Coach’s Note 2-24-12 — 5 points

Quick 5 points – Please read all…

1. I’m excited to announce that Doug Russell has been appointed Lead Coach of the Sectionals Group. He will be assisted by Steve Gluck. Both Steve and Doug pushed hard for this arrangement, and together they are committed to help this group achieve some pretty lofty goals. From a pedigree standpoint, quite the combination of coaching talent here. Olympic Gold Medalist paired with a Canadian National Teamer. Looking forward to some great things from the group.

2. All TAGS qualifiers: We will be having a special combined Cedar Park and Bee Cave TAGS practice next Saturday, March 3rd, at the Cedar Park location from 2:00-3:30PM. We will have a team warm up, work on some relay exchanges, turns, finishes; then we’ll climb out, head into the viewing tank and enjoy some pizza (on me and Tracy) and share some stories as we look to defend our TAGS Championship title. This is not to take the place of your normal Saturday practice. This is more of a social get together, but we will be getting in the water as one team.

3. Our own National Coach, Tim O’Brien is in the news again!! 02/23/2012 Coaches in the Know: Tim O’Brien (I hope the link worked – if not, go to www.usaswimming.org and look for the article Coaches in the Know).

4. Shhhhhh!! Keep Saturday, March 31st from 6:00-8:30PM opened!! We’ve rented the Lake Travis High School Performing Arts Center (fantastic venue), and we will be hosting the 2011-2012 “Nitro’s!!” This is our annual awards presentation night. We’ve got something very special planned, and as soon as I secure the contracts, I can then tell you who we have coming as our featured speaker. This event will be opened to our entire team, all groups, and you will not want to miss this. Ticket info will be made available shortly, and will only be $10 per ticket, but well worth it when you realize the powerful message you will receive on the 31st if you are in the audience.

5. Housekeeping item: Vehicles reminder: Please be more careful in and around the swim centers. Reports that cars are moving too fast, drivers too aggressive, large vehicles backing into parking spots that end up blocking the sidewalk pathway, etc. Let’s be a little more careful, courteous, and conscientous — the three "C’s."

That’s it for now. Thanks for being a part of Nitro Swimming. See you at the pools. Coach Mike.

Important Meet info for this Weekend 2/22/2012

Important Meet info for this Weekend in Georgetown!!Read All!! Meet Info for this Weekend’s meet in Georgetown – Including Morning session time now a little EARLIER, warm up times, etc. Please read… Meet is at Southwestern University Walzel Swim Center, 1001 E University Ave, Georgetown. Directions are on the meet information posted on the events tab of our team site. It is sort of tricky, as the morning sessions are 10 and Under, and the afternoon sessions are 10 and Older, so if you have a 10 yr old, double check what events they entered (you can log into your team account and verify). *We like our kids to arrive on deck, ready to roll 15 minutes prior to the start of warm up. This gives the kids a chance to acclimate to a new pool, make some friends, de-stress, and prepare for the meet. Weather is expected to be nice, chairs are welcomed if you are sitting outside. The outside campus area is nice. It will be very crowded, potentially stressful indoors. Go into it remembering that you are all ambassadors for not just our program at Nitro, but youth sports in general, and keep things in perspective. You may see some parental behavior that may not set a good example – hopefully that will not be our Nitro parents. All that your athlete wants from you is to know that you are proud of them – regardless of any swim performance. It’s hard to refrain from critiques, comparisons, recaps, etc. Love them no matter what. Make a friend this weekend, and if you see a new parent that looks confused, help them navigate what is going on, etc. Pool will have about 15 kids per lane during warm ups, so it will look a little chaotic. Not to worry, its actually fun for the kids. Parents will not be allowed on the deck at all(liability insurance issues), but will have a seating area above the pool deck. Not the end of the world if your kiddo misses their event, gets disqualified for something illegal in their stroke, etc. All part of the learning process. Here are the warm up times: Saturday AM – Session #1 (10 and Under) : Events #1—22. Warm up for Nitro: 7:55-8:20AM (be there by 7:40AM). Meet will start at 8:30AM !!! Saturday PM – Session #2(ages 10-14): Events #23-42. Warm up for Nitro: 12:25-12:55PM (be there by 12:10PM). Sunday AM – Session #3 (10 and Under): Events #43-66. Warm up for Nitro: 7:30-7:55AM (be there by 7:15AM!!). Sunday PM – Session #4 (ages 10-14): Events #67-86 . Warm up for Nitro: 12:25-12:55PM (be there by 12:10PM). Go Nitro!! Coach Mike. Do not forget to visit our team on-line at http://www.nitroswimming.com/.

