Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Aarush Yakah
Aarush always shows up to practice with a huge smile on his face. He always works hard and listens to the coaches as best as he can. This past week Intro learned about the clock and some basic intervals. Aarush mastered the concept and helped out some of the other kids who were a little confused. Keep up the great work, Aarush! —Coach Hannah
Bee Cave: Abigail Xu and Alex Russell
Abigail rocked backstroke week! She demonstrated great underwaters streamline pushoffs on her back and a strong flutter kick. She led her teammates with her tall backstroke arms and picky-finger entry. Alex joined Intro this fall; a natural breaststroker, flutter kicking does not come easily, but Alex continues to stick with it and work hard to point his toes and keep his knees close. This week Alex stood out for his sportsmanship. He was kind and helpful when a new swimmer joined us this week; Alex took the time to help him understand “ready position” and what to do when his number was called. Thank you Abigail and Alex for your hard work and eagerness to learn! —Coach Raven
Bronze
Cedar Park: Amaya Fayad
The Bronze group worked on flipturns this week, and nobody caught my eye more than Amaya. She had fast, tight turns and got into her streamline quickly, She even had some beautiful underwaters coming off the wall, displaying awesome breath control. Amaya always pays close attention to her technique, but is definitely ready to kick in the speed whenever asked. Keep up all the hard work Amaya! —Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Katherine Cui
This young lady may be very quiet on the deck but when she steps into the pool she speaks volumes! I have no swimmer in Bronze that does better underwater pushoffs than Katherine. She does all the right things, strong kick to the wall, deep push, and builds a very nice quick strong fly kick. It puts a smile on my face every time another coach walks by and says WOW! Yes that what Katherine does and she does it the same every time. Keep going young lady great job! —Coach Chuck
Technique and Fitness
Cedar Park: Tasneem Fatima and Saswath Venkatesh
Great job this past week working on your open turns. Besides the great technique work involved this past week what we see as more impressive was your quality of work and stamina. We the coaches LOVE to see the athletes who want to improve and are willing to go that extra mile and show us something more in your practices! Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. —Coach Stephen
Bee Cave: Sophia Tran
Sophia is a phenomenal little swimmer. She works hard and does things correctly. She always pays attention to what the coaches are telling her; and, I notice an immediate difference. That tells me she’s also paying close attention to what she’s doing. Many swimmers are good at one or the other; but, she excels at both! Very respectful and very good at applying what she’s learning. I have to say, though: My favorite thing about Sophia is her beaming smile. She comes to practice with it, she swims practice with it, and she leaves practice with it. I love having her in my group – I can’t wait to see her every week! —Coach Jonny
Silver
Cedar Park: Sunayna Adoni
She has been swimmer of the week before, but Sunayna Adoni did a wonderful job this week as we worked on backstroke. We learned a new drill which helped to understand catching and pushing our bodies through the water. I asked Sunayna to demonstrate this skill for everyone as she does it so well. She is able to reach for and catch the water ahead of her in order to move herself forward with no wiggling or head movement. This is an incredibly hard skill to master for her age, but she gets it. And her backstroke looks S-M-O-O-T-H. Keep it up Sunayna! —Coach Claire
Bee Cave: Katelyn Vitellaro
Katelyn has been absolutely phenomenal since joining Silver a little over a month ago. Even though she’s one of the newest members of Silver, she’s already been leading her lane lately and doing a great job! Our focus was freestyle this week, specfically working on the timing between the lead arm and recovery arm. By the end of the week, Katelyn’s freestyle was looking beautiful! She’s respectful, attentive, and eager to improve as a swimmer, every coach’s dream! I’m so proud of the progress she’s already made during her short time in Silver. Excellent job, Katelyn! —Coach Peter
Advanced Silver
Bee Cave: Alice Stockli
Alice Stockli has quickly established herself as a leader in our group. Over the past 6 months, she has matured greatly. When I first started coaching her, she was still learning to read sets and how to train on intervals. Now, she is one of the ones that the other swimmers look to know when to push off on. Additionally, she frequently asks me for what to improve upon and is very receptive to coaching, which has helped her butterfly truly develop. Nice perseverance, Alice! —Coach Paige
Gold 1 & 2
Gold 1 CP: Minji Kim
Minji may be one of the younger kids in the group, but she is definitely one of the tougher swimmers. Minji is consistently pushing herself to new boundaries, whether that means leading her lane or swimming more of the strokes she doesn’t favor. Minji earned this award for swimmer of the week due to her work as a whole, not just in the past week. She is one of the most consistent swimmers in Gold. Awesome stuff Minji. —Coach Adam
Gold 2 CP: Lauren Roberts
Lauren was once a timid swimmer. Over the past year, she has grown into a confident, fast athlete who is among the quickest in the group. It’s really rewarding to see a swimmer improve self-confidence as much as physical ability, and Lauren has certainly stepped into a leadership role in the group. It’s great to see Lauren walk through Nitro’s doors every day, because I know that will be a day in which she’ll get better. Keep it up, Lauren! —Coach Alex
Bee Cave: Adriana Klaas, Catherine McCluskey, Lisa Kortekaas, Mia Nobles
I call this group the fearsome foursome after this past weekend of watching them race. These 4 took down all of North Texas and showed them how us Southerners race. I particularly loved watching these kiddos race in a relay together. They are some of the best of friends while at practice, so it made it a little extra special to watch them all together. All I have to say is, watch out for these four, the future is bright! —Coach Allison