Monthly Archives: December 2012

Swimmer of the Week for December 17th – 22nd, 2012:

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Intro to Nitro

Cedar Park: Jun Seok Oh– Jun Seok had another awesome practice this week, demonstrating barrel roll kicking to the group like a pro!  Patiently listening to directions and quick to ask for clarifications Jun Seok is a very smart swimmer.  Keep up the great work buddy!

Bee Cave: Marco Chen– Marco Chen had great breakthrough this last week. He started off practice saying that he didn’t know how to do a somersault, and he struggled with it at first. But through determination and focus he figured it out and was able to successfully complete his first flipturnt! Congratulations!!

Bronze

Cedar Park: Catherine Stephen– Catherine has done an amazing job in the Bronze group over the past few months and her effort is showing more than ever. She is always paying attention to what the swims are supposed to be and she is doing a great job helping other swimmers with their intervals. Keep up the hard work.

Bee Cave: Scout Swanson– Scout joined us after the Nitro summer rec program and has done a tremendous job.  She eagerly moved her way to the front of the lane a d gives her absolute best effort in the pool.  We are happy with Scout’s improvements, desire, and motivation. Way to go, Scout!

Technique and Fitness

Cedar Park:ALL OF YOU! – We’ve had a great start this year.  Over the past months I’ve seen you guys grow from novice swimmers to accomplished athletes.  Things are starting to click and become good habits.  It’s really been a great ride to watch you reach goals and exceed them.  Happy holidays and an eventful New Year.  Thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool.

Bee Cave: Grant Strickler– Grant is really hitting his stride lately. He had a phenomenal meet last weekend and continued his hard work right into this week’s practice. Grant’s perseverance in the pool is a direct translation in his success lately. Keep up the great work Grant! Happy Holidays.

Silver

Cedar Park: Elizabeth Stephen– The past few weeks Elizabeth has really stepped up her game at practice.  Her kick has improved tremendously and as a result everything else has just started to fall in line.  She is now always towards the front of her lane and makes all the intervals. Great job Elizabeth. Your hard work will always pay off so keep it up!

Bee Cave:Jasmine DeFranco– Jasmine has done such a great job working on her strokes, she has made some of the quickest improvements to her strokes, it is such a compliment to her drive and focus at every practice. She listens, she acts, if she has trouble she asks questions, she never lets it show if she gets frustrated, always a smile and lots of hard work, I can’t wait to see her swim her first 100 back & 100 breast at the Rodeo Meet. great job Jasmine

Advanced Silver

Cedar Park:Trey Jackson, Mary Iliukivich, Will Corona and Shelby DuBose– All I heard from them after the AAAA meet last weekend was how happy they were with all of their swims-and I heard the exact same things from the coaches that were at the meet. These four are a great example of swimmers who have been working hard and the results are now falling into place. Great swimming and keep up the hard work!

Bee Cave: Jordan Mathis– Jordan has been doing a great job in the group quietly making big strides(or should I say strokes?) in her swimming. Jordan has the ability to identify and focus on the purpose of each set. Many times, as coaches, we ask our swimmers to put aside their competitive drive to be first in their lane in favor of making corrections to their strokes and Jordan knows how to do this. At the same time she can really turn it on when we ask for that as well. This week Jordan displayed those talents and demonstrated how she is becoming a leader in the group.  Keep up the consistently strong workouts. You rock Jordan!

Gold

Cedar Park: Caitlin Murphy– Caitlin has had really good workouts for the couple of weeks she had a short period of time where her knee was not 100%, but she kept doing as much as she could in the water. She did not miss a beat when it comes to her training and is hitting her best training performance of year at the perfect moment. Keep up your hard work Caitlin.

Bee Cave:Ted Beiter– One of the hardest things a swimmer must deal with is to age up in the middle of the season. For boys turning 13 is very tough, the bottom drops out of the time standards. Ted has done such a great job of weathering that storm, his effort leading his lane and improving his strokes have greatly increased the past few days, his sprinting is focused, and the 200 training is developing at a suprising rate. Can’t wait to see Ted swim at the Rodeo Meet at the Woodlands

Coach’s Note: 12/21/12

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Hi All – Happy Friday to everyone, 12-21-12.

1.       We want to wish any of our Nitro families who are traveling over these holidays to stay safe, and enjoy your time away, but hurry back!!