Swimmers of the Week 2/20/2012

Intro to Nitro

Cedar Park: Mariana Harper-Araya– Mariana has always been a hard worker and pushes her limits more each practice. Building up her own confidence in the water took some time, but there are fewer and fewer lane rope pit stops, extra seconds for breathing and now we see some flawless flip turns. Mariana listens well, follows directions and helps her lane mates if they are ever unsure of the set. She has come a long way and all the hard work is showing as her speed and skills increase, keep it up Mariana!

Bee Cave: Simran (Simi) Randhawa– In the last few weeks I have really noticed that Simi has totally stepped up her game and had been working extra hard in practice. Using every opportunity to do all the drills correctly, pushing off every wall in a tight streamline. Simi is also an excellent example of a Nitro swimmer, always smiling and happy to be at the pool, listens very well, and is friendly and kind to others. Keep up the good work sweetie.

Bronze

Cedar Park: Beth Taylor– We are so happy to welcome Beth back to Bronze! After a 9-week hiatus, Beth is back! She earned swimmer of the week with her cheery smile, can-do attitude and impressive re-entry (as if she never left!). With skill retention like hers, she will be back on her game and leading her lane in no time! Welcome back and keep up the good work, Beth.

Bee Cave: Sarah Huang– I know that whenever Sarah shows up, it is going to be a great workout. She leads by example and always applies herself. Sarah is a great listener and is frequently a demonstrator. Keep up the great work Sarah!

Technique and Fitness

Cedar Park: Sarah Wang & Tim Gast – Sarah and Tim, bring great enthusiasm and energy to the pool. They have been working on their technique for some time, and it shows. Their swimming looks good, bottom line. Thanks for being a part of NITRO, and we will see you guys at the pool.

Bee Cave: Madison Geller & Sam Beiter– This week Madison created waves larger than life. She exploded off the block for a NO BREATHER 25 freestyle! A phenomenal feat had me jumping up and down. The smile on her face appeared to be at least one foot wide. Sam has been at Nitro since the summer. Over the fall, he really showed resilient focus and dedication to swimming. He always comes to practice smiling and laughing. Whenever he is told a correction to his swimming, he accepts it with pride. After a single 25 of applied correction, he asks the coaches how it looks. He is a joy to coach. Great week of swimming you two!

Silver

Cedar Park: Graciela Uriegas & Matthew McCarthy– Gracie has done a great job since moving to silver a few weeks ago. She came in and immediately started leading her lane, and has worked very hard always willing to try new things to help improve her swimming. Couple this with her excitement about swimming, she is making a great impact on the silver group. Keep it up Gracie! Matthew has done a great job recently, leading his lane, kicking hard, pushing himself more on a daily basis. He is taking a great approach to his swimming. Keep the hard work up Mathew!

Bee Cave: Tam Nguyen– One of the hardest working swimmers in Silver 3, Tam is a great example for all Nitro swimmers. She is always positive and ready to swim hard. Tam is also very attentive to her coach’s instructions, and she has improve her stokes as a result. It is exciting to see Tam getting faster each practice. With her positive attitude and her joy for swimming, Tam’s future is very bright.

Advanced Silver

Cedar Park: Caitlin Murphy & Reaghan Piotrowski– Caitlin has been consistently dropping time over the last few meets, resulting in her qualification for the A championship meet. Unfortunately, her times did not continue to drop this weekend. She kept plugging away, and was willing to participate on any relays asked instead of dwelling on her individual events. Caitlin is a good example of a swimmer who worked through a tough meet weekend and never let the circumstances surrounding her impact her teammates and friends. Reaghan has been on one of those tears that just cannot be ignored. In every race in every meet since January, she has been able to drop consistent amounts of time. It has just been amazing to watch and be a part of, great job Reaghan!

