Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Sean Goodman
Sean did a really great job during practice this week. He worked super hard on the timing of his butterfly and nailed it. He also did a great job with his dives which was displayed at Nitro at the Races this weekend. Great job Sean, keep it up! —Coach Hannah
Bee Cave: Isabel Hochman and Carlyle Spicer
Isabel did an exceptional job being a lane leader this week. She demonstrated excellent underwater push-offs on her back—a skill she has been working hard to perfect this summer. This week, Intro to Nitro focused on backstroke; Isabel did a wonderful job maintaining a strong flutter kick with tall reaching arms. Intro also focused on diving in preparation for the meet; Carlyle amazed the coaches with his dives this weekend at the Nitro at the Races meet. He never lacks energy or spirit at practice. His love for swimming is quite evident in his effort. Thank you Isabel and Carlyle for all the hard work you put in each week! —Coach Raven
Bronze
Cedar Park: Sheamus Horton
Sheamus has come a long way since joining the Bronze group. He is getting stronger, faster, and more confident with each and every practice. Two weeks ago, Sheamus had a great outing at the AQTX meet, showing great strokes and technique throughout his races. This past week in practice, Sheamus showed great determination in his backstroke, especially while working on the backstroke flipturns. He then wow-ed me even more with his 100 IM at Nitro at the Races, making each stroke look easy. Awesome Job Sheamus! —Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Connor McClune
This week the Bronze swimmers explored their ability to race fast and limit their breathing. Connor took on the challenge like a veteran swimmer, working first with 3 breaths kicking 25s and even did a little extra going down to 2 breaths. We switched to 50s using fins, next 50s swim with fins, and finished swimming a series of 50s to see how well the kiddos would do. Every time I asked the group to make a goal on the number of breaths to take Connor would find a way to take 1 less breath than was asked. Connor swam every 50 taking 3 breaths on each length, his best race so far has been done breathing 4s so this effort shows a big step forward. I can’t wait to see this effort placed on Connor’s next meet at UT. Great job young man! —Coach Chuck
Technique and Fitness
Cedar Park: Nikki Harkare and Jae Ok
It’s the beginning of the fall season and both swimmers have been with the NITRO family for some time. They have led by example and really have shown the newcomers how to be a leader, attentive and proactive. As well as doing an awesome job with the underwater streamlines in freestyle and backstroke. So important. Great job as well with your long reach on every stroke grabbing your catch of the water early. Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. —Coach Stephen
Bee Cave: Claire Kremer
Claire realizes how important it is to do the little things right. She never does anything halfheartedly and that includes her streamline and underwaters. I noticed she pushed her limits on every single 25 trying to see if she could get a little further a little faster. All this is good; but, what impressed me most about a Claire is her leadership. My lane-leaders are always ready, always listening, and making sure the rest of their lane is doing it right, too. Claire is one of the best lane-leaders I’ve ever had the privilege of coaching. —Coach Jonny
Silver
Cedar Park: Nicholas Wood and Jeremy Kelly
Newcomers to Nitro, Nicholas Wood and Jeremy Kelly, did an outstanding job this week. As we reviewed butterfly both guys showed me solid under waters off of every wall and mastered early breathing as well as a long stroke. Neither Nicholas nor Jeremy shy away when presented with a more challenging interval. We also worked on freestyle focusing on a consistent, propulsive, 6 beat kick. Both boys worked really hard to maintain this throughout their sets. Good job this week boys! —Coach Claire
Bee Cave: Kaylee Wilson and Maren Gauntt
Our focus in Silver this week was backstroke, and these two girls did an outstanding job specifically with the underwaters. We introduced a new breathing pattern and method to maximize our distance in our underwaters on our back. Kaylee and Maren were consistently getting the furthest out of almost all of my Silver kiddos. I had the pleasure of coaching Kaylee and Maren in T&F, and I am so excited to be able to be their coach again. Great job this week girls! —Coach Peter
Advanced Silver
Bee Cave: Adithi Rao and Daniela Cazares
These ladies are our SOTW due to their inspiring hard work, demonstrated in part by purposely choosing to take on harder main sets. It is fun to coach two young women who have such motivation to improve daily, and who have grown into strong competitors. Can’t wait to see them have success at meets! Go Nitro! —Coach Paige
Gold
Cedar Park: David Homiller and Liam Riley
David first caught my attention with some great races at the AQTX meet. I know he had some racing speed in him, but he really impressed me with some of his swims at a tough outdoor meet. As the practices are getting harder the further we get into the season, David seems up to the challenge, repeatedly going above and beyond in some of our toughest sets. He is always focused on how to get better, and is eager to learn any information a coach can pass along. Keep pushing yourself David, you’re doing a great job! —Coach Adam
Liam is as smart as he is fast. He is quick to pick up on the purpose of sets and perform his skills with intent. What has really stood out so far this season is how tough this kiddo is – and he has the strongest handshake in the group to boot! Keep working to get faster every practice, Liam! —Coach Alex
Bee Cave: Owen Crowns
Owen joint Gold group about a month ago now. He has done a great job of fitting right in, and has some of the best kicking legs I’ve seen in awhile! Owen does a great job of asking where he needs to improve and trying his best to fix it in the water each day. He’s a very thoughtful team mate and he works to get along with each of his team mates. Way to go this past week, Owen! —Coach Allison