practice, taking each set one at a time and giving it her complete focus and energy. Most impressive has been her ability to approach our best average sets at the end of our workouts with her mind set on going AS FAST AS POSSIBLE on every effort. She has seen several best times already this season in both high school and USA meets and I know if she continues to approach workout with the same tenacity all season the best is yet to come. Great job Shelby! —Coach Dan
Senior: Victoria Caldera
Victoria is a great asset to the Senior Group at Cedar Park! She strives to make every workout her best and comes to each workout with a positive attitude. She has been working to make her long axis strokes more connected using her core and has seen some great progress at reducing her lateral movement in both backstroke and freestyle. Her commitment to technique has really shown through these improvements. She is equally committed to giving 100% effort in each practice and that showed in her fantastic time drops at the AAAA & Nitro meet, she made best times in each event she swam. Keep up the great work Victoria! —Coach Dan
TAGS 2: Michaela Koltz
Michaela Koltz is a true joy to coach. She brings a positive attitude and an infectious smile with her everyday to practice. The biggest compliment I can give her is letting her know that Nitro recognizes the subtle ways she makes her teammates better through her encouragement and work ethic. She is also relentless in her pursuit to get better. Everyday she asks the coach how she can improve and then tries her best to apply the advice to her training. Michaela is a rising leader for sure. —Coach Daniel
TAGS 1: Shreyush Shankar
Shreyush has worked really hard over the last couple of months and that isn’t more evident than the swim he had this past weekend at the AAAA meet, dropping 1:07 from his best mile time. He uses dryland to strengthen his swimming and it is paying off, doesn’t hurt that he can’t stop growing either. Keep working hard Shrey keep pushing the group to be the best they can be. —Coach Flo
National Development: Ethan Chen
Ethan has had a great couple months of practices, making changes, and setting himself up for a successful season. This past weekend down in San Antonio, he showed the resiliency and determination that every athlete should be striving for. Every race that he swam this last weekend, he warmed up, always checked in with me, and warmed down after every race. What made this even better was that after every race no matter what we had a quick analysis/discussion and tried different approaches, and he NEVER GAVE UP! He continued to go through the process and in his last race of the meet he almost dropped a full second in his 50 Free. Every race, every meet, and every practice you are going to have struggles. Sorry, that’s life! Focusing on the process and enjoying the journey is what makes it fun. If you focus only on the outcome and perfection then you are truly missing the joy of sport! It’s how you get up after you get knocked down that truly matters! —Coach Jeremy
Bee Cave
HS/MS Training: Drew Conyers
Drew is one of many new additions to the Middle & High School Training group, and he has blown me away with how much he’s improved in the past few months. Whatever stroke corrections you have for him, he takes them to heart and really tries to emphasize that on his next length. His mind is a “sponge” as people say. This great attribute of Drew’s is why he’s my SOM. He’s also such a polite guy, thanking the coaches after every practice. I’m excited to see Drew continue to improve over the coming months. —Coach Peter
Senior: Trinh Nguyen
Trinh is an example of consistency in the water, on longer sets, after just a few repeats, anyone watching the effort could tell exactly what is the focus of the set. She does a great job of building into the day’s workout. When she has an off day, because of some extra hard core work done earlier in the week she still finds a way to make a breakthrough. This summer Trinh found out what it feels like to go out after her 200 free, she realized that she couldn’t hold on to the pace she set, but how many swimmers never take that chance, the fear and pain keep swimmers from trying, so Trinh has spent the last few weeks working out her training to make that pace become a reality. I’ve seen a very tired look quite often, but when the next interval comes up she is right on it, never a stop never a miss. Trinh has become a great lead for the Senior group, and in the next meet she will swim her first 500 free, I think she will be surprised! I can’t wait. Great work young lady. —Coach Chuck
TAGS 2: Taylor Ashbaugh
One of the most exciting things for a coach to see in their swimmer is them building confidence in and out of the water. I have been able to coach Taylor for over the past year, and the amount of growing and confidence she has been able to build is astonishing. We were able to sit down together to talk about the next few months of her training, and the biggest smile came across her face. I think she is excited to see what she is capable of, and she is willing to work for what she wants! I love that determination. Keep working Taylor! —Coach Allison
TAGS 1: Faith Rouse
And the Swimmer of the Month goes to Faith Rouse. This is the kind of swimmer that has a lot of things on her plate and does whatever it takes to be at swimming practice. This is the kind of swimmer that misses 40 minutes of practice because of school errands, and decides to join other groups after practice to complete the amount of yardage for that day. This is the kind of swimmer that comes to morning practices on Tuesdays with TAGS 1 and on Fridays with National Development, this last one being an optional one. I have seen the great and positive improvement not only as a swimmer, but also as a person that is starting to understand that life is all about hard work and optimism. Good job and keep it up my friend…the sky is the limit! FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS!!! SI SI SI!!!! —Coach Felix
National Development: Kevin Hammer
Kevin is new to our team and has had a great impact moving into our group. Kevin has had quick improvements in his strokes and should qualify for Sectionals and higher level meets this season. Kevin attends Vandergrift High School as a Sophomore, and specializes in the Sprint Freestyle and Butterfly. Kevin comes to practice daily ready to improve with a smile and enthusiasm towards his team mates. I am excited to continue working with Kevin and see him having a great Short Course season and beyond. Keep it up Kevin. —Coach Randy
National Group: Reilly Gilbert
Reilly had a fantastic October. It all started at practice with focused and determined work. He made stroke improvements while also committing himself to improving his speed, strength and endurance. This led to many lifetime bests in October and for sure more to come! —Coach Elliot