Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Daniel Bomba – Daniel always shows up to the pool super excited about swimming. Daniel never leaves the wall without a streamline and great underwaters. This week Intro focused on butterfly. Daniel worked really hard and did a great job with having airplane wing arms. Great job Daniel, keep up the great work! – Coach Hannah
Bee Cave: Lucy Mackie – This week, Lucy was a leader in practice. She demonstrated an excellent swordfish drill—keeping a low head position, maintaining a white-water kick, and taking a quick breath on the side. Lucy has worked hard to perfect her streamline push-ups and continuously builds on that skill. She is always attentive and wears a smile during every practice. Thank you Lucy for all your hard work! – Coach Raven
Bronze
Cedar Park: Youngha Hwang – Youngha has proven himself to be a tough kid over the last few months. No matter the set, no matter the stroke, no matter the skill, Youngha would swim with ease. This week, as it was the last week of a tough summer for Bronze, we had a little bit of fun while still learning important skills. We used cups filled with a little bit of water, balanced them on our head for backstroke, seeing if we could keep them there as long as possible maintaining a steady head position. Youngha again made it look easy, getting a great body rotation also. Best of luck in Silver Youngha! – Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Oliver Ward – This young man has really turned on the guns this summer, he comes to race every day. Never mind what position in the lane he swims, first, second, third, there is no difference, Oliver pushes just as hard no matter what! Oliver never let’s the little things get in his way, pain in his side, loose goggles, swim fin comes off, dive too deep on a start, he just pushes right through! He always has the same smile and quite often a laugh or two, and he shows a pure joy for this sport. Sure there are times when things go wrong in a race but I love how fast he can focus up on the next race, something that our older swimmers still struggle with at meets. Oliver has a big season coming this fall! Great job young man! – Coach Chuck
Technique & Fitness
Cedar Park: Jessica Karli & HaoWei Oh – Jess had her last practice with our Technique and Fitness group this past week. We’ve known Jess and her sister Lydia for quite some time and they both have added immensely to our NITRO swimming program. Jess has always been a leader for our group exemplifying what it means to be a true athlete and great sportsmanship. HaoWei excelled this past week working on his flip turns. He got it!!! Working hard and focusing he was able to master his turn with the assistance of Coach Mike. Kudos Coach Mike. Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. – Coach Steve
Bee Cave: Sophia Zhang – Sophia has been quietly working very hard the past several months, and I have definitely noticed it. She is always leading the warm up kick set and does an excellent job during the drill session of practice. This week was focused on butterfly, and Sophia looked great when practicing the rhythm of butterfly and eventually adding the arms. Her work ethic has not gone unnoticed, and a move to Bronze might be in the near future! Great job, Sophia! – Coach Peter
Silver
Cedar Park: Aiden Albaugh – Aiden really impressed me this week. He showed up on time to every practice ready to work, he tried his best to put into practice what we worked on this week (setting his anchor and good catches on freestyle and backstroke, fast turns, etc.), and after every practice he made sure to ask me on what he specifically could work. He is an encourager to his team mates and has a positive attitude when he walks through the door. Way to go Aiden! – Coach Claire
Bee Cave: Riley Cloyd & Bella Oettinger – Riley: I am so proud of Riley this week! He overcame his fear of diving and learned how to do a perfect dive, keeping his head down so his goggles wouldn’t come off! Riley also did an amazing job with backstroke drills this week and learning a new technique for a faster flip turn. He really understands how to rotate his body constantly as he takes his backstroke arm strokes. I am so impressed with his work ethic and I can’t wait to see him continue to swim faster this Fall and compete at some meets!! Bella: Bella had an amazing week at Nitro. I saw her step up and become a leader in her group, not being afraid to lead her lane through the various drills we did. Bella loves breaststroke, and it always shows with how focused she is on perfecting her technique and lunging forward with her head position staying still. What really stood out to be this week was her focus during the freestyle drills and flip turns. She was able to understand how to rotate her body from shoulder to shoulder with each arm stroke, and also perfected her flip turn speed with strong underwater streamline kicks off the wall. Keep up the great work, Bella!! –Coach Lianne
Advanced Silver
Bee Cave: Mary Claire Fuselier – Mary has taken the challenge to improve her freestyle alignment and is our Swimmer of the Week. She immediately incorporated the extension and finger tip down technical training into all sets after learning it and making the connection, now using even in speed sets. What a great advancement for her. I look forward to seeing Mary Claire and the rest of Advanced Silver compete this fall. It is going to be great! – Coach Paige
Gold
Cedar Park: Isabel Garcia & Lucy Wang – These two girls get the swimmer of the week award together because you would very rarely see them at the pool separately. Isabel and Lucy not only gave it their all in the pool, they were great girls to be around. Whether it was dealing with my terrible jokes or the tough sets, they handled everything the coaches threw at them. Best of luck as you two continue your swimming careers, and may the force be with you! – Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Liv Hantgin – Liv is always laughing. Even when she is trying to talk to me about something somewhat serious, she always adds in a smile or a laugh at the end. Half of the time I can’t help but laugh as well. She does a great job of everyday coming up with the word of the day for our board, and is always very creative with it. Liv does a great job of balancing all of her activities and still coming to practice with 100% effort. I have enjoyed working and coaching Laney and can’t wait for more to come. – Coach Allison