Bee Cave: Derrick Ngo– This week has been particularly difficult choosing one person for Swimmer of the Week. Ethan Hammond had a great meet at A champs dropping time and continuing his steady improvement. Likewise, Gus Kendrick really showed us what he is made of in a challenge set on Saturday. Both accomplishments are worthy of Swimmer of the Week and so I mention them here. That said, Derrick Ngo is still new to swimming but is clearly a natural athlete. After finishing up a tough set on Thursday doing a 46 in a 75 yard free, Derrick was hard at work once again on Saturday, asking for more challenges, and even slid over to do a challenge set with the Gold group! Derrick recognizes, along with many of the Adv. Silver leaders, that a set’s challenge is not necessarily how fast you go but how well you do what the coach is asking. Keep up the great work Derrick!

Gold

Cedar Park: Ethan Gogulski & Michael Shay– Ethan and Michael had very similar weekends, both missed their 50 Backstroke TAGS cuts, by the slimmest of margins in both prelims and finals on Friday, then they both missed their 100 Backstroke cut by even less of a margin. Last day last chance they both make the 200 Backstroke TAGS cut by over one second, and at Finals with a last chance to attempt the 100 Backstroke TAGS cut on the lead off their 200 Backstroke, both swimmers make the 100 Backstroke TAGS cut. It was blood pressure raising and amazing at the same time. Congratulations to you both!

Bee Cave: Josh Walsh– Josh has been quietly working hard for this award for some time now. Practice after practice, Josh pushes his limits without complaints. One of the fastest swimmers in the Gold group, Josh is always positive and ready to workout hard. He has steadily improved over the past three months because of his great effort and his attention to instruction. Keep up the great work Josh! Your best times are still ahead.

 

2012 South Texas Short Course A Championship Meet

Parents,

2012 South Texas Short Course “A” Championship Meet will be held at NISD Natatorium 8400 N Loop 1604 West San Antonio, Texas 78249

This meet will follow a championship format, i.e., preliminaries and finals, A and B finals. B Finals will be swum first, then A Finals. For the 500-yard freestyle and 400-yard individual medley, only one heat will advance to the finals session. There will be a positive check-in for all events above 400 yards, which will close by 8:00am on the day of the event. The 1650-yard Freestyle and 10 & under 500-yard Freestyle will be swum as timed Finals.

All – Days Prelim Session:

Warm-up: 7:35 AM

Meet start: 9:00 AM

All – Days Final Session:

Warm-up: 4:00 PM

Meet start: 5:00 PM

· During Prelims, girls will be swimming in the SOUTH pool (street side) and boys will be swimming in the NORTH pool (stadium side)

· During Finals, only the SOUTH pool will be used.

· During meet, top 16 swimmers will be announced at each end of pool, swimmer will have 30 minutes to declare decision to scratch from the finals at the Clerk of Course for that swimmer’s side of the pool. Swimmers that declare “INTENT TO SCRATCH” then have 15 minutes after the completion of their last individual event of the session to confirm scratch. Following the 15-minute deadline, if scratch confirmation in NOT received, it will be assumed the swimmer WILL COMPETE in the finals event. SCRATCHES FOR FINALS MUST BE DONE BY THE SWIMMMER’S COACH ONLY.

· Heat Sheets will be sold for $10 at the main entrance for cash only; Final heat sheets will be free of charge.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask me.

Florian Rudolph

Olympic Training Center Trip Recap – No action required

Two items — One short one, and one National Group recap — no action required…Enjoy — Coach Mike.

1. If you go to www.usaswimming.org and look on the lower right hand side of their homepage, there is a link to one of our Nitro Coaches — Very cool!! Check it out!

2. Olympic Training Center Trip recap – day by day.

Nitro took 20 swimmers from the National Group to the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs last week for 5 days of altitude training, team building and education.Below are the day by day highlights of an amazing trip and speaking for both Coach Hans and myself—the swimmers behaved and trained like champions and represented Nitro to the highest level possible in the pool and on the OTC campus!

