Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Intro to Nitro Swimmer of the Week goes to…Aayushi Prasad! Aayushi has come a long way from her first few practices. Each week she is getting stronger in the water and her strokes are coming together nicely. She has been working hard on getting a feel for the water and using it to make her arm pulls easier. This week she did a great job with her underwater pullouts! Making sure she had the perfect 3-2-1 push-off underwater. Great job Aayushi!
Bee Cave: Pierfrancesco (Cico) Papi. Cico is ALWAYS happy to be at swim practice. If he doesn’t have a huge smile on, then he has a look of great determination on his face. Cico has gotten a lot better at listening and is always trying his hardest to follow directions and impress the coaches. Because of this we have been noticing a lot of improvement in his stroke technique. Keep up the Great work Cico!
Bronze
Cedar Park: Elle Cassady – Elle has really done a great job leading her lane over the past several weeks, Elle is a great example for all the Bronze swimmers. Keep up the hard work!!
Bee Cave:Reed Watson. Reed joined us this fall and I couldn’t be more proud of the progress he has made. Not only does Reed work extremely hard to pay attention and do the drills correctly, he has taken the extra step to make sure his teammates are doing the drills the right way so the entire group can succeed together. It is impressive the difference in Reed over the last two months, he has become a supporter and group cheerleader. Having Reed is a true joy! His smiles and positive energy feed the group, and his hard work is clearly paying off in the water. Keep pushing yourself Reed!
Technique and Fitness
Cedar Park: The T/F swimmers of the week are Shealyn Tucker and Daniel Vo. Shealyn had a great week. She has been working on her freestyle technique, keeping her head steady, reaching more and rotating more at the hips. She has started diving again and is working on her flipturns. Daniel dominated at Saturday’s practice. He was leading his lane, watching the clocks, streamlining, kicking and flipturns. He has a great sense of humor on top of all that. Great job you two, thanks for being a part of NITRO, and we’ll see you at the pool.
Bee Cave: Shahmir Masood.Shahmir had a great week this week. His backstroke is coming together nicely. His hard work in the pool is really paying off. It’s always a pleasure to have him in the pool with us. Keep up the great work Shahmir!
Silver
Cedar Park: Lucy Yan – Lucy had an awesome meet last weekend at Bee Cave. She is a perfect example of what happens when you pay attention every day in practice. Lucy is always on the ball when it comes to knowing what the current or next set is. She knows how much of the set has been completed and when to leave to stay on interval. Great job Lucy!
Bee Cave: Michael Wallace – When a coach stops the group to make a correction or reinforce what the focus of the set is, the first thing you look for are the eyes of the swimmers, who’s paying attention and is ready to make the next step. Michael always is attentive but also asks his lane mates to pay attention as well, this is a young man who not only wants to improve his stroke mechanics, so he can achieve fasters swims and move up to the next group, but also is holding his teammates to the same standard which helps Nitro Swimming become a better place to help swimmers swim fast and have fun! Way to go Michael!
Advanced Silver
Cedar Park: Advanced Silver Swimmer of the week is Ethan Chen. Ethan had a great meet t the Turkey Trot last weekend, achieving new B times and having best times in some new events. Great job Ethan! We can’t wait to see what happens at the Jingle Bell Splash.
Bee Cave:Noelle Williams. Noelle has been doing a great job over the past few weeks. We have seen her grow as a swimmer and a person opening up to the other kids and not being afraid to lead her lane. At the same time, Noelle has always concentrated her efforts to understand and accomplish the goals of each individual set. This focus will help her to reap dividends both within the sport and in life. Keep up the great work Noelle!
Gold
Cedar Park: Abbey Nichols – Abbey has a killer week, working extremely hard every set and impressing all of the coaches. Keep up the hard work!
Bee Cave: Gold BC SOW – Ethan Hammond – Sometime it’s the little things that make a swimmer better, and sometimes it’s the little things that are the hardest to overcome, but it’s the little things that coaches look at when helping the swimmer get to the next level. Things as turns, streamlines, no breath first stroke, finishes, training with intensity when you are supposed to, and these past few days Ethan has made a big change in his focus and desire to train better. He makes one small change that finds him working as hard as he can on the set, all the way through to completion, not giving in to the pain and discomfort of the set and letting little mental ticks derail his efforts to improve. To someone watching this group for the first time you might have missed this improved training attitude but it’s the little things that coaches notice! Keep it up Ethan.