2.       For those of you staying in town, as a reminder, we are having practices scheduled as normal. The only exceptions to that:

a)      We’re off on Tuesday, Christmas Day; and also off on Tuesday, Jan 1st.

b)      If you are a Monday swimmer, both Mondays, Dec 24th and Dec 31st (Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve) we’re following a typical “Saturday” AM schedule.

c)       If you are a Tuesday swimmer, feel free to match up your correct group name and come in on Monday morning, or on Wednesday afternoon/evening at the normally scheduled practice time for that group. But remember, that Monday practices are following the posted Saturday AM practice schedule. Whew!! That sounds confusing! Might want to read that again.

d)      Some of the more advanced groups are having some “two a day” practices throughout the break. The coaches should have communicated the plan to those families.

3.       As has become a Nitro tradition, swimmers who complete 100% of their group’s practices over the break (for this year, the period of Sat Dec 21st-Saturday Jan 5th – exceptions will exist for the kids competing at the Jan-4-6th UT meet), will be allowed to purchase a special Nitro training T-shirt that will commemorate their commitment over the school break. This will be a one of a kind, limited edition shirt, but only available to those who attended their group’s practices over the break. I’ll be communicating a sign up format as we wind up the training. Design is already being created, and it is getting a big thumb’s up!

4.       Short housekeeping note: Team parents – our front desk is pretty knowledgeable on scheduling issues, lessons registration times, multiple swimmer discounts, selling swim caps. They aren’t that knowledgeable on meets, time standards, coaching decisions, group advancements, etc. Feel free to bring any team questions to the coaching staff, or to me. If not sure, here are the email addresses of the primary coach(es) of the groups:

 

Cedar Park:

 

Bee Cave:

**If you have emailed your group coach and are waiting more than 24 hrs for a reply, email me and let me know. mike@nitroswim.com

5.        Last point – I went to a show last night at the Cedar Park Center. It was something unlike I’ve ever seen before. Here’s a youtube link of the same show from about 5 days earlier while they were performing in another city. Wait until the 2:40 mark, and you might say “WOW” like we did. Well worth the 6 minutes. Enjoy. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!! Thanks for being a part of Nitro, and we’ll see you at the pool! Coach Mike. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=qe2wMDF0ii0

Coach’s Note: 12/20/2012

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Quick Coach’s Note – two meets being added!!

1.       For those of you who weren’t able to get into the Jan 4-6 UT meet, we have tracked down another meet that same weekend. The meet is an out of town meet, hosted by the Woodlands. The great news is that it is an Unclassified meet (which means there are NO prequalifying times required). In other words, anyone can enter any of the events in their age group. It is an officially sanctioned meet. We will have meet info for this meet added to our site by end of day tomorrow (Thursday) and will have a VERY FAST Turnaround on getting entries turned in. There are a couple of events offered on Friday the 4th, then for Saturday and Sunday, the 11 and olders will swim in the morning sessions, and the 10 and unders will swim in the afternoon sessions.

2.       Two weeks later, weekend of Jan 19-21st, The Woodlands is hosting an “A” meet – (meaning that swimmers with “A” time standards or faster may enter that event). It is a timed finals meet for 12 and Unders; and it is a prelim/final meet for 13 and olders.  We will have this meet info posted shortly.  FYI: This is the same weekend as the B Championships being held at Belton.

3.       I was remiss in the smoothie note earlier – Max Chbaro is also getting one for a phenomenal 500 freestyle at Friday’s session of the Jingle Bell meet – his leg kick never quit, and his arms stayed long. Quite impressive!

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

PT Tips for Holiday Training

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This information is contributed by our team Physical Therapist, Kevin McHorse regarding holiday training for our more advanced groups. Please read. Thanks…

PT Tips for Holiday Training

Holiday training is a time to push a swimmers conditioning to the next level and really vault in to the spring season.  The conditioning achieved is a valuable asset but we must insure that a swimmer does not let the benefits of increased training get offset by excessive soreness or injury that will slow them down in the long run.  Below are a few tips to help decrease soreness and typical pitfalls that lead to injury at this time of year.

1.      Stretch, stretch, stretch! When doing long distances and multiple doubles for consec utive days, the tendency for the exhausted swimmer is to swim, eat, and sleep and little else.  During this time it is critical to take about 10 min after every practice to get in a good stretch after swimming down.  By stretching after every practice you will avoid cooling off tight and then coming back to the next practice even tighter than the previous practice.  Stretching after workouts is the most effective time because you are stretching warm muscles instead of cold ones.  Swimming down and stretching after workouts also cuts down on muscles soreness that builds up after long workouts.  Pay particular attention to the chest and upper back.

