Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Kylie Snell – Kylie comes to practice every week with a smile on her face! She works hard in the water, and is improving every week! We worked on streamlines this week and every time she pushed off the wall she had a fantastic streamline. Great job, Kylie! – Coach Jessie
Bee Cave: Vito Sgroi – I was really impressed with Vito’s work on his breaststroke kick this week!! He did a really great job slowing down and focusing on what he was doing, rather than rushing through it. This paid off for him, because by the end he was doing a legal breaststroke kick! Sometimes you have to slow down a little bit first to master technique before you can go faster, and Vito really mastered that this week! Great job! Keep it up Vito! – Coach Meghan
Bronze
Cedar Park: Nishant Udupa – Nishant has done a great job at practice. Leading by example and always asking great questions about drills and working extremely hard on sets. – Coach Jeremy
Bee Cave: Bruce Chen – Bruce really impressed me with his butterfly this week. We have been talking about having steady rhythm and a strong kick, and he showed how much he has been working on those things. Combined with a good head position, he made big strides recently in improving his butterfly. He was able to demonstrate for his teammates and helped them improve as well. Great job Bruce, keep up the good work! – Coach Jared
Technique & Fitness
Cedar Park: Susan Mashayekhi & John Nguyen – These two swimmers always show up for practice with an incredible amount of attitude and energy. They encourage the other swimmers and are always willing to demonstrate for the group. Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. –Coach Steve
Bee Cave: It’s not that often that all the stars align or you witness a Blue Moon! But this week, Anna Temple did the “once in a blue moon” thing! Yes – she nailed her streamlines, flip turns, and everything on practice. On times, she even cut out 5 seconds with one drill we did. Keep up the great work Anna! Coach Linda
Silver
Cedar Park: Ethan Caldwell – Ethan has recently made the move into Silver. Even when faced with challenges throughout practice he has shown that he will put the effort in to complete the workout. He knows each day will be a challenge, but he is up to it and is continuing to work hard. I love questions, and Ethan makes sure he understands what he is working in each set. His intensity is evident each day, and I love seeing him stay positive, even when it may be hard at times. Keep focusing, and great things will come, Ethan! – Coach Allison
Bee Cave: Michael Taylor – Michael has really turned up his training, he has taken the lead on the kick sets we have been running every week, this effort is beginning to show in all of his strokes, the freestyle stroke count is falling, his distance off the walls is pressing well past the flags, his butterfly takes advantage of this as you see him getting lower and stronger. Michael has focused on one simple training ideal work the legs, clean up the streamlines, and then making the intervals becomes easier. Every one who wants to get faster take a page out of Michael’s book legs, legs, legs! Great job young man! – Coach Chuck
Advanced Silver
Cedar Park: Jacob Worley – Jacob is finding his fire in the pool. We’ve been working on fast red zones at practice, and his drive on these was clearly evident at the meet over the weekend. Jacob was one of several swimmers in the group who had 100% best times! We’re all very happy with how much harder he’s been working and we look forward to his training this week. Well done, Jacob. – Coach Alex
Bee Cave: Kenleigh Embrey – Starting the week, Kenleigh asked me what she needed to do to be swimmer of the week and I told her the secret. She accepted the challenge and showed me how to earn the swimmer of the week award. You just experienced the difference between being a follower and a captain. From now on, self-confidence is going to be your best friend. Excellent start 🙂 keep going with your outstanding job in every practice. FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS..SI SI SI!! – Coach Felix
Gold
Cedar Park: Audrey Dieckert – Despite only being in the group a few weeks now. She has already demonstrated that she is willing to put in the effort to make corrections and get out of her comfort zone in practice. She also doing a great job of applying those changes during her meets. Congratulations and keep up the great work. – Coach Travis
Bee Cave: Joey Black – You never really see a practice where Joey is taking it easy, he is a very self aware swimmer, he can tell you his strengths, his areas that he is working to improve, but to see Joey really come alive you had to be at the swim meet this weekend at UT, his effort was inspiring! He raced well in events that coaches love to watch, dropped 2 seconds in the 100 free, 2 seconds in the 100 butterfly, had a great race in his 50 free, but he saved the best for last, his 200 butterfly and the 400 IM! The fly was strong, he dropped 3 seconds, and when he left the pool with a smile, purple arms and back, he had placed 44th, in an event dominated by 16, 17, and 18 year old swimmers, now Joey might have been missed but was the 6th fastest 13 year old swimming it for only the second time, and making a National BB time! He finished off the meet with a 400 IM, swimming it for the first time also making a National BB time, which was a strong showing right after that 200 fly, quite a turnaround from a swimmer who shied away from anything longer than a 100 just a few months ago! Joey coach Tanner and I were very impressed, well done sir! – Coach Chuck