Weds 1/25- American Airlines has not been too friendly to us the past few trips but after some long delays all the swimmers got in to the OTC and the Staff of USA Swimming had sandwiches waiting for those that got in late. Check in, credentialing, and then to dorms for a good nights sleep! Our best trips seem to start with a bit of adversity!

Thursday 1/26– the swimmers were able to go to the incredible OTC dining hall anytime they wanted before our 9 am training session. One of the nicest parts of the trip were that the meals were with all the other sports in this great dining hall with big screen tv’s and a relaxed social setting. great meals and great conversation! All of our AM practices were 9-11 and PM’s were 5-7 and sessions were LCM. Most sessions we had the 10 lanes to ourselves and for a few we shared with either the Para-Olympians or the Pacific All Star Team which was also great fun.

USA Swimming had representatives meet us at the OTC pool which was very kind and then a highlight of the day was US National Team Director ( and star of Water to the Wood ) Frank Busch welcomed and addressed the team after AM practice.

Between training session we did an hour of circuits in an assigned gym that had a boxing ring, spin bikes, speed bags, med balls ect.Fun and mixed up dryland and best station was in the boxing ring where swimmers played 1 on 1 ring tag—great work and lots of fun!

Friday 1/27- Besides our normal training sessions today the swimmers has a USADA drug education meeting at the USA Swimming Building. Great meeting and our swimmers were very active participants in this lecture session. The PM highlight was a trip to Laserquest for a great game of Laser Tag! Boys winner was Josh Anderson and girls winner was Rachel Hobbins ( who made a living shooting the coaches! ). Worst shot was a tie between Sydney Tan who only shot coaches and Quinn Carrozza who shot 1200 times and hit about 20! Went to starbucks for some social after before heading back to OTC campus.

Friday the swimmers got filmed both above water and below water with the ORCA filming system. All swimmers received dvd copies of this filming.

Saturday 1/28- 2 great training session today. The PM session included circuits made up of power towers, med ball kicking, watching own starts on a huge bigscreen with a :30 sec delay, the cable pulleys set to world record paces and then the most fun and challenging station—25 foot rope climbs. The swimmers loved all the stations but especially the relay rope climbs where they sprinted a 25 to the rope climbed it to the top, jumped down and sprinter back in. Rope Climb champions were Matt Ellis for the boys ( 5 climbs with the first one no legs ) and Rebekah Harvey for the girls with 4 full climbs!

Weights today in the amazing OTC gym as the swimmers worked along side the Olympic Fencing team and a few US wrestlers.

In between sessions today the swimmers were able to watch a world class wrestling tournament take place with Olympians like Rulon Gardner! In the PM Coach Hans booked us in a conference room where we watched all the swimmers video’s and had an interactive feedback session. Amazing input and insight from the swimmers and a very educational 75 minutes!

Sunday 1/29– We opted to combine our last training session with the Pacific All Star Team ( 24 swimmers ) from California. We did a warm-up designed by their staff and then our patented 40 x 50 ALL Day Set with the last round on :40 LCM. Very proud of our swimmers as they led 9 of 10 lanes and were extremely spirited throughout. Afterwards the Pacific coaches organized some relays and games together ( Ro-Sham-Bo ) and it was a great way to wrap up the swimming portion of the camp. Hopefully all made a few new friends as well!

We were not done yet though as Dr. G ( Genadijus Sokolovas ) who is one of the premier stroke physiologists in the world as well as the USA Coach for Olympic Pentathlon met us at the dining hall and took the swimmers to the USA Pentathlon Center for an hour of swimming stroke analysis followed by a demonstration of fencing and shooting by US Olympians. The swimmers were then split into two groups where they were tested in Olympic Shooting with targets and timers as well as fencing with all the gear and a score clock! Amazingly fun and eye opening for all of us and just a super way to wrap up the trip! In case you were wondering the best shooters were Tiffany Sudarma and Matt Ellis and best fencers were Coach Hans and Matt again.

From the training ( all LCM at altitude ), to the weights and dryland, to the awesome food served all day long, to the fun games and activities—this was a great trip and now in our second year becoming a Nitro tradition we hope to keep up yearly! Thanks to all who made it possible and special thanks to Coach Hans for taking 5 days away from his family to coach and participate!

Thank you—Tim