Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Ajay Ramesh
Ajay is one of our newer swimmers and has been working diligently on breaststroke kick. He keeps trying on every lap without complaining, and we are starting to see some flexed feet on that kick! Keep up the good work, Ajay! —Coach Lindsay
Bee Cave: Giacomo De Santis
Giacomo, only six-years-old, is the breaststroke king! While working on breaststroke this week, he excelled during all parts of the stroke—from remembering not to underwater kick off the wall, to the small pull, and the snappy toes-out kick. He continues to crush our flutter kick warm-up with a huge smile on his face! I am so proud of you and all the accomplishments you have made thus far. Keep it up Giacomo! —Coach Raven
Bronze
Cedar Park: Siddarth Singh. Sid spent a great deal of focus last week working on his breaststroke. He is continuing to keep the kick narrow, shooting the feet back to straight legs instead of kicking out wide. Sid then put the kick into the whole stroke really well, that includes fast hands, steady head position, and staying long on the glide. Sid’s dives also looked great on Saturday. Way to go Sid! —Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Dane Mason – Dane did just an amazing swim in an environment that few Bronze swimmers will ever find themselves in and that is a team time trial, swimmers from group ranging from Bronze all the way up to National Development! Imagine yourself swimming next to a swimmer who goes 57 seconds in the 100 freestyle, is a foot taller than you and will finish 2 lengths in the time you plan to finish your first length! Dane never looked better going just a .09 over two minutes a great swim and puts him #7 on the Bronze top 100 freestyle times list! Dane is turning into a great racer! Great Job young man! —Coach Chuck
Technique and Fitness
Cedar Park: Ishanvi Mishro and Bharat Sachdeva. Awesome job this past week on your backstroke, excellent job on your underwater streamline, thumb and pinkie placement was superior, and the underwater catch was amazing! Great job you two. Thanks for being a part of Nitro, and we’ll see you at the pool! —Coach Stephen
Bee Cave: Samantha Luty
Samantha only recently joined Nitro, but holy guacamole has she made a huge impact! She’s becoming somewhat of a legend among the coaches because of her outstanding attitude. She’s so motivated and excited and respectful and (fill in the blank with any positive adjective)! I’m so happy and honored to be her coach. I know it won’t be long, however, until she moves into Silver. I will cherish every moment I have with her while I still got her! Samantha is an incredible representation of Nitro Swimming. I know I can speak for all of us when I say, we’re so happy you joined our team, and we’re already proud of you! —Coach Jonny
Silver
Cedar Park: Haley Tisdale
This girl broke her toe last week, yet did not want to miss a week of practice in the water. The doc cleared her for swimming with some modifications, and she showed up still ready to work. Now that’s what I call commitment to the sport! She got to go over some pull drills and work which is not something we normally do in Silver. Way to go Haley! I’m so proud of your work ethic. Keep it up! —Coach Claire
Bee Cave: Porter Bailey
This week, we did some work on flip turns. All of the Silver kids can do the basic flip turn, but we really keyed in on what goes into doing a perfect flip turn. Having our hands by our side, rotating fast, forming our streamline before our feet land in the water, and the timing of our turn were all things we really worked on. I have a habit of yelling swimmer’s name when I see something exceptional from them. During a drill, I had already yelled the names of a few swimmers when Porter says, “Coach Peter, I’m going to make you yell out my name.” I watched his next flip turn, and it was the best flip turn I’ve ever seen Porter do. I had no choice but to yell, “PORTER BAILEYYYYYY!!!” I could have done that for every flip turn he did after. It was some phenomenal work from Porter, so this week’s SOW goes to him! Nice job, Porter! —Coach Peter
Advanced Silver
Bee Cave: Haruki Okuno
Haruki has progressed very quickly, especially in the past few months! Haruki’s breaststroke and freestyle technique is combining with his speed in an incredible way — causing him to be a tremendous leader at Nitro’s practices. He will be moving on to the next level soon and I am sure there will be many other great stories of success. Congrats, Haruki and Good Luck! —Coach Paige
Gold 1 & 2
Gold 1 CP: Tori Xiao. After a brief absence, Tori is back in the water with Gold 1! She has hit it hard, working to make up for the time she lost. Tori pays close attention to corrections coaches ask her to make, and even if she doesn’t get it right away, she keeps working until she can feel the changes. Tori even got back into competing last week, as she did a few swims at the Nitro Time Trial. Great job, Tori! —Coach Adam
Gold 2 CP: Ashleigh O’Banion. I have yet to see a bad day from Ashleigh. I don’t know if she is perpetually happy, or that she’s mature enough to let everything go when she walks through Nitro’s doors and decides to have the best practice she can. Ashleigh is constantly striving to please her coaches, her teammates, and most importantly, herself by making her swimming a little better each time she pushes off the wall. She’s a pleaser in every way, and there’s no doubt that kind of attitude is making her into the best swimmer possible. Keep it up, Ashleigh!—Coach Alex
Bee Cave: Megan Kelly
When thinking about this past week and who has demonstrated the standout qualities to be swimmer of the week, Megan was the first person to pop in my mind. She has been crushing workouts this past week, and I have seen glimpses of the hard work that it takes to succeed. We did a specific set where they were given a time and need to race to reach that goal of the time. Each time I saw Megan look at the clock, take responsibility and know if she made it or not. The best part of my day was watching her celebrate/get excited when she achieved her goal. I love to momentum she is gaining, so lets keep it going Miss Megan! —Coach Allison