Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park:Jaden Yue– Jaden has been working hard in Intro. He’s always attentive to the coaches and focused. Every practice he comes ready to swim and always has his A-game on. He did an amazing job on his fast flip turns this week. His work ethic in the pool has really paid off. Great job Jaden!! – Coach Kirsten
Bee Cave: Floria Xu & Camryn Thigpen– Both Floria and Camryn are two of our main demonstrators of the Intros. No matter what the stroke, no matter what the drill, they not only willingly volunteer to be showcased; they execute the finer details with pinpoint accuracy! The Intro to Nitro groups are a blast to coach every day, as you never know what is going to come out of the mouths of any of these kiddos, but at the same time the weekly improvement is astounding. When we have “go-to” kids like Camryn and Floria leading the way, the group can’t help but get better and better. – Coach Nikki, Coach Meghan, & Coach Mike
Bronze
Cedar Park:Ijay Narang– He has done a fantastic job of making changes to his strokes the past couple of weeks. He has been a leader not just in his lane but helping keep other teammates understand the sets. For these and many other reasons he will be moving up to Silver group this week. Congrats Ijay and keep up the great work! – Coach Travis
Bee Cave: David Lax– He had improved tremendously over the last month. He went from telling me how much swimming is boring to loving it now. He also improve his 100 IM time a lot from 2:10 to 2:01. Swimmer like him makes this job very rewarding and make me love what I do. – Coach Tanner
Technique & Fitness
Cedar Park:Gayarti Rajamony & Maximillian Forbes – Gayarti has been very consistent with the little things that matter. Flip turns, streamlines, breathing on three. She also was awesome in our end of practice game of sharks and minnows. Maximillian is a man of few words. He knows how to come to practice and get the job done. Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. – Coach Steve
Bee Cave:Gianna Berti– Gianna has really stepped up her training in the past couple of weeks. She always has a huge smile on her face before and after practice. Recently, she has been asking a lot of good questions during practice regarding certain drills. Gianna is always helping out her teammates when we start a new skill set in practice. Keep up the great work Gianna! – Coach Adrian
Silver
Cedar Park:Brannan Kovachev– Brannan is this week’s SOW for a number of reasons. First and foremost has been his work ethic in the water. Oftentimes I’ll lay down some guidelines for how to do the set in a way that helps the swimmers improve and focus on a small number of key points. This week when such a situation presented itself, the group was told to do at least 3 underwater fly kicks off each and every wall but if they really want to get better make that 5-7. To the great joy of his coaches, Brannan stepped up to that challenge and had no less than 5 great kicks off each wall. The secondary reason Brannan is this week’s winner is the great one-liner he had on Friday evening. One of the many cows grazing the fields behind the pool gave birth in the middle of practice. Brand new baby cow being born yards away from our Nitro swimmers putting in the days work. When told about the situation that had occurred during their swim, Brannan simply responded ‘Utterly Amazing’. Keep up the great work in the pool and the sharp wit Brannan! – Coach Dakota
Bee Cave:Silver #5 Talia Baig, Lauren Blossman, Zoe Clark, Beau Davis, Amelia Dimick, Kyla Foxhoven, Lena Hadjimani, Megan Kelly, Shaye Ladzinski, Harvey Li, Tam-My Nguyen, Trinh Nguyen, Allison Osorio, Sergio Pereira, Isabelle Saquing, & Aman Shah– These group of swimmers have really stepped up their training recently. I never have to repeat myself because they are always listening. No one speaks out of turn or goofs off to be a distraction. Everyone has their game face on when they show up to practice. With our recent work on transitioning our kick sets to our swims, Coach Tanner and I have seen huge improvements as a group. To cap off their great week we had Lauren Blossman tell us this, “Coach, I finally made it to the front. I didn’t know I could do that. This is fun.” Nice work this week Silver #5, keep it up! – Coach Adrian
Advanced Silver
Cedar Park:Brelyn Cary– Brelyn has been working hard to make the necessary adjustments to her strokes. She’s very deliberate with her training. She’s a great team mate and helps others stay positive in the group. She has made a lot of progress since joining the Advanced Silver group in August. – Coach Scott G.
