Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Aleigha Sims and Angela Bryan – Aleigha did an excellent job in her backstroke as we worked on it most of the week. From start to finish, Aleigha had a good push off under water, holding her streamline past the flags. Also, a smooth rotation, connecting it with long legs/quick toes & long arms entering with her pinky first helping her to move swiftly across the pool. Lastly, when it came to practice the backstroke flip turns, Aleigha caught on immediately and did a great job at it! Keep up the good work! Coach Ben. Angela wowed the Coaches with her underwater pushoffs/bodywaves. She looked like a pro! Also, her attitude is infectious. Keep it up, and we’ll see her moving up the Nitro ladder! Coach Mike.
Bee Cave: Roshee Hegde – Roshee had his first practice a couple weeks ago and was apprehensive. He was scared of the cold water and he wasn’t sure he could do it. He got in and did great. This week he showed up to practice with a big smile on his face ready to go. He got better at his dolphin kicks too. Keep smiling Roshee and good luck! – Coach Sarah
Bronze
Cedar Park: Gitanjali Boyd – Over the past few weeks, Anjali has turned her training up a notch, pushing herself to new heights and becoming a leader in her Bronze group. This week, we worked on getting some speed to our breaststroke pull, underwater pullouts, and cleaning up our open turns, all of which Anjali showed great improvement in! She is even becoming comfortable with diving off the blocks, something that never would have happened at the beginning of the season! Way to go Anjali! – Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Elijah Spadini – This week we focused on butterfly, and Elijah showed the group what butterfly can be, tall, long, and patient. He swings the arms wide, quick, and lets his legs do the driving, he has set the standard for the group. Elijah has worked very hard to get his stroke to this point, like all the strokes it starts with a good head position and body line. The tell tail sign he was making a change was his consistent streamline push off. A notice to all young swimmers the head position is where it starts, just ask Elijah, Great Job young man! – Coach Chuck
Technique & Fitness
Cedar Park: Ester Yu & Tharun Ekamdaram – Ester did a great job with her diving this past week. Her body position through the dive has greatly improved, she learned how to dive while keeping the legs in line with body. Tharun is getting rid of the continuous breaststroke kick and keeping his legs straight on freestyle and backstroke. Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. – Coach Steve
Bee Cave: Audrey Hymel – It was only Audrey’s second week being a part of the Nitro family, and my first week seeing her in the pool, but she really impressed me. Similar to last week, our emphasis was on our shoulder rotations but now on backstroke. Much like freestyle, shoulder rotations are critical part of being efficient in backstroke. Audrey showed a great amount of improvement over the course of practice with this element of backstroke and her overall stroke. We’re excited to have her on the team and to see her continue to improve! Welcome and excellent job this week, Audrey! – Coach Peter
Silver
Cedar Park: Jessie Li – Jessie has been working her tail off the past few weeks, and has really begun to stand out. She has been doing an awesome job pushing her, focusing on the set, and making corrections. Such elements woven together raise the level of the entire group, making everyone better. So all I can say is, Great job Jessie! All your hard work is not going unnoticed! – Coach Nick
Bee Cave:
Advanced Silver
Cedar Park: Chloe Wilkins – While the meet was certainly great, there was no question that Chloe Wilkins was the diamond in the field of gold. Her hard work was evident this past weekend at BB Champs in which she dropped in every individual event she swam in for a whopping total of 28.77 seconds. And, not only did she get her first A cut ever, but she also got her second and third at the same meet! Amazing swims, Chloe! – Coach Alex
Bee Cave: Patton Taylor – Almost two months ago, Patton had knee surgery. After a while out of the water because of the surgery, she came back on deck with the brace to do a 30 minute swim at least three times a week. After a month swimming with us and using the brace 24/7, this past week was magical for her. On Thursday, with no brace and ready to continue with the recovery phase, she came to practice with a big smile (as always) to shine and to teach us that everyday is an opportunity to achieve our goals. Patton, you’ve been a great motivation for me and for the entire group. I know how it feels to have a knee surgery (I had one a couple years ago) and I encourage you to continue with that strength, and moving forward with your head always up. No doubt you are a huge inspiration for the entire Nitro family. Keep it up Patton! FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS!!! SI SI SI!!! – Coach Felix
Gold
Cedar Park: Bella Gamez – Bella had a tremendous meet at BB Champs. I was not only impressed by her performances, but her eagerness for each race and preparations and discussions before them! She was warming up and warming down properly through the whole meet and executed every race like we discussed. Keep up the hard work and let’s keep this going through STAGS in a couple weeks! – Coach Jeremy
Bee Cave: Matthew Sabuda – I love championship season for many reasons, but one of them being mental toughness. I have watched Matthew come to practice for months, but unable to really truly watch him race. That was up until this weekend. I was able to see a new side of Matthew where he pushed himself to be uncomfortable and broke through some major time barriers. I am excited for him, as he just moved into the next age group and is continuing to look to grow. He is one of the leaders of our group and is a great comedic relief for when some swimmers are having a rough day or practice gets the best of them. Way to go Matthew. – Coach Allison