Nitro Swimmer of the Week for March 28th – April 2nd, 2016

Intro to Nitro

Cedar Park: Gabriel Parades and Chloe Michalk – Gabriel was amazing to watch this past week, especially with us doing Butterfly work all week long. Gabriel really took to the work and started to develop a really good rhythm to his stroke. Good job Gabriel, keep at it.Chloe was awesome as well with her underwaters — just like a Pro, her fantastic attitude, and her super low breathing on her butterfily. Way to go Chloe!  –Coach Flo and Coach Mike.

Bee Cave: Tanvi Thandri – Tanvi continues to excel week-to-week, but it is particularly true this past week as we worked on butterfly. Her butterfly kicks are powerful with fast, straight arms over the water on recovery. She demonstrated to the class how to take a quick low breath while maintaining forward motion. I can always count on Tanvi to give 110% effort and come into practice on Saturday with a can-do attitude. I cannot wait to watch her race—particularly butterfly—at the next Nitro at the Races swim meet! Excellent job this week, Tanvi! – Coach Raven

Bronze

Cedar Park: Joyce Shen – This week, we worked on building up our skills on our IM’s, mainly on the turns. Joyce consistently nailed down the turns, making them look like a piece of cake. This is not out of the ordinary, as Joyce seems to have a natural feel for the water. Joyce finished off the week with an excellent swim in the timed 100 IM. Her hard work has prepared her to take on a new challenge in a new group! You rock, Joyce! – Coach Adam

Bee Cave: Giselle Megens – Swimmers learn how to deal with pain while they train and race in meets, but now add to that the pain of injury, Giselle does this every practice! She packs her cast covered arm into a plastic bag and find her way into the pool, grabs her kick board, pushes off the wall and tries to press her legs just as hard as she can. Her focus is amazing, big smile the whole time, she works so hard at staying with the group all the while balancing her cast to make the best effort she can! Sure she needs help out of the pool but she never backs off of the hard work she has always given even before the arm injury. Watch how this young lady will take off when the cast comes off! Great work young lady! – Coach Chuck

Technique & Fitness

Cedar Park: Macy Ahlgren & Vijay Selvakumar – Macy did an excellent job with her butterfly this past week.   She had great timing with her breathing and head position. Streamlines were excellent with great under waters. Vijay is always a swimmer willing to go the extra step to volunteer to demonstrate, lead his lane, and watch the clocks and a willingness to want to improve. Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. – Coach Steve

Bee Cave: Christopher Shi – Christopher is relatively new to the Nitro family, but he has definitely impressed me thus far. Aside from the occasional lack of focus, he works very hard and shows me a great work ethic. This week, we did a timed 50 freestyle and Christopher turned in the fastest time out of all the TF swimmers with a 37.93! I was blown away! Keep up the great work, Christopher! – Coach Peter

Silver

Cedar Park: Gabby Blackmon – Gabby did a great job this week with our timed races and she kept the intensity up afterwards, not checking out. Overall she had an excellent week in the pool and stood out the most when we did an underwater/limited breathing set which “wowed” me when she took zero breaths the whole time! Love the effort Gabby, keep working hard. – Coach Ben 

Bee Cave: Lucus Zha – Lucus sets a great example for the Silver group with his ability to pay attention to detail. He is someone I can always rely on to know what to focus on during practice, and he served as a great demonstrator this week on his underwater streamline kicking! He always comes to practice with a smile on his face and positive attitude. I have seen a lot of improvement in his strokes and speed over the past few months, especially in butterfly which is something we have been focusing on a lot. Great job, Lucus! – Coach Lianne

Advanced Silver

Cedar Park: Sandrine Tuttle – Sandrine is certainly making some waves in AS!  Last week was Sandrine’s first week in the group, but that didn’t intimidate her at all.  She has shown she’s ready to put the work in and this kiddo has been on fire.  Some swimmers must learn how to want to be successful in the sport, but others like Sandrine already crave it.  I can’t wait to see what she can do this season.  Keep it up, Sandrine! – Coach Alex

Bee Cave: Katelyn Lieb – Katelyn, when there is a change in DYNAMIC and ATTITUDE it’s easy to see it. And that’s exactly what I saw this week after Tuesday’spractice. More focus, more disposition and more fire. That’s why you Katelyn are Swimmer of the Week. Your desire to do and be better was evident and I am excited to see you keep it up. Continue to focus and you’ll see even bigger and brighter results! FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS!!! SI SI SI!! – Coach Felix

Gold

Cedar Park: Daniel Warren – Daniel had a great week at practice. I was very impressed with his attention to details on underwater kicking and holding a really good body line underwater. Keep up the great work Daniel! – Coach Jeremy

Bee Cave: Jeffery Gunawan – Wow, Jeffery! Way to race this weekend. He was able to swim his 400 Free for the first time in LCM, and did a wonderful job. Way to represent the 9-10 Boys. We have been working a lot more on distance per stroke, and long course is the perfect time to hone in on that skill. Jeffery looked smooth and comfortable throughout the race. I have been very impressed with his kicking skills in practice as well. He has been able to make every interval given to Gold group, and be consistent on top of it all. Keep getting stronger, Jeffery! – Coach Allison