Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Safia El-Abed & Jasmine Lamb – This week Safia showed great improvement in her butterfly skills. While practicing butterfly kick she was able to hold a steady and smooth rhythm of 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and breath with her kick without stopping. This was impressive as it is challenging to keep the continuous motion of the butterfly as you breath. Also, Safia held a solid stroke, keeping her arms and head moving forward together without hesitation. Keep it up Safia! ……Jasmine Lamb: .We needed a “brave” girl to volunteer to move into a boys lane, and Jasmine didn’t hesitate to raise her hand to move over to accompany another lone female swimmer who was in a boys lane all by herself. She did it with a smile, an advanced level of maturity, and then proceeded to have one of her best practices that I recall. Well done Jasmine — your great sportsmanship and character shined through! – Coach Mike, Coach Ben & Coach Darren
Bee Cave: Eli Sefcik – Eli demonstrated patience and persistence this past week as we worked on breaststroke. His hard work was evident by the improvement of the timing of his stoke and long “gliiiiiide”. Only six years old, Eli exemplified emotional strength and growth when he confided in me a personal goal he’d accomplished during practice. His positive attitude and enjoyment of the sport made my first week a joy. Thanks Eli! – Coach Raven
Bronze
Cedar Park: Abe Rheinheimer – Abe has not been in the Bronze group for long, and at first, he found it very tough. Some days, it was just too much for him. Fast forward a couple of months and Abe is a completely changed swimmer! Abe puts 100% effort into every set of every practice, and it’s been awesome to watch him grow stronger and tougher. He is also a great learner; eager to find ways he can continue to get better. Keep up the great work Abe! – Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Shannon Lin – We focused on breaststroke this past week and Shannon was a standout, starting right from her push off, a great streamline leads into a pullout that takes her to the fruit loops. This young lady has the patience of an experienced swimmer, great glide driven by her strong kick, and a stroke count like a Gold swimmer. Shannon’s technique and timing make one of the cleanest strokes in Bronze, I can’t wait to see her race this stroke in a meet! Great Job young lady! –Coach Chuck
Technique & Fitness
Cedar Park: Renae Kurian & Brian Chow – Renae has been away for a few weeks but came back this past Saturday full throttle! She totally elevated the group and had such a great attitude getting into the pool working on her diving and just being a great presence. Brian really had a great week with his racing starts off the blocks. Good streamlines and head position. Really great entry into the water without breaking his streamline. Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. – Coach Steve
Bee Cave: Claire & Maddie Kremer – I know Claire was Swimmer of the Week for the Intro group last week, but she did such an amazing job in her first practice with T&F that I had no choice but to make her SOW two weeks in a row! Our focus this week was breaststroke, and Claire did a great job with the drills to improve her kick, pull and how they go together. What was even greater than that was Claire’s dive. We found some time at the end of practice to get some dives in. Claire has a great dive off of the side of the pool, but was very nervous when it came to diving off the blocks. After talking her through the steps, she attempted her first dive. IT. WAS. AWESOME! She came up smiling and attempted a second dive which looked just as good. Diving off the blocks is such a huge step for any swimmer to take. Her sister, Maddie, also gets SOW honors because of how amazing of a big sister she is. I honestly think she did more than me to help Claire overcome the fear of diving off the blocks. Not only is she a great sister, but she also turned in the fastest 50 breaststroke time out of the combined T&F and Silver swimmers that practice. I wasn’t surprised, but the Silver kids sure were! These two sisters reminded me why I love coaching. Welcome to T&F, Claire! What a great start! As always, excellent job, Maddie! You’ve got future coach written all over you! – Coach Peter
Silver
Cedar Park: Angela Ruan – If you asked me the definition of hard work in Silver, Angela would have to be mentioned somewhere in there. She consistently gives it her all, stays focused, positive (not sure I have ever seen her frown!), makes changes, and isn’t afraid to push herself. She has been this way for a long time – but lately, these habits have been shining, as she has really begun to distinguish herself at practice. I can definitely see a power swimmer and leader emerging in Angela, and it’s exciting to see! Keep working hard Angela! – Coach Nick
Bee Cave: Daniel Yang – Daniel is doing a great job stepping up and challenging himself in new ways. Not only have I seen drastic improvements in his flip turns and technique, but he also stepped up to the plate throughout practice and truly pushed himself. Instead of holding back behind the others, Daniel lead the lane during practices this week, and showed his best effort during the various sets we accomplished. I can’t wait to see him continue to improve! – Coach Lianne
Advanced Silver
Cedar Park: Mariana Harper-Araya – When I see Mariana at the pool, I see discipline and effort. Those two traits have helped mold her into an athlete who is ready to take on any challenge. Mariana is particularly outstanding at dryland, in which she always performs the correct range of motions, not just the easy ones. It’s a blast coaching such a willing kiddo and I can’t wait to see her reach for more BB and A cuts this coming season! – Coach Alex
Bee Cave: Grant Rivera – Starting this week, Grant made a commitment with himself. Attend the five practices of the week for Advanced Silver was the main goal, and he absolutely made it. Not only did he have a perfect attendance to practice, but he also gave 100% in every stroke and in every swim, which was also part of the challenge.On Saturday morning, I totally recognized Grant’s achievement. Remember something Grant, all of us have goals to achieve, but the real question is how to achieve those goals and you are a very talented kiddo. Just enjoy the process and never give up, hard work always pays off. Keep it up Grant! FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS!! SI SI SI!! –Coach Felix
Gold
Cedar Park: Hailey Freeman – What a weekend for GOLD! This was such a fun weekend with a lot of great swimming and lots of learning how to prepare for our races! Hailey Freeman was one of many kids that had a positive attitude and did the right things to go fast at the meet. Specifically with Hailey, I was very impressed with her checking in before and after races and making changes throughout the meet with things that we talked about! She had such a great attitude and Positive outlook even when she didn’t go a best time in a swim. Keep up the great work Hailey! I’m So proud of her and everyone else that competed at STAGS! – Coach Jeremy
Bee Cave: Logan Mauck – Logan is the tall firecracker of the group. She is a very consistent practice attender, and does her best to always have a smile on her face or make a silly noise to make someone laugh. Logan was able to attend A Champs this past weekend. While, she may not have had the exact race that she wanted, I was very proud of her for making the commitment to come to the meet, get up on the block and race her heart out. Even after the race, she was able to quickly change that frown upside down ;-). Thank you Logan for being a constant reminder of perseverance in the sport, and keeping things happy and light. – Coach Allison