Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Chloe Michalik, Lily Wood, Maximilian Webb, Eera Gour-Gupta, & Angie Poston – Yes, I selected more than the normal one or two this week. Why? I had a tough time narrowing down such a large number of wonderful kids. Every Intro group has been showing such improvement every week. They are a joy to coach. Chloe, Lily, Maximilian, and Eera are all emerging as first rate demonstrators, with their skills rapidly increasing, along with the great attitudes we’re used to seeing exhibited by all of our Nitro kiddos. Angie’s story is a little different: Besides being one of the most polite young athletes we work with, I had picked the person who finished at the wall on the backstroke with the most confidence. Angie thought I was pointing to her. And I saw this smile appear on her, as she sit taller, chest beginning to puff out a bit in pride. Reality was I was pointing to Mackenzie– sitting right next to Angie. As soon as I clarified that to the group, within a second, I see Angie with the biggest smile reach her hand out to Mackenzie — and she wished her a truly heartfelt congratulation for being selected. I thought her sportsmanship was off the charts! Way to go to all of the Swimmers of the Week! – Coach Mike
Bee Cave: Harrison Zhang – Harrison did something pretty amazing this week. Even though he was scared, he faced his fears and got in the water. For him, this was a big deal and pretty scary. Just like the heroes in TV shows that have to face their fears, he had to as well. He did it beautifully this week. For all you kiddos who are scared of the water, practice, or the cold–remember superman has to face his fears and you can too!! Well done Harrison and keep it up!! – Coach Sarah
Bronze
Cedar Park: Tim Lin – Tim has become a leader of his Bronze group. He has worked hard to perfect the drills we worked on this week, showing great improvement in his breaststroke and underwater pullout. Tim has been a great help to his teammates too, yelling out intervals to keep the group on track. Keep up the great work Tim! – Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Evan Green – All week long we worked on breaststroke and Evan has presented the group with a great example of a patient long stroke, he presses forward with a great lunge, we call it swimming downhill, the pullouts are held very tight, head steady, and he always kicks back to streamline, coming up very close to the fruit loops. He has the kind of stroke I look for in swimmers who I want to swim the 100 breaststroke, something I see in silver swimmers but rarely in Bronze swimmers. We may need to find a meet for this young man to try the 100! Great job young man! –Coach Chuck
Technique & Fitness
Cedar Park: Hannah Booth & Wayhan Jiang – Hannah was absent for a few weeks and has returned with fighting colors, incredible sense of humor, leads her lane and constantly laughing. Great energy to bring to the pool and her group. Pleasure to have her back in the water. Wayhan had some trepidation getting up on the starting blocks this past week but after some time he was able to overcome his fears and proceed to demonstrate ownership of the starting blocks. Great to see his smile on his face at the end of practice. Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. – Coach Steve
Bee Cave: Jared Wang – Butterfly is arguably the most difficult stroke, but Jared did a great job really working to improve his butterfly this week. Keeping your breath low and your recovery arms straight are two crucial aspects of butterfly, and Jared did an outstanding job to improve and eventually demonstrate for the rest of the team how to do these two things correctly. Jared is a one of my quieter swimmers, but deserves recognition for his work this week. Great job, Jared! – Coach Peter
Silver
Cedar Park: Chloe Wilkins – Chloe is a very skilled and consistent swimmer, and like a metronome, she’s on time for practice, and when it comes time to go to work. This past week, we closed out practice with an intense set, where swimmers had the choice of using fins or going without them. Chloe decided to go without them, but got her fins out just in case, so I was waiting to see when she would grab for them. That moment never came. Instead, I saw something I hadn’t quite seen from her before, as she gritted her teeth and fought through till the end – Very impressive. After practice she talked to me about the set, and said about half way through, she realized she had already come this far, so there was no reason to stop now (she said with a smile of course!). Can’t say enough about that effort, and how pushing those boundaries makes not only her better as an individual, but the entire group as well. After all, this is a team! Keep fighting Chloe! – Coach Nick
Bee Cave: Austin He – Some great work done by this young man this week! Making changes to your stroke is one of the most difficult things to do for a young swimmer, imagine going from a stroke count around 25 and bringing to down to a count of 15 to 18! Well is was no easy task, some filming, try a few more lengths, more filming, some work on turns, and in the end the change in Austin’s stroke was huge! This young man focused better than I’ve ever seen him. Great job young man. Let’s take that new stroke to a meet soon! – Coach Chuck
Advanced Silver
Cedar Park: Victoria Caldera – Victoria is a staple of the group. She’s always focusing on doing skills right, not just doing them fast. Vic understands what 100% really means and is always willing to give it when asked. Prior to this weekend, she hasn’t been to a meet since May. We talked about this and entered her in the TXLA meet this past weekend—and she knocked her races out of the park! We couldn’t be happier with her success. – Coach Alex
Bee Cave: Jack Peterson – Jack, your energy and brightness in every stroke during this past week went over the standards. Your positive attitude and willingness towards every set in practice, makes a positive and significant changes in your stroke technique. Excellent week for you my friend, including your great swim during the 11 & over meets at UT. Keep it up Jack…FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS!!! SI SI SI!!! – Coach Felix
Gold
Cedar Park: Neha Siddapureddy – Neha absolutely crushed it at the swim meet. She was doing all the important things to go fast. Every race finished with a no breather in the “red zone” and also head down first stroke off her walls. She was positive the entire meet and was open to any challenges! Way to go Neha! – Coach Jeremy
Bee Cave: Sierra Averill – Sierra is such a solid and core part of our Gold group. This past weekend I was able to see Sierra take all of her training and put it into her races. You can always count on her to work hard. We practice all four strokes and she doesn’t hold back for any of them. I’m continually impressed by Sierra’s work ethic and I look forward to seeing what she can accomplish this season. I love your dedication and commitment Sierra! – Coach Allison