Nitro Swimmers of the Week for July 31–August 6, 2017

Intro to Nitro

Cedar Park: Samuel Joeung and Satyanandana Thallum

Gliding was the name of the game during breaststroke this week, and we had some great examples of it across the board! Sivani and Samuel in particular both rocked it. Sivani glided so far that she almost came to a standstill in between strokes, thus resulting in the fewest strokes by far across the pool. Samuel gave an excellent example of a legal breaststroke push-off with a long streamline and no flutter kicks, and immediately went into that smooth gliding breaststroke. Great job, you two! —Coach Lindsay

Bee Cave: Jake Young and Emilie Deaton

Two of my youngest (and smallest) Intro to Nitro swimmers, Jake and Emilie truly put in some hard work last week; they were persistent about understanding and mastering the breaststroke kick. Jake has been strengthening his kicks all summer—really focusing on stronger flutter kicks and putting it together with the arms. This past week, Jake got a feel for the breaststroke kick and is now an upcoming breaststroke swimmer! Emilie knows breaststroke is her kryptonite, but she doesn’t let it stop her from having fun. This past week she slowed the kick WAY down and was able to nail it. Thank you two for always walking in with a big smile and sharing your love for swimming with me! Keep it up Jake and Emilie! —Coach Raven

Bronze

Cedar Park: Aiden Kennedy

With it being butterfly week, we went about the stroke a little differently to see if we could get some different results. Few people benefited more than Aiden. Aiden has struggled with the breathing timing and comfort on the butterfly, but this week I saw something click for him. He was getting the head up at the right time, and getting it back down at the right time without forcing it. This led to a smoother and overall cleaner butterfly. Way to go Aiden, keep up the hard work! —Coach Adam

Bee Cave: Nolan McDougall

Coaches are always looking for ways to make a connection so that swimmers experience a different feel in their stroke, sometimes with drills in the pool, or dry land work on the deck, but this week it was a combination of both. Nolan found a new feel, holding on to a piece of PVC pipe he learned how to stretch for a taller bodyline. This didn’t take much time, the whole group did it, but Nolan took the feel from the deck and introduced it into his freestyle in the pool. The change was dramatic! Coach Paige walking by the group motions towards Nolan and said, “Wow!”, that is a defining moment and turns a corner in this young man’s training. Great job Nolan keeping making those kinds of changes! —Coach Chuck

Technique and Fitness

Cedar Park: Olivia and Edward Bomba

The Bomba family has been swimming with Nitro for so many years with our program and myself. They are moving on to be great young adults and have been a pleasure to work with fine-tuning their technique in the pool. Thanks so much for being a part of the Nitro family and letting myself and the other coaches experience your progress. Have a great school year and we’re always here. —Coach Stephen

Bee Cave: Caroline Regen

Caroline rocked it this week! Her chin stayed low in butterfly, and her breaststroke arms were phenomenal! It was one of those weeks as a swimmer where everything seems to fall into place. After this week, her butterfly and breaststroke have been transformed – it’s almost like she’s a new swimmer! I’m proud of Caroline and the hard work she’s put in this summer. I’m also honored that she loves the YouTube videos so much! To top it all off, Caroline is a respectful young lady who’s always trying to do extra work away from the pool to make herself a better swimmer. That will undoubtedly take her far in life! —Coach Jonny

Silver

Cedar Park: Nichole Wood and Samar Panag

Nichole Wood and Samar Panag worked hard last week as we covered backstroke. Both showed attention to detail as we focused on rotating from the hips while keeping the shoulders in line (no wiggling) and the head still. We also focused on hand entry, arm placement, and catching the water efficiently all of which they seemed to pick up on really well. Way to go both of you. Keep up the hard work! —Coach Claire

Bee Cave: Ethan Dufresne

What a week for Ethan! We dialed it back a bit this week and did a lot of stroke work. Ethan used to struggle a bit with the timing of his butterfly, but this past week totally transformed his stroke. He figured out the early breath, which allows him to put his head down earlier, and now his butterfly looks great! He’s improved in all facets of his swimming, but the butterfly has been his biggest breakthrough yet! Really proud of the work he put in this week. Great job, Ethan! —Coach Peter

Advanced Silver

Bee Cave: Arnev Kheni
This young man has stepped up to several new things in our group. We recently had a freestyle challenge set where he excelled! I was very impressed with his effort and skill, especially as we look forward to the fall races. Congrats to Arnav! —Coach Paige

Gold I & II

CP Gold I: Nicholas Wood

As we have hit off-season, he has started focusing on some smaller things in our strokes, while having a lot of fun. Nicholas has been great the last week focusing when he needs to, but also being a great teammate when we play games or do some relays. I’m excited to see how Nicholas grows in the coming season. Keep it up young man! —Coach Adam

CP Gold II: Kyan Allen

Kyan took some time off this summer to travel and we certainly missed him during that time. Now that he’s back, each practice is a little bit brighter. Sometimes it can be tough hopping back in the pool after a break, but Kyan hasn’t been afraid at all and isn’t missing any yards on the wall. I have no doubt he’ll bounce back and get even faster than he was in no time. Keep it up, Ky Guy! —Coach Alex

Bee Cave: Evelyn Fuselier

Way to go this week! I was able to work with Evelyn at the begging of this week, and boy did she stand out, even days later I recalled back to her effort and hard work put in. I saw the intensity in the water, as well as great stamina in her workouts. I look forward to seeing continued growth and effort! Bravo young lady. —Coach Allison