Bee Cave: Avery McCrory – Because Adv. Silver is broken up most of the week and only come together on Saturdays, many of the swimmers are not as familiar with their counterparts in the other group. That said, this Saturday while we were doing some fast 100s from the blocks, I saw Avery cheering her teammate of another group. Now, I ask my swimmers to get to know each other and encourage one another during practice. However, I understand that it is much easier to do so when you swim with them day in and day out. Avery doesn’t really care about such things. Regardless of how well she knows them she wants everybody around her to do well and improve. That is something I really admire about her. Keep up the good work Avery! – Coach Jeff
Gold
Cedar Park:Julia Roberto– A constant leader of the group and always ready for a challenge Julia pushes herself every day to excel. She has been making lots of changes to her stroke technique and this weekend it paid off in lots of time drops. Continue to push yourself and achieve your goals. – Coach Travis
Bee Cave: Arianna Lax– I had the opportunity watch Arianna swim the 100 butterfly in San Antonio this weekend, a nice 12 second time drop, it had all the things you look for in that race, good pace, strong kick, fast walls, and a confidence I had not seen before, 4 tenths of a second off a National A time, she was well coached, focused, and ready go to a pain level she had never been to before, best of all was the smile she had on her face, it also got a WOW out of Coach Travis with a recommendation of “can’t wait to see her swim the 200 butterfly”, but her day wasn’t over because she had to jump right into the 500 free to end the day, and a great day it was!! Super job Arianna, coach Hannah should be very proud! – Coach Chuck
Swimmer of the Month for October 2013:
Cedar Park
High School Training:Simran Makwana– Simran has done an outstanding job in and out of the pool. She is a quiet leader in dry land and volunteers to do extra work when it’s available. We have been continually impressed with her focused attitude and can’t wait to see her results in Streamline Aquatics Sombrero Series Dos next week. Keep working hard, Simran! – Coach Alex
TAGS 2: Reilly Gilbert– Reilly has had an amazing month of training, great swim meets at both UT and Lakeside Dual Meet, getting selected to the Texas All-Star Camp. He has also had quite some success outside the pool playing Safety and Quarterback for his football team. But one of the biggest reasons Reilly is Swimmer of the Month is because he makes his teammates around him better every day he shows up. He is not a vocal leader but his actions in practice and his desire to not see his teammates quit during practice speak volumes about the kind of swimmer he is. Keep working hard Reilly the sky is the limit for you this season!!! – Coach Flo
TAGS 1: Hannah Milikich– Hannah responds very well to input from coaches. She also trains and races hard in every practice. – Coach Greg
Senior:Allie Howells– Allie joined the Senior group this fall, and I know that she was a little nervous about making the leap into a new group. However, time has proven that she is a great addition to the group. Her hard work and willingness to train even when out of town has certainly been noticed. I’m excited to see the strides that she has made both in practice and at meets. Great job Allie! – Coach Kristyn
National Developmental:Brandon Daniels– Brandon has quietly been starting to lead by example within the group. He has been pushing himself to leading not only his lane but the entire group on a more regular basis. Besides his great effort he has really been focusing on his technique in his strokes. He has made good improvements on his backstroke and breaststroke. He also did a great job at the dual meet against LAC were he got two lifetime best times and in his third event he swam his third fastest time. Keep up the great work and the positive attitude! – Coach Robert
Bee Cave
High & Middle School Training:Quique Morven– Quique has improved so much over the last two months. Over the last couple of weeks I have notice a change in him. He is beginning to have more confidence in the water and improve his technique. Quique is always working hard and always puts a smile on the coaches’ face. Keep up the great work. – Coach Nikki
TAGS:Ethan Hammond– Ethan has been battling some injuries this season; however, he has continued to work hard and it is paying off. He has had some big time drops so far this season and we hope to keep seeing that as the season progresses. Keep up the hard work Ethan! – Coach Scott Y.
Senior:Michael Smith– Michael has emerged as one of our leaders in Senior. He gives 110% on every single set. I have seen Michael take giant strides of progress in the last couple months. He is having an incredible start to his short course season. With Michael’s training he is going to start putting out some very impressive times. Keep up the great work Michael! Coach Chuck and I are very proud of you! – Coach Adrian
National Developmental:Jack Cornish– Jack had a great month of training as well as some great swims at the October UT meet. Jack doesn’t usually have much to say but that’s just fine when he is smiling from ear to ear after each race. Jack continues to lead the group and has been doing a great job of working to improve his under waters. We are looking forward to seeing what he can do at the meet this weekend. – Coach Scott Y.
National Group Swimmer of October: Natalie Davis – Besides her perfect attendance and just top notch work ethic…on a daily basis and some days twice daily basis, ND has really become one of our team leaders as well…in the pool and in dry land ( where she and Abby Artmann have started leading a med ball routine ). Natalie leads both vocally and by example which is great for her teammates to see that she does walk the walk before talking the talk! We look to ND to have a great round of November/December meets as her training has been exemplary and on top of that ND has helped take her teammates with her. No one does a better job of finding a swimmer who is struggling on a particular day and bringing them up. She is the essence of what being a great teammate is all about. Keep up the great work ND and keep leading the way! – Coach Tim