Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Prajna Parajuli and Mikel Salgado Diaz-Benjumea
Intro this week worked on a little bit of every stroke and tackled a tough challenge at the end of practice–the individual medley. Prajna and Mikel showed great endurance and had very strong 100 IMs with fast kicks and big arms. These two aren’t content to sit still for long because they’re constantly eager to start whatever we’re doing next. That’s a great attitude for a swim coach to see! Nice work and keep it up, you two! —Coach Lindsay
Bee Cave: Harrison Hoang
Wow! This little guy is an up and coming swimmer! Harrison gives 110% each and every practice. His underwater streamline push-offs have made huge improvements and he leads his group with his white-water kicks. All four strokes keep getting stronger and stronger each practice. This week I was impressed with Harrison’s backstroke, particularly his tall bodyline. In addition, he demonstrated excellent streamline kicking and tall arms. Keep it up Harrison! —Coach Raven
Bronze
Cedar Park: Misha Anand
Misha not only had a great last week in Bronze, she has been impressing me the last few weeks. Bronze has gone through a clinic on all the turns, taking a week to nail the key points of each, and Misha has come out of each week with an amazing approach, turn, and streamline coming off the wall. Misha has been keeping her strokes extremely efficient too, staying long and strong in her freestyle and breaststroke. Awesome job Misha! —Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Hali Karimi
Just a great week for this young Lady, the focus was on backstroke, working on strong push offs, Hali’s we’re some of the longest in all of Bronze, she moves beyond the flags with just her streamline glide. I really like the motionless head position and how she lifts the shoulders out of the water, but every time she made a turn the power of her push off moved her farther away from the group. We finished with a timed 100 back and Hali pushed to a 1:46 which is a good 10 seconds faster than the group! I’m just so excited to see her racing this hard, Great Job Young Lady! —Coach Chuck
Technique and Fitness
Cedar Park: Ty Trapani
Ty was a real team player this week for TF. He was willing to sacrifice swimming with his friends and move to another lane in order to help the entire group during workout. The best part was he did it with a smile and a great attitude. Keep up that kind of teamwork Ty and you can’t be stopped brother! —Coach Stephen & Coach Dan
Bee Cave: Siri Ambati
During our challenge set this week, Siri asked if she could go get a different pair of goggles. Since we were in the middle of the set, I was bummed she had to take a 50 or so off because of her malfunctioning goggles. However! She didn’t miss a single 50! She hurried over to her bag, got a second pair, and hurried back (without running). She then jumped back into her lane out of nowhere and pushed off right away even though she was late for her interval. Coach Paige and I were both very impressed with her dedication to being the best she can be and always doing as much as she can. That will take her far in life. —Coach Jonny
Silver
Cedar Park: Riley Nguyen
This week we focused on backstroke and really emphasized rotation as well as strong kicking. Riley demonstrated great attention to detail making sure his arms recovered straight over the water, his hips were high, and he rotated his body to gain distance per stroke. What really made me proud was watching Riley dominate his turns and under waters from each wall. He has become quite a lane leader over this past month, and has stepped up his effort level each practice significantly. Keep it up, Riley! —Coach Claire
Bee Cave: Dane Mason
Dane has been not only having a great week, but he’s been consistently stringing them together to make it a great year! He takes his time on the drills, he always gives his all, and he’s really stepped up in knowing those intervals (even the tough ones)! As group changes occur, you begin to look for a few swimmers to set the example in a group, and right now, Dane is holding that line. Just couldn’t ask for more. Great job Dane, and keep it up! —Coach Nick
Advanced Silver
Bee Cave: Thijs Kortekaas
Thijs, along with many other young swimmers that just joined our group, is stepping up in a huge way. Specifically, Thijs’ listening skills, clock management skills, and technical skills glittered this week especially as we did a challenge kick set. He led the group from start to finish, which was intentionally focused on all those skills, not just kicking hard. This dedication will pay off as we move into our first meet in a few weeks! Great job Thijs. —Coach Paige
Gold I & II
CP Gold I: Annabelle Chang
Annabelle has certainly stepped up to prove she is a leader the last couple of weeks. She has the skill to focus on the little details of our drill sets and then bust out the speed whenever asked. Annabelle has shown me that she won’t back down from a challenge, pushing herself to her limits. Keep it up Annabelle, looking forward to a great season! —Coach Adam
CP Gold II: Parker Huang
I had the opportunity to coach Gold II last week while Coach Alex was out and was extremely impressed with the attitude and effort coming from these athletes. In particular, Parker Huang led the group with his phenomenal kicking ability. We did a “drop out” kick set where the interval got progressively more challenging. Even when everyone else had fallen off, Parker continued pushing himself and was the only one to finish the set kicking. His willingness to work hard and ability to push himself through the challenging sets, are exactly the type of skills that will lead this group to success this season. Great Job Parker and keep it up Gold II. —Coach Alex and Coach Daniel
Bee Cave: Will Singletary
This is the second Singletary that I have been lucky enough to coach. Will started with Gold group this past week, and he has been a solid addition to Gold group. His overall determination and strength is outstanding and I can’t wait to continue to work with him. He has a new found love for the sport and it’s exciting to watch him love the water as much as I do! —Coach Allison