Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Tara Friedman & Landju Paulin-Obas – Tara exemplified a great sense of teamwork this past week by helping a teammate in need. During a set with fins, a swimmer who was in front of Tara had lost her fin. Tara spotted it in the middle of the pool, grabbed it without being asked, and carried it in her hands the rest of the way to deliver it back to its rightful owner. Tara didn’t have to do this, but she did it. It was an act of kindness and caring, and for that Tara Friedman earned one of our Swimmers of the Week titles. Our second pick this week goes to Landju. Rarely have we seen the amount of massive improvement in just a few short weeks – especially with Landju’s kicking! He was having a very tough time his first couple of weeks, but he stuck with it, put his mind to it, and he has transformed! Nice job Landju – and keep up the determination and the drive! – Coach Mike, Coach Darren, Coach Adam, Coach Steve & Coach Ben
Bee Cave: Katelyn Vitellaro – This weekend Katelyn caught all the coaches’ eyes when—at her first Nitro at the Races swim meet—she swam the 100 IM. This accomplishment captures Katelyn’s attitude a practice—enthusiastic and determined. After the event, she jumped out of the pool with the brightest smile on her face and biggest hug for me, which is how she walks on the pool deck each practice. Her great attitude is accompanied by immense skill improvement—especially butterfly. Thank you Katelyn for all your hard work! Keep it up young lady! – Coach Raven
Bronze
Cedar Park: Aiden Embestro – Aiden has become quite the swimmer in the Bronze group. While he specializes in breaststroke, his other strokes are becoming very strong too! One of our main goals with Aiden was to make sure that we weren’t sneaking any breaststroke kicks in during our freestyle kick with a board and on our butterfly, and with reminders from the coach, he is making those changes! This past weekend, his hard work paid off as he had many great swims at the UT swim meet. Awesome job Aiden! – Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Susie Fuselier – Susie is consistent in her training, her length off the walls is always the same no matter what stroke we are working on. The fly kick is quick and strong almost always pushing to the fruit loops, and her pullouts push the 3, 2,1,rule to it’s limit, allowing her to work on the lowest stroke count possible. I’m looking forward to seeing how well she maintains her length when she races. I see great potential in this young lady. Great work Susie keep it up! – Coach Chuck
Technique & Fitness
Cedar Park: Sarah Chu & Ethan Ho – Great job with these two swimmers and the enthusiasm they show every day at practice. Besides doing a great job leading their lanes and always paying attention to the directions we give them they really do an outstanding job implementing what we teach into ACTION in the water. Great listeners! Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. – Coach Steve
Bee Cave: Colin Dugan – Since coming back to Nitro, Colin has been working incredibly hard to improve his strokes, especially breaststroke. He has shown a lot of improvement with his kick, and he looks ready to kick butt for his summer league team! He often asks me what he can improve on, which is so great to hear from a swimmer! I know he wants to move to Silver, and he is getting closer which each practice! Excellent work, Colin! – Coach Peter
Silver
Cedar Park: George Rodriguez – Congrats George on earning swimmer of the week! George is a new swimmer to the silver group and has adjusted well to the faster pace and harder practices. What has caught my eye over the past few weeks is his superb streamline. Every time he pushes off the wall he is in a tight, balanced, in-line, powerful, streamline. And he also throws in a minimum of 3 to 4 dolphin kicks, exceeding the flags underwater. I find this very impress and beneficial as he is learning to swim underwater at such a young age. Keep up the work George! – Coach Ben
Bee Cave: Natalie Melhiser – Natalie has continuously worked hard at practice, and did a great job preparing her this week for the TXLA swim meet this past Saturday. Not only does her work ethic shine, but so does her smile and attitude that she brings to the pool and meets. She was very supportive of her teammates this past weekend which is something that every coach loves to see. Great job, Natalie! – Coach Lianne
Advanced Silver
Cedar Park: Morgan Vopat – Morgan is a workhorse. She is always willing to put in all the effort, which is even more amazing considering her outstanding attendance. Morgan represented Nitro at the 10&U Kickoff meet this past Saturday and dropped nearly five seconds in her 100 back – and that’s from her SCY time! Morgan will be moving on from Advanced Silver this coming week, but I’m positive her being a role model will still act as a great influence for the rest of the group. Good luck, MoVo! –Coach Alex
Bee Cave: Maksut O’Connor – Maksut started the journey with us about two months ago. That seems like a short amount of time, but it has been almost a 1,000 miles to here. Mixing a very busy study schedule with five swimming practices a week is a very tough commitment to make. Keeping all this details in mind, Maksut has done such a great job with Advanced Silver. The great improvement in all the strokes, specially in Butterfly and Breaststroke, has not gone unnoticed for the coach. Keep working hard Maksut, remember that hard work always pays off. Good job buddy. Keep it up! FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS!!! SI SI SI!!! – Coach Felix
Gold
Cedar Park: Liam Riley – Liam just recently moved to the Gold group and has been working extremely hard on learning how to use his snorkel and working on his Butterfly Kick! I am very excited to see his progress over the two weeks that he has been in the group and can’t wait to see him grow through the summer!! Keep up the hard work! –Coach Jeremy & Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Julia Carter – Julia has such a heart of gold. She 100% gives it her all everyday at practice, and wants nothing more than to get better. I asked the group who went to The Nitros and who was motivated by the older swimmers they saw. Her hand shot straight up! She explained to me that she wants to put the work in to get to that level. I believe in her, as long as she continues to believe in herself, great things will come! – Coach Allison