Nitro Swimmer of the Week for May 11th – 16th, 2015

Intro to Nitro

Cedar Park: Raquel D’Cruz Raquel – Raquel is swimmer of the week because she’s been working really hard to improve lately! She’s consistently attends practice and listens carefully to the coach’s feedback. This kind of dedication is what translates into improvement and progress for athletes! Keep up the good work, Raquel! – Coach Jessie

Bee Cave: Camila Diaz, Addison Waller, and Daniel Alpatov – Camila is long overdue. She knocked out a 100IM that was fantastic at her last meet. She has also been on our radar to make a move pretty soon to the Bronze group. Her kicking efforts are off the charts. Addison can be counted on for her non-stop smile. She gives all she has in the water, and is one of our go-to demonstrators. Lastly– Daniel has stepped up his game every practice, and is one of our repeat demonstrators as well. If we want something done right, we ask Daniel to show how it’s done. Congratulations to all three! – Coach Sam & Coach Mike

Bronze

Cedar Park: Reuben Paul – Last week, Reuben changed not only his freestyle, but also changed his consistency in his effort level at practice. On Saturday, Coach Erik, challenged him in practice to go 100% on a kick set and word on the street was that he did a phenomenal job!! Keep working hard and giving a 100% in everything you do! – Coach Jeremy

Bee Cave: Arnav Kheni – Arnav really did an amazing job with his flip turns this week.  I was very impressed with his improvement after watching a short 3 minute video.  He jumped in the water after watching that video and it was some of the best turn work I have seen from him.  I was astonished with his quick improvement.  Great job Arnav!  Keep up the good work! – Coach Jared

Technique & Fitness

Cedar Park: Sydney Stewart & Kevin Black – These two athletes are on it!  Understanding all the interval work  we’ve been doing,  leading their lanes, encouraging the other swimmers  and just having a positive attitude  for themselves  and the group that they are with.  Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. – Coach Stephen

Bee Cave: Lane Dent – Lane has been doing extremely well over the month. Her underwater on her back this week is amazing and perfect technique work on backstroke on very set that we do. I’m very impressed with her drive for success to get better and faster. Very proud of her. – Coach Tanner

Silver

Cedar Park: Marin Filipowicz – Marin took a big step into a leadership role this week. She was introduced to some of the new swimmers joining Silver group and immediately made them feel comfortable. She may have known some of them from previous groups, but she was welcoming and willing to help them understand any of the sets that were new to them. If they had any questions, she would answer them or make sure to ask and help them out. Marin showed the definition of a true team mate this past week, and I am proud to have her be a leader in Silver. Way to go, Marin! –Coach Allison 

Bee Cave: Bruce Chen – Looking on how Bruce has been improving from group to group it is a simple plan train the legs, legs, legs, and you have to respect his dedicated effort. Bruce is one of those success stories that coach Adrian and I will be talking about for years to come, but the story is about one thing hard work and the love of swimming, take a weakness and turn it into your strength, Bruce has become a fantastic kick trainer one that will move very far with Nitro Swimming! Keep up the great work Bruce! – Coach Chuck

Advanced Silver

Cedar Park: Isabel Garcia – Isabel was one of several AS swimmers representing Nitro at the meet over the weekend.  She did great in the water, but what really set her apart was how much she cheered for her fellow teammates.  While everyone was certainly ready to race hard, Isabel gave swimmers that extra ounce of encouragement that great made swims even greater.  Awesome job, Izzy G! – Coach Alex

Bee Cave: Taylor Ashbaugh – Taylor, since you started with us (about four months ago) I always knew the talented swimmer you are. Day by day, you’ve been growing, building and understanding the CONFIDENCE in yourself that’s so important in this sport. Proof of this, was your AWESOME 200BR on this past weekend meet 🙂 finishing with a solid 3:31.77 and deserving a great ‘A’ time on this race. Keep it up Taylor…better swims are yet to come for you. FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS..SISISI!!! –Coach Felix

Gold

Cedar Park: Rylee Worley & Cole Harris – Throughout this week both of them have truly embraced and engaged in their training. Challenging themselves with mentally and physically with very tough intervals. Then they capped it off with some breakout swims this weekend at UT. Rylee managed to make her first STAGS qualifying times and Cole who just aged up to the 13-14 Age group came very close to some of his own. Congratulations and keep up the great work. – Coach Travis

Bee Cave: Brendan Burt – Brendan has always had a love for breaststroke, he lives to race it, but we always talk about being an IMer, work on your weaknesses and the strengths take care of themselves, Brendan has been quietly working on just that, sure he nailed down two BB times in breaststroke events but I was most impressed by his aggressive butterfly, the pacing, limited breathing, and strong kick, were all areas he has made great improvement with, coach Tanner will love seeing this stroke on the front of Brendan’s IM, job well done sir! Nitro Swimming does have a new IMer being built; keep it up Brendan, Great Job! – Coach Chuck