Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Jasmine Lamb – Jasmine definitely made her mark this past week in Intro to Nitro. She caught the attention of both coaches when she went zipping by on her underwaters well past the first set of “fruit loops.” We had her demonstrate, as the underwater streamline body waves are the #1 skill that the kids can master to help them down the road in this sport as they mature and improve. Well done Jasmine – and keep it up (or should we say: “Keep it underwater!”)? – Coach Darren & Coach Mike
Bee Cave: Elise Lindahl – Last week, Elise stood out as swimmer of the week because of her strong “underwaters”. We focused on holding a tight streamline while butterfly kicking underwater (with an added challenge of going under the lane lines). Elise quickly mastered the skill and was an example for her teammates. She is a hard worker week-to-week, and I am thrilled to see the improvements she has made in the past month. She always walks on the deck with a smile and never leaves the pool without a smile. Her spirit is contagious. Thank you Elise for all your hard work! Keep it up lady! – Coach Raven
Bronze
Cedar Park: Dhru Patel – Dhru has really stepped his game up the last couple of months. After a change to a different Bronze group, Dhru has become a lane leader and is more focused on what he is doing in the pool. This past week, Dhru worked hard on getting power to his breaststroke kick, and finding an efficient timing to his stroke. Changes like these have the coaches excited for Dhru’s future! Awesome Job Dhru! – Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Ruby Teeters – The good swimmers find a way, you can’t always see the change your making to your stroke, the feeling has to be changed, and Ruby has done a great job of doing just that. Working on flip turns she found a way to accelerate into the wall, she adapted a way using her arms to pull into the turn and still position herself in streamline by the time her feet touched the wall, and a fraction of a second later she is gone! This got a big “WOW!” out of her coaches, it was a variation of the turn mechanics the group was working on but she pulls it off and it is fast. Great job of focus and persistence, I can’t wait to see the turn used in a meet. Great Work young lady! – Coach Chuck
Technique & Fitness
Cedar Park: Helena Eckert & Reuben Paul – Helena had an outstanding week working her underwater streamlines and all of the INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY turns. Two hand touches on butterfly and breaststroke were outstanding. Reuben has just returned to Nitro and is a skilled swimmer and gymnast as well. Amazing job on the smallest splash in the world contest at the end of practice. Great presence at the pool as well. A team player. Thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. – Coach Steve
Bee Cave: Anisha Sheth – With many swimmers out for Spring Break this week, we took the opportunity to fine tune the “little things” such as our flip turns and dives. Anisha really impressed me with her massively improved dive. She did such a great job progressing from diving off the side to diving off the block. By the end of practice, her dives off the block were beautiful! It’s so fulfilling to see swimmers check off another thing on the long list of swimming skills we are working to improve. Great job this week, Anisha! – Coach Peter
Silver
Cedar Park: Kyle Le – Kyle did an excellent job all week at practice. Each lap, each turn, each set, he took charge and owned the practice given. He didn’t care how hard the work out was, what stroke we were doing or if he felt uncomfortable, Kyle put that aside and just swam. The thing that stood out most to me this week was when Kyle exceeded my expectations during a challenging backstroke set of 5x100s! Awesome job this week! – Coach Ben
Bee Cave: Bridget Wu – Bridget has continuously shown strong effort in Silver Group. She takes the tasks given to her and always pushes herself, and does so with a smile on her face. She has shown that even at 10-years-old she will be competitor in the pool. Her understanding of the drills and technique in her stroke has played into her swimming speed, which was clear when we worked on the IM this week. I can’t wait to see her continue to progress! – Coach Lianne
Advanced Silver
Cedar Park: Lauren Roberts – Lauren is somewhat new to the group, but she’s fitting in well. Earlier this week, she had an accident in which she scraped up her arm and leg. Some swimmers would take a break from swimming until they’re totally healed, but not Lauren. She kept her chin up and attendance strong. Way to go, Lauren! –Coach Alex
Bee Cave: Megan Kelly – Megan is always looking for that extra mile, that extra step that makes us feel UNBROKEN and CAPABLE of everything. She’s always willing to accept suggestions and works hand in hand with the coach to get the best results from her swim. There’s no better feeling than that when we go beyond the limits searching for our goals and we finally achieve them. Anchor yourself, be happy and you will swim FASTER. Keep it up Megan. Good Job! FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS!!! SI SI SI!!! – Coach Felix
Gold
Cedar Park: Olivia Valdez – Olivia has done a great job with the different challenges that I presented this past week. I have been impressed with what she has done with her stroke changes and continue to see her improve in all of her details! Keep up the hard work, it will pay off BIG time! – Coach Jeremy
Bee Cave: Caleb Bui – Way to go this week, Caleb! I was very impressed with your ability to step up your game and especially improve your kicking. I can see Caleb stepping into a future role of leadership if he continues to push through the “uncomfortableness”! Keep working with your team mates to push yourself and one another. Proud of you! – Coach Allison