Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Ella Albaugh
We missed Ella for a few weeks as she recovered from tonsil surgery, but she is back with a vengeance! Ella had some great body waves this week and super impressive butterfly arms that came straight out over the water during ‘angel arms’ drill. She is also determined to finally swim in her first Nitro at the Races meet this weekend, and I’m excited to watch her. Ella, you may be small but you are mighty—glad to have you back!—Coach Lindsay
Bee Cave: Veronica Ochoa and Medha Anantuni
Veronica has made come impressive improvements since joining Intro. As many new swimmers, Veronica started timid and nervous. She has morphed into a confident, excited young lady smiling and laughing and ready to swim! This week, working on butterfly, Veronica demonstrated how to keep straight arms and really grasped the butterfly rhythm—kick-reach, kick-breathe. Medha is the butterfly queen! From wall to wall her butterfly is flawless: tight streamline, legs together, two-kick rhythm, low breath, and straight arms. Medha continues to demonstrate what hard work and a great attitude can accomplish. Great job Veronica and Medha! Keep it up young ladies! —Coach Raven
Technique and Fitness
Cedar Park: Madhavan Prasanna
This young man always comes prepared and early to class. He is also quickly becoming a leader in his session. I was impressed the past few weeks with his diligence on streamline and making sure to always “circle swim.” This skills are foundational, but trust me, it is a focus with every athlete at Nitro no matter how long they have been swimming or which group they are in. The athletes that can be like diligent like Madhaven are most successful Great job, Madhavan! —Coach Paige
Bee Cave: Juliet Smith
Juju is so awesome! Wow this girl is incredible. So young, yet so strong in the water. Her technique is beautiful too – a bit of that credit goes to Coach Raven because Juju is fresh from Intro! With her bright smile, hard working attitude, and cute personality, Juju has a bright future in front of her – in and out of the pool. Watch out for this young lady…what am I saying…you can’t miss her! That’s how awesome she is. More swimmers like Juju in TF, please! More swimmers like Juju AT NITRO, please! —Coach Jonny
Bronze
Cedar Park: Annelise Pham
Annelise is one of those swimmers who I can always count on being at practice with a smile ready to work hard. Even if she isn’t the strongest, she is eager to learn and get better. This week, as we worked on backstroke, Annelise demonstrated a great understanding of her body position and catch, holding on to the water with ease. A tough skill for a young athlete. Keep it up Annelise! —Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Nolan McDougall
Just a great week for Nolan, he really worked on the tall bodyline we like to see in both breaststroke and butterfly, he also pushed the glide on both strokes which gives a young swimmer confidence. Keeping the stroke count low takes focus and good lung control, Nolan has been getting stronger on how long he glide which is also paying off on his pullouts as well as his push offs. The next step is to put this all together in a meet and see how fast he can put his improvements. Great Job Young Man! —Coach Chuck
Silver
Cedar Park: Christopher Pierron
This young man has nearly perfect attendance, is receptive to all coaching, and willingly comes up with harder challenges to improve himself! He swam his first 500 last weekend and his first prelim/final meet this past weekend. As his coach, I couldn’t be prouder of the young man and dedicated swimmer he is becoming. The future is bright! Can’t wait until his Championship Meet! —Coach Paige
Bee Cave: Connor McClune
Connor is simply, Nitro. Not only is he always at the pool, but you’d be hard pressed to meet anyone who he doesn’t know, or who doesn’t know him. Sure, he is a smart and personable kid, but there is much more going on here. No matter if there is absolutely nothing going on, you can bet, that he’ll be involved in something. Whether it’s front desk conversation, pokemon cards, reading a new book, or draining his dad’s phone with games, he is engaged and actively involved. The same can be said about the way he approaches practice. Every single set, he gives – EVERYTHING he has. I bet he would run through a brick wall if you asked him to. And whether at practice or in a race, he is one of the few swimmers, who seems to get stronger as time goes on. He pushes himself till he turns red. He listens, and makes adjustments. He asks questions, and shares his own insights….It’s just without a doubt, a different pool when Connor is in the water. All that, plus.. and I’d be willing to go on the record here… this might be the only person who can out talk/story his father, the legendary Coach Chuck! Not saying it’s true, but it’s out there now. So we’ll have to respond to it at some point! Anyways! All in all, there aren’t many individuals like this young man. He is bright, strong willed, talented, and more importantly, just good to those around him. So, I think all that’s left to say, is – Great work Connor. Keep doing you! —Coach Nick
Advanced Silver
Bee Cave: Izzy Liu
Izzy comes ready to rock EVERY SINGLE DAY. She is the usually the first to point out if I say something wrong or help a teammate if they don’t understand something. And she works HARD as she is often rather red after a challenging set. She finales at Jingle Bell Splash #1 which is amazing considering it is her first one. She sonly going to get better. Keep at it IZZY! —Coach Bobby
Gold I & II
CP Gold I: Maddie Worley
Wow, what a lights out swim meet for Maddie! She may have only had two swims at the Jingle Bell Splash, but she definitely made them count. Both of her events were freestyle, and Maddie was fast and aggressive, getting after it and never looking back. She kept her stroke out in front really well, and her head was stable through the race, things she has been focused on in practice. It’s great to see her hard work pay off. Way to go Maddie! —Coach Adam
CP Gold II: Philippe Diaz
Philippe was one of our several Jingle Bell meet swimmers this past weekend. In prelims, he swam okay, but not quite as great as he wanted. We chatted about how a positive mentality can really improve performances and why confidence plays a huge role in racing. Philippe came back at finals and swam lights-out. It’s great to see a kiddo learn a lesson and reap the benefits of it in a single meet. Great job, Philippe! —Coach Alex
Bee Cave: Lorenzo Torres-Jimenez
Lorenzo had a killer weekend of racing! He recently has been putting in some amazing work during practice, so leading up to this weekend of racing I knew he had it in him to race really well! Sure enough, he did a great job of finishing each race, and took feedback really well. This is a prime example of hard work, and committing to it, it always pays off. Lets take this speed all the way into 2018! —Coach Allison