Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Jonah Sung – After focusing on backstroke this past week, Jonah has shown much improvement in his backstroke. He is keeping his belly up and nose up, stretching out his arms and kicking with fast toes every time across the pool. Jonah has especially impressed the coaches with his underwater streamline as he exceeds the flags off each wall. Keep up the good work Jonah! – Coach Ben
Bee Cave: Karis Angie & Avni Singh – Avni may be small in size and age but she isn’t in spirit. This week she did a great job of racing the group. She stayed focused this week and even demonstrated!! I also noticed her swimming has gotten faster in the past couple weeks. Karis did a great job on her backstroke. She was meticulous about her strokes and then did really fast kicks. It was fast and beautiful swimming! She also did a great job at the swim meet. Well done and keep it up! – Coach Sarah
Bronze
Cedar Park: Madison White – At this past swim meet, Madison decided to challenge herself, signing up for the 200 Freestyle! It was her first time swimming a race this long, and she was pretty nervous. After a few pep talks, she was ready to go, and she crushed it! She held her stroke, maintained awesome kicks, and nailed her flip turns at every wall. I couldn’t have been more proud! Great job Madison! – Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Jack Sharp – Jack has only recently come to Nitro Swimming but has already made a big impression on me with his confidence, focus, and as I watched this weekend, his racing! So many young swimmers I’ve seen over the last 36 years going into their first meet is always something, the confusion of where to go, the distraction of the activity on the deck, then that moment when the horn sounds, how will they respond? Jack’s response was clear he likes to race! His freestyle was strong and quick, the breaststroke had a tight kick and long arms, while his backstroke hands were fast and clean, all great things I look for from Nitro swimmers who have been training with us for many seasons. Jack did this in his first meet, only swimming with us for a couple of weeks, with some smiles and high fives at the end, a great first meet! Well done young man! – Coach Chuck
Technique & Fitness
Cedar Park: Chloe Rhee & Jae Ok – Chloe did an amazing job working her backstroke underwater streamlines and really placing much emphasis on her head and body position as well as her breath control. Jae demonstrated for his group how to really reach long, long, long on freestyle. He was so stretched out that we had him demonstrate for the group he swims with. Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. – Coach Steve
Bee Cave: Miles Pyka – Miles has recently been focused on his backstroke flip turn. In the Nitro at the Races meet last weekend, it didn’t go as well as he’d hoped. This week, he put the work in to improve his backstroke flip turn, and it showed at the Nitro New Years’ Races meet this past weekend. Not only did his turn look very much improved, but he shattered his previous best time of 56.69 by swimming a 50.89! Miles was so excited to learn his new best time. Miles is a great example of hard work paying off, and that’s why he’s earned Swimmer of the Week. Excellent work, Miles! – Coach Peter
Silver
Cedar Park: Zach Loper & Nell Yao – Although I have been out, I asked the coaches to keep a special eye on who stood out this week. Two names came up more than once, so it’s only right they share this weeks – swimmers of the week! Zach had a great week of practice, and finished it off with some awesome swims at the meet. Nell also put it into gear this week, and really shined when it came time for butterfly. Great work the both of you. I look forward to seeing this continued domination! Keep it up! –Coach Nick
Bee Cave: Alexander Balon – Alex has been working very hard on his turns and underwater, the results are plain to see, the stroke counts are dropping on all four of his strokes. We talk about how to be a fast swimmer you have to cover the same distance with an ever decreasing number of strokes, that saved energy helps you to push farther faster, something needed when you start running down those longer races. This focus payed off very well for Alex this weekend swimming his first 200 freestyle in a time just over 2:52.00, swimming a strong race through that critical third 50 and putting his head down in a strong finish showing no signs of fading. Great Job young man, way to challenge yourself! – Coach Chuck
Advanced Silver
Cedar Park: Cameron Zapalac – Congratulations to Cameron Zapalac! Cameron is a staple in Advanced Silver. He is always willing to put in the extra effort to lead the group on a daily basis. Cameron participated in the meet on Saturday and swam tremendously well, dropping in every event. Keep it up, Cam! – Coach Alex
Bee Cave: Adriana Klaas – Adriana, always with a big smile and ready to do the work everyday in practice. Ever since she started to experience and understands the positive results that LEADERSHIP can create, she has been a great Captain in her lane. Proof of this, is the OUTSTANDING job she did this past weekend at the Nitro meet. Achieving two solid “BB” in her two swims during the meet. Adrianna, it seems that your next “BB” Champs will be interesting 🙂 keep it up “Little Giant”! FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS!! SI SI SI!! – Coach Felix
Gold
Cedar Park: Huy Lai – Since joining the Gold group a few months ago, Huy has quickly risen to the challenge. Huy is always eager to push himself, getting faster and stronger with each practice. He capped it all off with awesome swims at the New Years Races meet, earning personal bests in all 3 events. Way to go Huy! – Coach Jeremy & Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Leah Michalski – Leah has been working super hard the past few months. I love her attention to detail. You can tell she enjoys the sport and getting better each day. Its a pretty cool thing to be apart of. Leah participated in B champs and has now qualified herself for BB Champs in two weeks. I can’t wait to continue to watch her race and eventually take her into long course season. I have no doubt that she will continue to grow as a swimmer and make changes each day. – Coach Allison