2.      Drink More Water!  In the winter most athletes consume less water than normal.  It is critical that swimmers stay well hydrated during holiday training to decrease muscles soreness and help in muscles recovery around the clock.  Swimmers should drink before, during, and after practice.   An athlete that is drinking enough water should never feel thirsty.  Depending on age you should be drinking a minimum of  10 and 15 cups of water a day during training, and often more.

3.      Ice after practice.  Whether you are having lots of soreness after practice or not,  icing after each practice can be very good prevention, especially the shoulders, during intense training. This should be done after stretching and will again help with muscle recovery by reducing inflammation in the muscles and accumulates from one practice to another.  Studies show that athletes that ice regularly during intense periods of training have decreased complaints of pain and soreness during the season.  A simple ice pack for 15 min. can make a big difference.

Holiday training is a great opportunity to improve as a swimmer and following the simple steps above will help you make it through training with less chance of injury and more success.  Take just a little time to follow these simple tips and you will see the benefits in the coming weeks.  Good Luck!

Kevin McHorse, PT, SCS, Cert. MDT

Board Certified Specialist in Sports Physical Therapy Central Texas Pediatric Orthopedics and Scoliosis Surgery (512) 478-8116

Swimmer of the Week for December 10th – 15th, 2012:

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Intro to Nitro

Cedar Park:Tanner Glazier– Each practice Tanner shows how much enjoys swimming, smile and hard work.  At the Nitro at the Races Tanner showed what he was made of when he dive in for his 50 breaststroke and his goggles came off!  Not to be slowed down by anyone or anything Tanner pull, breathe, kick and glided his way through his race and when he came out of the water he was all smiles!  Tanner you ROCK!

Bee Cave:Daniela Cazares– Daniela has been working extremely hard the last few weeks. Kicking hard through the whole kick set, and not giving up. She has been so focused on exactly what the coaches are looking for and always doing her best to impress. Daniela’s attitude and excitement has started rubbing off on everyone, which makes each practice just a little more productive. And her hard work is definitely paying off because she is staring to be a real leader of the group. Keep up the great work.

Bronze

Cedar Park: Jaylin DuBose, Ana Herceg & Felicity Hester– These three ladies had an amazing weekend swimming at the BB and under meet. These ladies demonstrated the skills they have been working on every day in practice and showed that their improvements in practice will help their overall swimming.

Bee Cave:Tony Slowik– Tony has really stepped in a leadership role for our bronze group.  He has shown the coaches his true desire to succeed and a commitment to his goals.  I look forward to the next few weeks with him.

Technique and Fitness

Cedar Park:Sohee Jung & Kyle Le – Sohee spent a good amount of time perfecting her dive from the blocks this past week.  With time and patience she got it.  I don’t think I have ever NOT seen a smile on Kyle’s face.  He always has a great attitude and brings great energy to the pool.  His endurance and technique are coming along as well.  Great job you two, thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool.

Bee Cave:Anna Heikes– Anna has been working extra hard lately, and it’s being noticed by the coaches. She gives 100% on every single drill and set. Anna aims for perfection for 60 minutes every single practice. She’s really hitting her stride in longer distance sets. Way to go Anna!

Silver

Cedar Park:Rylee Worley & Brit Collins– Rylee and Brit have been workout buddies since the start if the seasons and are now best buddies at practice. Working together these two push each other beyond their limits and they do it using friendly competition. To them It’s not about “I’m going to beat you” it’s about “Let’s try to beat each other and we can both get better together.”  Using this strategy they have both grown much faster and as a result had a phenomenal meet this past weekend at AAAA in San Antonio.

Bee Cave:Paige Liverman– All week long Paige has shown how hard she has been working on her mechanics, but it’s how she works on the little things that makes her the Silver swimmer of the week, push offs, streamlines, fly body waves, not breathing first stroke up, which is why we call on her to demonstrate to the group so often. Great work Paige!

Advanced Silver

Cedar Park:Matthew McCarthy– This week’s practices have gotten progressively harder, and each day Matthew has gotten better and better. I can’t wait to see how he responds over the next few weeks and watch his hard work pay off. Great job Matthew!

Bee Cave:Jasmine Bui– Jasmine had a great meet this weekend in San Antonio.  She dropped a great deal of time in all her races but, perhaps more importantly, I saw the fruits of her practice come out in her races.  Her attention to her strokes and turns together with her effort in practice has improved her conditioning and provided her with a firm technique from which to build.   You are doing a great job Jasmine!

