Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Desi Delgado – Every single week Desi shows up to practice with a smile on her face! She works hard while she’s in the water and she consistently checks in with her coaches to ask what she can work on to get better. This dedication is a great quality for any athlete! Keep up the great work, Desi! – Coach Jessie
Bee Cave: Charlotte Wernli – Charlotte always comes to practice full of excitement with a smile on her face, ready to learn! This week she did an excellent job with open turns and breaststroke pull outs. Her attention to details really paid off and she was able to put it all together and execute the new skills we covered. Great job this week Charlotte! I love your enthusiasm and willingness o be a leader for your group! Keep it up! – Coach Meghan
Bronze
Cedar Park: Gannon Flynn – Gannon not only had a great week of practice making changes to his Freestyle, but also preformed out of the pool and representing Nitro as a volunteer timer! He went down to STAGS in San Antonio to watch his brothers swim this weekend, but instead of sitting there and watching he volunteered to be a timer for three different sessions! He was also able to time trial on Friday afternoon and swam the 50 Breaststroke for a personal best. Way to represent NITRO Gannon! –Coach Jeremy
Bee Cave: Mary Hargett – Mary showed big improvement this week in her freestyle. We talk all the time here at Nitro about swimming tall. It has nothing to do with height, it has to do with mindset and how much we stretch our bodies out. Mary did a great job this week stretching out her freestyle to the point she was taking 7 less strokes per lap. That is a lot of energy saved simply by swimming like we are 6 feet tall. I am super proud of your progress Mary!!! Great job!!! – Coach Jared
Technique & Fitness
Cedar Park: Siya Bhakta & Roark Estrin – Siya is fairly new to our group and had a rough start getting acclimated to the 50 meter pool. She had some tough weeks but this past week we really saw her shine. She’s making great progress and we are so pleased with her improvement. Roark has really showed the group how to be a great leader. He always pays attention and makes sure the other swimmers listen to the instructions. He had some difficulty with his butterfly and as the months have gone by he really has begun to improve. Great underwater streamlines by the way. Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool – Coach Stephen
Bee Cave: Ella Chepak – As a coach, sometimes it seems we coach, try to explain things, and well, have to be patient when things take time to learn. Whether that’s a flip turn, an open turn, a streamline, whatever. Then, one day, there’s the swimmer that somehow the light bulb just goes ON! Like, not on, but like a SPOTLIGHT! This week’s theme was “Back to Basics” week. So, we worked on streamlines, streamlines, and more streamlines, some freestyle, etc. We had many swimmers looking good for sure, but one stood out! Ella had her best practice over! Her streamline (not just on freestyle) but on her backstroke was just awesome! I have a witness as Coach Tanner saw the same thing. Way to go Ella! The Spotlight is on you! Good practice being in the spotlight for your upcoming part in the “Into the Woods” at TexArts! –Coach Linda
Silver
Cedar Park: Ethan Zapalac – If you haven’t read or heard the story already, Ethan attended the February 7th meet that took place at our Bee Cave location. During that meet, Ethan, without any thought, showed kindness, humbleness, and most of all sportsmanship. He realized he swam in the same heat as a younger swimmer multiple times. He took the time to befriend this other swimmer and made him feel comfortable and overall made him enjoy his experience at the meet. What Ethan didn’t know was that it was this little boys first meet and he was overwhelmed with nerves, but Ethan made him feel at easy. I am very proud to coach a young man like Ethan, who has no fear of going out of his way to make other feel apart. You make me smile, Ethan! –Coach Allison
Bee Cave: Samuel Tan – We had to push kind of hard, Samuel had not swam in any meets except our own Nitro at the Races, he has really been training so hard, his butterfly is great, so smooth and very leg driven, the middle of his IM is very strong, quick hands on the back, great pullouts, it was just time to get Samuel into a sanctioned USA Meet, and the Cupid Splash was it, he swam three events, you can go to USA Swimming web site and check his times, and surprise, this young man not only swam his first recognized swims but made National B times as well, Sam I am, is now Sam I Swam! Great job young man lets pick some more events soon. – Coach Chuck
Advanced Silver
Cedar Park: Taylor Yu – Taylor Yu is this week’s SOW! Taylor is new to the group, but she’s already fitting in very well. Swimmers who move up midseason usually take extra TLC learning new drills, how to use snorkels, and understanding tempo trainers, but Taylor has plunged right in and has done a commendable job facing these challenges with her chin up high. We coaches look forward to her success this coming season. Way to go, Taylor! – Coach Alex
Bee Cave: Sierra Averill – This past week, was the best for Sierra since she started with Advance Silver a little while ago. Demonstrating a great ability for Breaststroke (excellent demonstration on Thursday practice) and a marked improvement in the Butterfly. Her proactive attitude and discipline, are the key to success in every step of life. Sierra, since you were in Silver group, I noticed the great swimmer you are. Let’s continue with your outstanding job that magical moments are waiting for you. Se ya on deck. FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS!!! SI SI SI!!! – Coach Felix
Gold
Cedar Park: Kelly Digby, Jaylin DuBose, Chad Fifield, Kelson Flynn, Julia McCurley, Mater McCusker, Adam Micek, Taylor Shorb, Megha Siddapureddy, Kendall Strauss, & Alex Warren – This weekend all of these swimmers competed in their first ever STAGS Championship. We had lots of great swims and also learned a lot about being focused and taking care of our selves during a very long meet. I am very proud of all of you and the hard work that you have put in all year to get here. Keep striving for your goals. – Coach Travis
Bee Cave: Naomi Kruger – When a swimmer changes groups there can be an adjustment period, new faces, longer practice, different sets, goals change, send offs get quicker, you get tested in whole new ways, Naomi has not missed a beat since she joined Gold, she jumps right in the thick of things, I really like how she attacks her walls, and the best part is I feel I can move her to any lane, any position and the results are just as good, I can’t wait to see this young lady chew up some long course yards. Great fun having you in the group young lady, Great Job this week, keep it up! – Coach Chuck