Nitro Swimmer of the Week for May 30th – June 4th, 2016

Intro to Nitro 

Cedar Park: Elisa Kritz – I remember when Elisa started our Summer Rec program a few summer back, she just loved being in the water. She has done a phenomenal job and we the coaches are very proud of her. She is trying out with Bronze this coming week, we wish her all the best. – Coach Flo

Bee Cave: Nolan McDougall – Nolan always shows great focus during practice. This week he kept a low head position while working on freestyle and worked hard to take a quick breath on the side. Nolan is constantly a leader in the pool with a positive attitude. Thank you for being a joy to teach! – Coach Raven & Coach Randy

Bronze

Cedar Park: Ashleigh O’Banion – Ashleigh has been on fire the last couple of weeks. A week ago, she  focused on her breaststroke, becoming much faster and vastly improving her open turns. This past week, I challenged the kids with a few 100 IM’s, but that didn’t faze Ashleigh. She swam strong through all of them, even nailing the tricky turns. Coach Jeremy and I have been very impressed with the progress Ashleigh has made. Way to go! – Coach Adam

Bee Cave: Jacob Mudry – Big change in Jacob’s freestyle this week, as you watched his practice evolve you could see the stroke grow taller, the hands were higher out of the water, the shoulders were pressing up higher, the armpits could be seen out of the water then reach over the ears, and his hands on top showed patience, it is the beginning of a great stroke. The topper of the whole change was he never forgot his streamlines, or the under waters, all the while pushing everything along with a solid kick. Jacob is going to really make big strides with this taller more patient stroke! Great Job Young Man! – Coach Chuck

Technique & Fitness

Cedar Park: Jessica & Lydia Karli – These sisters have consistently been team players over the years.  As the summer begins and they go off doing  summer activities we just wanted to appreciate the level of expertise they always show.  They have both been swimming with NITRO for awhile and especially this past week and months have shown leadership of their lanes, genuine friendship within their groups and an overall love of the sport of swimming and it shows.   Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. – Coach Steve

Bee Cave: Rod Talavera-Verdugo – Rod is an enthusiastic swimmer that has tremendously improved over the past few weeks. He really stepped up this week, with all of his stroke techniques looking great and his flip-turns were impressive to watch. He even got to demonstrate to the group. Keep up the great work, Rod! Your hard work is definitely paying off. – Coach Shannon

Silver

Cedar Park: Aiden Paiz – Aiden is been is the Silver group for a few weeks now and has really taken off. He has shown his drive and love for swimming each day. It excites me to see him challenge himself daily and take a chance, not knowing what will happen, if he will fail, if it may hurt. He is determined to become a better student and competitor of the sport. Keep up the hard work, it will pay off! – Coach Ben

Bee Cave: Nehemiah Chow – Congratulations, Nehemiah! He has been working hard everyday since moving up to Silver, and his progress is showing for it! Last week I challenged the kids to swim as fast as they could underwater streamline with fins on, and Nehemiah blew me away with his fast butterfly kicking underwater- not to mention he made it the entire 25-yards underwater without a breath! I’ve also seen huge improvements in his breaststroke, holding a solid head position and swimming with great technique. Keep it up, Nehemiah! – Coach Lianne

Advanced Silver

Cedar Park: Vinh Pham – Vinh Pham is this week’s SOW!  Talent doesn’t mean much if individuals aren’t willing to make improvements.  Vinh is one of those rare cases in which he’s incredibly talented, but he also makes changes on a dime.  I’m constantly impressed with his improvements and awareness of his habits.  I usually have a “rule of 3” – if there’s a correction to be made, I try to remind the swimmer at least three times that practice.  With Vinh, it’s an easy “rule of 1.”  Keep it up, Vinh! – Coach Alex

Bee Cave: Swetha Ayinala – Great week for Swetha. In every set, in every streamline, in every stroke, she takes her swimming technique to the next level. This week we were working the “quick breath” (and she understood exactly what that means) during the Freestyle swim and I can surely say she’s the master of this concept. Always willing to work hand in hand with the daily swimming workout and demonstrating an OUTSTANDING work ethic every time she hits the water. Remember my friend, the best advice from the coach is “think positive, be positive and life will be easier”. Good job Swetha! Keep it up! FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS!!! SI SI SI!!! – Coach Felix

Gold

Cedar Park: Liz Stephen – Liz has been going the extra mile at practice and even before practice everyday. She is continuing to show improvement in all four strokes and has been eager to learn and make changes daily. Specifically, she has been working on her backstroke start which was AMAZING at this past weekends meet at Bee Cave. Liz keep up the great work and continue to push the limits in a be out of the water!! – Coach Jeremy & Coach Adam

Bee Cave: Destiny Guerra – What an amazing young lady you are! Destiny is one of the most polite girls within Nitro, and will help a team mate out no matter the situation. This weekend at the Distance Meet, Destiny volunteered to help time/count for many swimmers throughout long races, when she had her own race at the end of the meet (which she demolished). It was also very cool to see her race a new event and get out of the water with a smile and the typical “that wasn’t so bad.” Thank you for helping your team mates, being a positive influence on them as well as me, and continuing to work hard throughout practices! – Coach Allison