Intro to Nitro
Cedar Park: Sydney Griser and Siddharth Swatantran
This week, Intro CP did a lot of swordfish kicking focusing on head position and keeping the chin down. Sidd did a fantastic job with his head position on all of our drills. Not only this week, but the past few weeks as well he has started to put things together and his swimming is really coming along. Nice job, sir! I’m sure many of you can attest that it’s germ season, and Sydney has been sidelined the past couple weeks. She’s finally back to 100% and jumped right back into practice without missing a beat. She’s starting to finish her freestyle stroke with longer arms, which I love to see! Sidd and Syd–y’all are awesome! Keep it up. —Coach Lindsay
Bee Cave: Carter Lax
Carter has been giving 100% since joining Intro to Nitro. This week, working on backstroke, Carter did a great job at his underwater streamline push-offs. His streamlines under and above the water allow him to be tall and have a good body position. In addition, he did a brilliant job keeping his arms straight during the recovery phase and touched the wall on his back each length. I’m not the only coach who has noticed Carter’s progress; Coach Nick also noticed how strong his kick has become over the last several weeks. Way to go Carter; keep it up!!! —Coach Raven
Technique and Fitness
Cedar Park: Nasseem Vares
Nasseem always comes in to practice with a great attitude and bright smile! This week we timed the 100 IM and Nasseem did great on the first day and on the second day she improved her time! She has also been working very hard taking on a more advanced workout in TF! Way to go Nasseem! —Coach Shea
Bee Cave: Vishwanathan Srinath
This guy. So excited to write about him. So glad to tell you all this story! Let me preface it, however, with a little note about his character. This young man always wants to better himself. After practice, you’ll usually find him near the deep end watching the National Group practice in order to learn from them. I mentioned this idea—watching the National Group to learn—very briefly to all my groups once. He’s the only one who took it to heart and put it into practice. Boy oh boy does it show in his technique! Love it. Anyway, the story goes as follows: Bee Cave TF gets a new swimmer. We welcome him to our group with our traditional “welllllcooommmee” cheer. As usual, I tell the lanemates of the newbie to look after him and help him understand the customs of our group. Who do you think stepped up and helped our new guy? Yeah.. Vishwanathan. Typically, the ones who do obey by helping out with the new kids’ first practice (or so), are a little rough around the edges when making corrections. But, I want these courageous kids to learn how to effectively shepherd someone. Vishwanathan was gentle, yet persistent when it came to enforcing my beloved streamline technique. He’s a natural-born leader! He will do big things in life – I guarantee it! If I could have him welcome every new swimmer to our groups, I would. TF is better because of Vishwanathan. Nitro is better because of Vishwanathan. The world is better because of Vishwanathan. —Coach Jonny
Bronze
Cedar Park: Sophia Higgins
Swimmer of the week goes out to Sophia! Sophia has been very consistent with her attendance, and you can tell with how she is growing in the pool. She is becoming more confident and aware in the water. This past week, we focused on freestyle, zeroing in on staying long and the catch. Sophia nailed these two tasks, coming out of the pool with a very efficient freestyle. Way to go Sophia! —Coach Adam
Bee Cave: Grayson Wilkins
As a coach you always look to see how each swimmer progresses, the focus, technique, intensity, their attention to detail, and Grayson works so well on all these areas, but what really impressed me was his Nitro Spirit! You have a teammate who is missing some equipment, so with direction is advised to check the far end of the pool but after a couple of moments it is clear the swimmer is a little lost. Grayson steps up, “come with me I’ll show you where it is”, this was so helpful, going out of his way to help a fellow teammate, this is the true Nitro Attitude! Great Job Young Man! —Coach Chuck
Silver
Cedar Park: Nathan Isaac
This young man has been incredibly diligent in practice the past two months; I have seen tremendous improvements in his freestyle and butterfly. It is also neat to see the carry over effect of his technique apply to his practices and watch his training times drop! Congrats on your hard work, Nathan. —Coach Paige
Bee Cave: Charlie Tester
The culture of a place isn’t created by the banners on the wall, but by the individuals themselves. When I think of the many spices that go, not just into the soup that is silver, but ALL that is Nitro swimming, I can only be thankful that Charlie is among those ingredients. To be perfectly honest, this recognition has been a long time coming. Charlie is one of the best spirited, hardest working, most consistent individuals you’ll ever meet or have the pleasure to be around. When going into my memory bank to find an illuminating story, I realized that any one our daily exchanges could have been used as an example. When we are slowing things down, adding specific focuses, you can bet your bottom dollar, he’ll slow it down, take direction, and apply it to the best of his ability. When it comes time to work, he’ll put his head down, and go after it!… AND, he is even getting used to the fact that he won’t be wearing FINS during those challenge sets! Every single day at practice, it seems I witness him getting better, stronger, faster, and it raises the level of all those around him. From every one of his concentrated efforts, I can only say – I am glad to be a part of your story Charlie, and I only see bigger and better things in your future. Keep it up man! —Coach Nick
Advanced Silver
Bee Cave: Sabrina DeFranco
Sabrina has the most incredible (and consistent!) walls for each stroke. She is a sheer joy to coach and holds nothing back in practice or during meets. Her persistence paid off in the 500 at our Distance Meet where she dropped nearly 40 seconds (all walls, baby!) to ensure a BB time. She has one of the top times in our periodic 500 Kick for Time but more importantly she treats each teammate with respect, support, and positive encouragement while rocking each lap with a smile on her face hungry for more. Keep grinding, Sabrina! —Coach Bobby
Gold 1 & 2
Gold 1 CP: Gannon Flynn
Gannon is a rockstar in our group. Not afraid of going first with the big kids, and definitely not afraid of racing, I can count on Gannon to step up whenever I need him too. He has been extra diligent on his underwaters, and creating good habits with his breathing patterns. We are looking forward to seeing some great swims the next few weekends from Mr. Flynn. Keep it up Gannon!
P.S. Gannon, this is your daily reminder to keep your head still! —Coach Adam
Gold 2 CP: Lyla Lusk
Talent and skill are two sides of the same coin. While Lyla is very talented—meaning, she is naturally quite fast—what sets her apart is that she’s always willing to try to improve her skills. Lyla is never looking for shortcuts. Instead, she’s always trying to make her technique better and faster. Lyla broke her hand last month, but kept on trucking in the limited swimming she could physically do. Now that the splint is off, we’re seeing huge improvements in her water skills and she is excited to be 100% all-in. Great job, and remember Lyla, be excellent every day – it’s what we do! —Coach Alex
Bee Cave: Aubrey McLaughlin
There’s a song called “Cool Girl”, that every time I hang out around Aubrey it pops into my head. Even at 10 years old her dedication and maturity is evident each day on the pool deck. She knows what she wants and is willing to continue to work for her goals. When she gets in the water to race it’s 100% beast mode too! I love coaching any kiddo who is willing to work this hard, but this past week Aubrey really stood out! Way to go girlfrand. —Coach Allison