Intro to Nitro–
Bee Cave: Vivi Howell. This week’s Swimmer of the week goes to Vivi Howell. Vivi joined us a couple weeks ago. She was pretty scared at first and did not like the cold water, BUT boy has she come a long way!! She now comes to practice and hops right in. It is great to see how she faced her fears and now is enjoying practice because of it. Super proud of you! Well done and keep it up! -Coach Sarah
Cedar Park: Grace Nguyen and Abram Rheinheimer. Grace and Abe have two of the most infectious smiles I’ve seen. They are always upbeat, ready to demonstrate just about anything, and give it their all every practice. I’ve said it a lot the last few weeks, but ALL of the Intro to Nitro groups at Cedar Park have been a true joy to coach. I see improvement every week. Keep up the great work, and congratulations to Grace and Abe! Coach Mike.
Bronze-
Bee Cave: Luke Rieder. How does a swimmer become stronger in the water? Luke has found a way, being consistent. Every time you push off the wall a tight streamline followed with a strong fly kick. I can’t remember when was the last time I saw Luke not press his underwater as far as possible, and all the hard work paid off this weekend, four great swims, one in each of the four strokes. A swimmer’s strokes will change as their body grows and gets stronger so the mechanics will always need work but Luke has found the benefits of turns and underwaters, the better they get the less distance you have to swim, and you will enjoy dropping time. Great racing this weekend young man! Coach Chuck
Cedar Park: Frances Huffaker. Frances had outstanding races at the Spooky Sprints meet in Bee Cave this past week. She showed great stroke technique and awesome turns, stuff we had been working on in practice for a while now. Frances blew me away with how awesome she swam. Way to go Frances! Coach Adam
Technique & Fitness (TF)
Bee Cave: Adyson Davis and Sydney Pack These girls rocked it at the Spooky Sprints meet over the weekend! Meets can be a little intimidating, but they did a fantastic job! I’m excited to see them continue to grow as swimmers and participate in more meets! – Coach Peter
Cedar Park: Dani Kennedy and Fernando Matas. They both had an incredible swim meet this past weekend at our Bee Cave Spooki Swim Meet. Great execution on dives and underwater work. Dani spoke about her bad turn on the wall in one of her events, but this just reminds us that she was THINKING about what she needed to do rather than going on auto pilot. Fernando we have to say in addition to his great swimming abilities just had a great positive attitude with the coaches and other swimmers while on deck. There is so much more to the physical activity of the swimming sport such as team support, encouragement to fellow athletes and a genuine love of swimming meets. Both of these swimmers really stepped up their game this past week. Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. Coach Steve.
Silver
Bee Cave- Elijah Tinsley . Swim meets are fun, anyone who has yet to participate in one of the Nitro meets doesn’t know what they are missing! Ask Elijah, first time swimming the 100 IM and he makes a National B time, just one test, but it shows how had he has been working on all four strokes. Elijah made the most of his turns this weekend and the 1:33.55 for his IM was a huge step, but a great example to other swimmers, work on the weak stroke and improvement will be found in all the strokes! Great job young man! Coach Chuck
Cedar Park – Cooper Roberson. Cooper is relatively new to the silver group, but he has been working hard at improving his technique, strengthening his endurance, and just getting more comfortable in the water. At the Spooky Sprint this past weekend, he took another big step in embracing his competitive spirit, laying down a couple of awesome swims! Through the struggle and the challenging swim sets, I see a powerful swimmer emerging, and it’s exciting to see. Great Job Cooper. Keep working hard, and keep on improving! Coach Nick
Adv. Silver
Bee Cave: Shaye Ladzinski. Shaye is a great example of hard work and dedication. Starting with Advanced, she really had a hard time and she has come a long way to be where she is in the water right now. Doing whatever it takes (specially with carpooling:) to be in the water in every practice. Always leading the lane with a contagious attitude and perseverance… Keep it up Shaye!#EVERYDAYISPAYDAY! FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS!!! SI SI SI!!! Coach Felix!
Cedar Park: Gracie Yocum. Gracie is growing as an athlete – not just physically, but she’s also mentally strong. One of her greatest goals as a ten year old was to get an A time. Despite getting extremely close, she did not achieve that goal on Sunday. Instead of whining and crying, Gracie understood that she could use this as fuel to train for 11/12 time standards and that she’ll always be setting new goals—many that she’ll achieve, and some that she may not. I’m very proud of what she’s accomplished so far and we can’t wait for the next step in her swimming career. Let’s hit the ground running, Gracie! Coach Alex
Gold
Bee Cave: Laney Kalsu. Laney is always laughing. Even when she is trying to talk to me about something somewhat serious, she always adds in a smile or a laugh at the end. Half of the time I can’t help but laugh as well. She does a great job of everyday coming up with the word of the day for our board, and is always very creative with it. Laney does a great job of balancing all of her activities and still coming to practice with 100% effort. I have enjoyed working and coaching Laney and can’t wait for more to come. Coach Allison
Cedar Park: Neha Siddapureddy. Neha had a great week of practices and finished up with a really good Saturday practice. We worked on our diving for most of practice on Saturday and saw a lot of change and willingness to learn and try no ideas. Thank you for working hard! Coach Jeremy