Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Sydney Griser
Every time we see Sydney, she is so excited to be a practice. This past week Sydney had a little bit of a hard week at practice but she kept pushing through because she wanted to get better. Intro worked pretty hard on their butterfly rhythm this week and Sydney did a great job with keeping it consistent. Great work this week and keep it up Sydney! —Coach Hannah
Bee Cave: Brooke Boggan
This young lady has really wowed me the last several weeks, and this week was no different. As Intro worked on freestyle, Brooke demonstrated how to maintain a tall bodyline and a low breath to the side during catch-up freestyle. She was then able to apply the same technique to her freestyle stroke. She led her group with her underwater streamline push-offs and white-water flutter kicks. Brooke is attentive to details and a hard worker. Keep it up superstar! —Coach Raven
Bronze
Cedar Park: Cady Goone
Cady earned swimmer of the week for her awesome weekend at the FiestAAAA swim meet this past weekend. It was a long course meet, meaning each lap was 50 meters, but that didn’t stop Cady! She attacked each race with confidence, and finished all of them strong, coming away with tons of best times! Awesome job Cady, I’ll look forward to some new jokes this week! —Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Mia Singletary and Cael Helm
I had so much fun this weekend watching all my Bronze kiddos compete in San Antonio, their first real test of an away swim meet, and many great races with a couple of outstanding 100 freestyles. Mia and Cael battled it out to see who would be the top time on the Bronze board. Mia swimming first was out faster on the first length than she swam in the 50 free earlier in the meet when she touched the wall she had bettered he time by 27 seconds, great swim! Cael up next built up into the 100, swimming a paced race like an experienced middle distance TAGS swimmer, out in 55 back in 59 for a 37 second time drop! Fantastic swim! Both young swimmers have really taken to the long course pool. Tons of smiles and high fives all weekend, Great Job you two! —Coach Chuck
Technique and Fitness
Cedar Park: Hannah Choi and Kapilesh Pennichetty
This week was a basic freestyle week. Flutter kick freestyle with a board, flutter kick on right and left sides, drill and swim. Basic and to the point. Amazing job these two swimmers did with head, body and arm position. In addition they really concentrated on quick breathing rather than rolling on their backs. Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. —Coach Stephen
Bee Cave: Aarushi Boppidi
Aarushi is relatively new compared to some of the other kiddos in TF, but after kicking week, it’s clear that she is evening the playing field in a hurry! But last week was special in another way: Aarushi has been asking to stay a few minutes after practice for the last couple of weeks to get a little extra work on her flip turns—a challenging skill of course—and finally a breakthrough. Now we can’t strop her from flipping! She is a hard worker, has a positive attitude, and always brings a smile with her to practice. Her presence not only makes TF better, but also these attributes will take her far in everything she does. Great job Aarushi, and keep on rolling! —Coach Nick and Coach Jonny
Silver
Cedar Park: Mallory Johnson and Chris Pierron
Both Mallory and Chris gave it their best at the meet this weekend. Both showed great maturity after every race in coming to talk with me, which can sometimes be hard to do if the swim didn’t go quite as planned. And I even heard Chris after his teammates finished a heat saying “Good job. Y’all did awesome!” What an amazing attitude to have and what a great way to build others up. Good job this weekend to you both! —Coach Claire
Bee Cave: Terra Balentine
Terra swam in the FiestAAAA meet in San Antonio this past weekend, and while she had some ups and downs, Terra ended the meet on such a high note. When she dove in for the 50 Fly, her goggles fell off and unfortunately got DQ’d for fixing her goggles during the race. I could tell she was upset when I told her she was disqualified, but we talked about forgetting that race and what happened and focusing on the next race which was the 100 Breaststroke and her last race of the meet. We adjusted the position of the goggles straps and I told her to be confident in her dive. I held my breath as she dove in and hallelujah her goggles stayed on! Not only that, but Terra had a great swim and achieved a B time! I was so proud of Terra for bouncing back like she did and ending the meet like that. She was all smiles at the end, which is what I love to see! I’m so proud of you, Terra! —Coach Peter
Advanced Silver
Bee Cave: Tahlia Burns
First, I would say her attitude has recently become one of an age- appropriate “serious” swimmer, with Tahlia giving positive focus and attention to detail at every practice this month. She is forming her goals and we as a coaching staff are helping her articulate them as well as formulate a plan to achieve them. Secondly, she broke through several barriers on training sets as she applied the technical focus points. She has been hard at work on her freestyle pull and butterfly rhythm for several months and is it paying off. Go Tahlia! —Coach Paige
Gold I & II
CP Gold I: Kai Pitkanen
Kai is a very strong swimmer, but recently he has been working extra hard on some of his technique work. Taking the time to feel what he is doing in the water. It has all paid off, as Kai went down to San Antonio and impressed every time he got in the pool. He even went out and picked up a couple of A times (and would have had one more if he wasn’t so antsy at the start!) Way to go Kai, super proud of you. —Coach Adam
CP Gold II: Marcus Pineiro
Marcus is second to none when it comes to work ethic and wit. He’ll race his heart out on challenge sets and always have something clever to say when he’s done. He sometimes feigns agony or fear, but he never fakes trying hard. You’re a blast to have in the group, Marcus! —Coach Alex
Bee Cave: Megan Kelly
Megan has gotten back into the water recently after managing her breathing/asthma. I have to say, I am very impressed with her maturity and patience, as well as her determination to get into the water and push herself to continue to get better. I have enjoyed watching her finish sets, and surprise herself! She has been doing a great job of attending practice consistently to see what she is capable of. Keep it up Megan! —Coach Allison