Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Theodore Rowe
Theodore joined the team this season and is determined to be the best swimmer in his group. Every week he works very hard to make sure that he is racing everyone while making sure he is doing what he is supposed to. This past week Intro worked on breaststroke and Theodore made sure to ask really great questions about the timing of breaststroke kick. Great work Theodore, keep it up! —Coach Hannah
Bee Cave: Gabriella Menezes and Luca Chimera
Gabi and Luca did an outstanding job working on butterfly this week. Gabi has gained a tremendous amount of confidence over the last several months particularly when diving. Gabi’s underwaters are strong and consistent; this week she really focused on our kick-reach, kick-breathe drill and was able to understand the butterfly rhythm. Luca also did a spectacular job focusing on the rhythm of butterfly. A hard worker, he did a great job keeping a low head position and maintaining strong body waves throughout his stroke. Thank you both for being such positive teammates and joyful swimmers! Keep it up! —Coach Raven
Bronze
Cedar Park: Ashlin Bishop
Ashlin caught my eye for swimmer of the week this week for her effort on her dives. Ashlin has always been a girl who kind of tipped off the blocks instead of using her muscles to push; but on Friday, WOW. Ashlin was exploding off the blocks, maintaining a tight streamline, and getting into some awesome underwater kicks. Way to go Ashlin! —Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Lorenzo Pereira
Lorenzo has only been in Bronze a few short weeks and to watch him in a kick set leading a lane you would think he has been in the group for several months. He is beginning to understand that his kick allows him to swim with less effort. Swimmers soon learn that the reason kick is so important in this group is because it is the start and end of every good bodyline! Lorenzo is a quiet young man in practice with good focus and a great attitude for learning, this is where the future of Nitro will be found. Great work young man! —Coach Chuck
Technique and Fitness
Cedar Park: Bailey Metzger and Aayush Vaswani
Bailey had an AWESOME week working on her body and arm position for her freestyle. Great job listening to the instructions and implementing them in the pool. Aayush has stepped up his game showing us an urge to improve himself and push himself to another level. Great job you two thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool. —Coach Stephen
Bee Cave: Igor Antonov
Igor is the man! With a good sense of humor, and a respectful attitude, Igor makes me proud AND laugh every single practice. One of my favorite parts of having him in practice is our attendance. Whenever I call his name, Igor responds with a resounding “Yes Sir!” Oh and he also shoots to attention as he solutes in my direction. Gets me every time 🙂 I can’t go without also mentioning Igor’s work ethic. I can’t remember the last time Igor missed a practice. He’s always here and always leading a lane. He pays close attention to instructions and never gives me a lousy streamline! What an outstanding young man whose parents should be very proud. —Coach Jonny
Silver
Cedar Park: Sheamus Horton
This week Sheamus did a fantastic job working on freestyle and backstroke. Sheamus does a great job of rotating his body in backstroke and keeping the arms close to the line of the body as he recovers the arms over the water. He always tells me that he is “no good at freestyle” but I would beg to differ after seeing him this week. He has a great kick that never quits, again he keeps those arms close to the line of his body and never lets them cross over this line (something which is harder to grasp for most swimmers his age). He is also an incredibly hard worker, and always tries to give his best. So keep working hard, Sheamus. It always pays off. —Coach Claire
Bee Cave: Lola Maciarz
Lola recently returned to Nitro after a brief break, and I am so glad she is back! She left in Bronze but came back and was evaluated into Silver. I was so excited to have her in my group! From her first practice in Silver, I knew she would fit in just fine. She struggled a bit at the beginning but never gave up and worked incredibly hard. She’s definitely shaken off the rust, and I’m looking forward to seeing her continue to improve! Awesome work, Lola! —Coach Peter
Advanced Silver
Bee Cave: Tahlia Burns and Alice Stockli
These ladies are some of the shining stars of Nitro. They both do a fantastic job of using the walls for beautiful underwaters and quick, well-timed breakouts. Alice’s dedication to improvement every day is fantastic to see & is paying off in major time drops. We’ve been working on Tahlia’s power pull to improve her speed in freestyle and butterfly, and it has really helped her be much faster and efficient in the water. Way to go young ladies, Tahlia and Alice! A coach that is tremendously excited for our Jan 7th meet. —Coach Paige
Gold 1 & 2
Gold 1 CP: Grace Cornwell
At the beginning of the season, Grace was juggling 2 sports; swimming and soccer. Now that the schedules aren’t conflicting as much, I’m seeing Grace grow with each practice. She works hard every set, pushes the others in her lane, and is always eager to know how she did in practice or how she can get better. Her improvement showed in the last couple of test sets we did, as she kicked butt! Way to go Grace! —Coach Adam
Gold 2 CP: Liam Riley
No matter the obstacle, Liam can get it done. He has great proprioception skills and this certainly stands out in dryland. Lately, Liam has been growing, and in doing so, facing some pain at practice. He’s done a great job knowing this can happen, but focusing on pulling skills to continue to progress. It’s always a good practice when Liam is in your lane. Keep it up, Liam! —Coach Alex
Bee Cave: Julia Carter
I can’t not give this to miss Julia for this past week. She finished off our Holiday Training like a pro and worked so hard to not only finish practice, but do it correctly and do it well. I am so ready to challenge her more and take her to the next level of training. She is such a happy and positive addition to our practices each day. Keep working hard my girl! —Coach Allison