Coach’s Note 8-27-11
Sunday morning is the Colin’s Hope triathlon. There are 280 kids entered, and the race filled up very quickly. Colin’s Hope is a local charity that works to prevent drowning and to promote water safety. Nitro is the premiere race sponsor of this charity event. For info on Colin’s Hope or if you want the details/directions to head out and watch a kids tri this Sunday AM, go to www.colinshope.org.You will see a number of Nitro folks out there helping/volunteering/cheering. If you go, wear something Nitro!
I want to let you know of a few not yet familiar faces around the pool that you will be seeing quite a lot more of…
New Coaches: I am very proud to announce the coaches who will be heading up our Senior group at Nitro Cedar Park, as there has been some shuffling and some additions. As you may or may not know, Coach Rebecca Orr is now comfortably transplanted at Auburn University after being accepted into their Graduate program, and was also accepted as one of Auburn’s Graduate Assistant Coaches! Nitro’s loss is definitely Auburn’s gain, but in this case, it is also a gain for Nitro. Anytime one of our own coaches ends up on the pool deck of a national powerhouse like Auburn, it is always a great thing! Good Luck Coach Rebecca. Auburn travels to Austin later this year for a meet, so we’ll be sure to let you all know when that is and we can all give Rebecca a warm welcome “home.” Be sure to wear your burnt orange.
We have arranged to have three outstanding coaches (along with Coach Ryan still having a hand in the Senior group) take the reins of the group: Coach Meghan Dewees, and two Coach Brian’s — Brian Cisna and Brian Vogel.
Meghan is in her second year with Nitro, and I pasted her bio right here. I will add that anyone who has had the pleasure to come in contact with Meghan typically walks away impressed with her love of the sport, and her dedication to it to learn as much as she can.
“Coach Meghan’s aptitude and passion for swimming were apparent even before she could walk. She participated in summer leagues from age six until 12, when a coach recommended she try training year round with a local USA team. Swimming through high school in Bay Village, Ohio she decided to put swimming on the back burner and take a year off to volunteer in Atlanta before heading to college. However, after a year out of the water she was itching to be back in the pool. Coach John Patnott at Hope College (Holland , MI ) accepted the challenge of brushing the rust off and Meghan enjoyed a successful collegiate swimming career. Her accomplishments include MIAA Conference Academic honors (3 years), school record holder and Division III National Qualifier. After graduating in 2009 with degrees in English and Women’s Studies, Meghan moved to Austin search of a better economy and warmer climates. Working at Nitro has been a dream come true, as she can look forward to ‘working’ everyday with people that share her love of swimming and enjoy being active. In her free time she enjoys theater, live music and staying active by training for marathons/triathlons.”
Brian Vogel: “After a 10 year hiatus, Brian returned to coaching at Nitro in 2010. Prior to returning, Brian had been involved a combined 26 years in the sport of swimming as both a coach and competitive swimmer. His coaching career started in his college years in the summer leagues in Nashville, TN. Then, after graduating from the University of Notre Dame, he coached girls’ high school swimming in Indiana at St. Joseph H.S. From there he moved into club coaching where he coached age group swimming at Germantown Swim Team, Huntsville Swim Association, and Westmont Swim Club. After coaching USA Club Swimming for close to five years, he moved to college coaching and was the Head Men’s & Women’s Swimming & Diving Coach at Northeastern Illinois University. He then returned to graduate school and served as a graduate assistant to the women’s team at the University of Illinois. Brian’s own swimming career is also noteworthy. He swam at the renowned Nashville Aquatic Club, was a Junior National Qualifier in multiple events, and the Tennessee State Champion in the 500 yard freestyle his senior year. He competed collegiately at the University of Notre Dame where he was Captain his senior year. When not coaching, he moonlights as the HR executive at Campus Advantage. Both his daughters, Gracie and Elle, swim at Nitro.”
The “other” Coach Brian: “My name is Brian Cisna. I grew up in Springfield Illinois. I started swimming when I was 5 years old. I swam on a USA swimming team from 5 until end of high school. I competed at all levels during that time from local meets to zone championships, Jr nationals, Sr nationals and Olympic Trials. I currently still hold several pool records from my age group days at my home pool. I spent my age group days competing in the Chicago land, St Louis area and all over Illinois. At age 13, I set the National record for the 100 fly.
During high school, I was the only representative from my small school at state meets (my mom had to be my coach at state because I had no coach). During this time I also spent every summer in Austin training with Eddie Reese at his Longhorn swim camps. This training helped elevate my swimming career to be nationally recognized. I continued to train USA swimming outside of high school and attended my first Olympic trials at age 16. Quite an experience to be competing with kids around the country even though I finished in the bottom half! By the end of high school, I narrowed my college recruiting options to USC, Stanford, UCLA, Florida and Texas (had to go somewhere warm!) I chose Texas because of the outstanding coach in Eddie Reese.
While at Texas I continued my career as a distance swimmer. I competed four years swimming the mile, 500 and 200 fly. During my tenure at Texas I also swam with the USA team in the World University Games in Zagreb Yugoslavia as well as USA training camps. We ended up winning 2 National Championships at Texas as well. After college, I spent 1 year at the Latin School of Chicago coaching. I then ventured into the business world. I look forward to returning to coaching and helping kids to achieve their dreams as well!”
One thing about Nitro is that we have true coaching talent up and down our pool decks! Quality people like Meghan and the two Brian’s don’t grow on trees. We’re looking forward to more great things coming at us as we continue traveling the Nitro road. With the new season beginning, and with new swimmers beginning to show up on September 1st, be assured that we will be watching the pools very carefully and making adjustments to optimize the quality of what we’re providing. We have several wait lists at Nitro Cedar Park, but we’re not going to overload the groups and diminish the quality that you’ve come to expect.
That being said, be ready for the typical “beginning of short course season madness” where we have to smooth a few things out. Typically we can accomplish this in about the first two weeks. Believe me – if you see something that doesn’t quite look right in the water, I can pretty much guarantee that we have already seen it, and are already making corrections to it.
Next note will introduce you to some of our Nitro Bee Cave coaches.
Thanks for being part of Nitro, and we’ll see you at the pools! Coach Mike
Nitro Swim 