Gold

Cedar Park: Nadia Bhatti & Reagan Bleasdell– Nadia and Reagan both swam a fantastic meet this weekend, showing off that their week of technique focused workouts did not go to waste. Very proud of these two ladies and am glad they swam as well as they did. Congrats ladies!!!

Bee Cave:Andrew Pickard – Andrew has the focus that I’ve been waiting to find in a leader for the Bee Cave Gold group, yes his training is a step above, the effort he has been putting into repeat sets is as good as I’ve seen this year, but for me when he gave words of encouragement to another Gold swimmer who was struggling that was the point Andrew became the group leader. Well done Andrew!

2nd Coach’s Note for the Week – Thur, 12-13-12

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A little more info, and two interesting links/stories at the end…

1.       Purple long sleeve T’s are in, and moving fast (I admit when I’m wrong, and I was wrong about the purple color – the kids love the color). When they are gone, they are gone.

 

2.       Coach Todd Foley, the Head Site Coach at Bee Cave, had sent me two attachments for the COR meet recap that I had forgotten about. Here you go…

“Nice job overall from those who swam at the COR meet.  For some, it was first prelim/final meet and others saw where they are at this point in the season.  Remember to assess where you are times-wise in accordance with your attendance as many do other activities.‘Tip of the goggles” to Nathaniel Hartman and Will Barton for sticking around during finals as they were alternates and were still preparing themselves to swim and cheer on teammates.  Neither wound up swimming but both showed plenty of commitment and team spirit.  Another ‘tip of the goggles’ to Matt Hammond for showing up to finals with the potential to swim on a relay. It paid off as Matt swam two relays and got best times in both! As a coach, I can learn from this past meet as well and communicate to swimmers and families Nitro expectations at meets, in particular prelim/finals meets.

1)Unless specifically approved by me, please show up at appropriate warm-up times.

2)Please refrain from sitting in the stands with parents and join teammates on deck. It was nice to see swimmers hanging out together – one of the fun aspects of meets!

3)Upon leaving the meet in the morning, if you won’t be swimming at night, please make sure that you have scratched from the event. Conversely, as noted above, if you are an alternate, be prepared to swim

4)At prelim/finals meets, if you don’t make it back at night, please still come to potentially warm up in preparation for the following day’s event(s) or, as alluded to above, be prepared to potentially swim if you are an alternate.

 

Todd wrote the following to his Sectional Group at Bee Cave:

“In a discussion with the swimmers last night, we reviewed the COR meet. While COR was a solid meet, it did showcase some things to work on.  Attendance, staying healthy, getting to a certain comfort level with the pool you are swimming in, ‘dialing in’ to pacing and a renewed commitment to underwaters, were at the forefront of our discussion.  In long course swimming, one can’t fake the swimming portion of a race, and in short course, one can’t fake the walls.

We also reviewed the swims from the past weekend, highlighted by Laurie Prinz’s 200 Breast (hundredths away from NCSA bonus), Mason Tenney’s 200 Fly (NCSA bonus) and 200 IM (almost 2 second time drop), Regan Barney’s 100 Back and 200 IM (NCSA cuts) and 100 Back and 400 IM meet records, Sutton Mayes’ 100 & 200 Fly (NCSA bonus cuts), Diana Dunn’s across the board personal best swims and Isaac Johnson’s 100 Free (over 1.5 second drop). I think that is all for now. Thanks, Coach Todd”

 

3.       Ever thought about being a swim teacher, or getting back in the water to work with kids? Perhaps you know someone who is looking. If so, forward this note to them.

 

We’re looking for two or three GREAT people for our Bee Cave location to become Nitro Swim Instructors. Others “do” lessons, we TEACH Swimming! If interested, contact me directly at mike@nitroswim.com .  Primary hours needed are 3:30-7:30PM, a few times a week, and Saturday mornings, 9:00AM-12 noon.  Earn some extra money, and LOVE what you do!

 

4.        Jason Lezak’s aha moment – describing the greatest swimming race I had ever watched – I remember screaming at the end of it:   http://www.ahamoment.com/moments/1513

 

5.       Seven things successful swimmers do differently:

http://www.swimmingworldmagazine.com/lane9/news/ASCAEducation/32821.asp?q=7-Things-Successful-Swimmers-Do-Differently

 

6.       That’s it for now. Jingle Bell Splash meet recap coming later…Thanks for being a part of Nitro Swimming. See you at the pools! Coach Mike.