Author Archives: NitroCoachMike

Coach’s Note 12/4/2012

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Coach’s Note, 12-04-12

We’re already into December – Crazy how fast time is flying! Of course, when it is 78 degrees outside, doesn’t quite feel like December, does it? Anyway – here we go – just a few, please read all…

 

1.       We had a very busy meet weekend this past weekend with three meets: Belton, Addison (City of Richardson Invite), and the Winter Nationals taking place at UT.  I’ve heard that our kids raced hard at every venue, even established a few meet records – like the boys 10 & Under 200 freestyle relay of Zach Bann, Marko Vujosevic, Joseph Hunninghake, and Thomas Shomper up at the COR Invite. The coaches are putting together their meet recaps and when I receive them I will compile and send out some highlights along their thoughts on the meets. I also have a great photo emailed to me from Scout Ratliff’s Mom – that was of Scout alongside Missy Franklin at the Winter Nationals meet! I’ll figure out a way to post it shortly! Missy also autographed Scout’s tshirt and was super nice.

2.       Speaking of meets – we have the UT Jingle Bell Splash taking place this weekend. When we receive the timelines, we will pass that info along to the folks participating.

3.       The following weekend, there are two more meets on the schedule! One is still open to register if interested. It is our Nitro at the Races meet. Saturday, Dec 15th. 1:30 warm up, 2:00PM start. This will be held at our Cedar Park location, and we’re going to cap it at 150 swimmers if needed.  Right now there are 57 registered for it. This is a great meet for all Intro to Nitro kiddos, as well as the less “meet experienced” Bronze and less “meet experienced” Silvers and TF. This meet is not an officially sanctioned USA Swimming meet, which means their times will not be official times entered into the USA Swimming times data base. However – this meet is a great opportunity to get up on the blocks in front of spectators, and gain some experience of what it is like to be in a swimming competition. We run these VERY KID FRIENDLY, making sure we keep tears to a minimum, and we generate lots of Smiles Per Hour! (SPH). Typically we can get these meets handled in about 90 minutes or so. If looking for some guidance on events, I’d suggest Intro to Nitro: 25’s of three strokes, and the 100 IM. Bronze, Silver, TF: 50’s of three strokes, and the 100 IM. ***Sign up deadline is tomorrow (Wed) by 11:59PM CST.

4.       Looking ahead – New Year’s Classic at UT – Jan 4th, 5th, 6th –there are minimum time standards required for this meet, so read the meet info please.  This meet will be primarily for Adv Silvers and up, however, with permission, any Silver or Bronze kiddo with time standards met can speak to their coach about attending.  Meet entry deadline is THIS SUNDAY, DEC 9th, 11:59PM CST.

 

5.       That’s all for now – don’t want to get you too bogged down in details. Thanks for being part of Nitro, and we’ll see you at the pools! Coach Mike.

Swimmers of the week: 11/24/2012

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Swimmer of the Week of November 19th – 24th, 2012:

Intro to Nitro

Cedar Park: Intro to Nitro Swimmer of the Week goes to…Aayushi Prasad!  Aayushi has come a long way from her first few practices.  Each week she is getting stronger in the water and her strokes are coming together nicely.  She has been working hard on getting a feel for the water and using it to make her arm pulls easier.  This week she did a great job with her underwater pullouts!  Making sure she had the perfect 3-2-1 push-off underwater.  Great job Aayushi!

Bee Cave: Pierfrancesco (Cico) Papi. Cico is ALWAYS happy to be at swim practice. If he doesn’t have a huge smile on, then he has a look of great determination on his face. Cico has gotten a lot better at listening and is always trying his hardest to follow directions and impress the coaches. Because of this we have been noticing a lot of improvement in his stroke technique. Keep up the Great work Cico!

Bronze

Cedar Park: Elle Cassady – Elle has really done a great job leading her lane over the past several weeks, Elle is a great example for all the Bronze swimmers. Keep up the hard work!!

Bee Cave:Reed Watson. Reed joined us this fall and I couldn’t be more proud of the progress he has made.  Not only does Reed work extremely hard to pay attention and do the drills correctly, he has taken the extra step to make sure his teammates are doing the drills the right way so the entire group can succeed together.  It is impressive the difference in Reed over the last two months, he has become a supporter and group cheerleader.  Having Reed is a true joy!  His smiles and positive energy feed the group, and his hard work is clearly paying off in the water.  Keep pushing yourself Reed!

Technique and Fitness

Cedar Park: The T/F swimmers of the week are Shealyn Tucker and Daniel Vo.  Shealyn had a great week.  She has been working on her freestyle technique, keeping her head steady, reaching more and rotating more at the hips.  She has started diving again and is working on her flipturns.  Daniel dominated at Saturday’s practice.  He was leading his lane, watching the clocks, streamlining, kicking and flipturns.  He has a great sense of humor on top of all that.  Great job you two, thanks for being a part of NITRO, and we’ll see you at the pool.

Bee Cave: Shahmir Masood.Shahmir had a great week this week. His backstroke is coming together nicely. His hard work in the pool is really paying off. It’s always a pleasure to have him in the pool with us. Keep up the great work Shahmir!

Silver

Cedar Park: Lucy Yan – Lucy had an awesome meet last weekend at Bee Cave.  She is a perfect example of what happens when you pay attention every day in practice.  Lucy is always on the ball when it comes to knowing what the current or next set is. She knows how much of the set has been completed and when to leave to stay on interval.  Great job Lucy!

Bee Cave:   Michael Wallace – When a coach stops the group to make a correction or reinforce what the focus of the set is, the first thing you look for are the eyes of the swimmers, who’s paying attention and is ready to make the next step. Michael always is attentive but also asks his lane mates to pay attention as well, this is a young man who not only wants to improve his stroke mechanics, so he can achieve fasters swims and move up to the next group, but also is holding his teammates to the same standard which helps Nitro Swimming become a better place to help swimmers swim fast and have fun! Way to go Michael!

Advanced Silver

Cedar Park: Advanced Silver Swimmer of the week is Ethan Chen. Ethan had a great meet t the Turkey Trot last weekend, achieving new B times and having best times in some new events. Great job Ethan! We can’t wait to see what happens at the Jingle Bell Splash.

Bee Cave:Noelle Williams. Noelle has been doing a great job over the past few weeks.  We have seen her grow as a swimmer and a person opening up to the other kids and not being afraid to lead her lane.  At the same time, Noelle has always concentrated her efforts to understand and accomplish the goals of each individual set. This focus will help her to reap dividends both within the sport and in life. Keep up the great work Noelle!

Gold

Cedar Park: Abbey Nichols – Abbey has a killer week, working extremely hard every set and impressing all of the coaches. Keep up the hard work!

Bee Cave: Gold BC SOW – Ethan Hammond – Sometime it’s the little things that make a swimmer better, and sometimes it’s the little things that are the hardest to overcome, but it’s the little things that coaches look at when helping the swimmer get to the next level. Things as turns, streamlines, no breath first stroke, finishes, training with intensity when you are supposed to, and these past few days Ethan has made a big change in his focus and desire to train better. He makes one small change that finds him working as hard as he can on the set, all the way through to completion, not giving in to the pain and discomfort of the set and letting little mental ticks derail his efforts to improve. To someone watching this group for the first time you might have missed this improved training attitude but it’s the little things that coaches notice! Keep it up Ethan.

Swimmers of the Week: 11/17/2012

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Swimmers of the Week for November 12th – 17th:

Intro to Nitro

Cedar Park: Franziska Buckel– Franziska has come a long way since joining Intro.  Her strokes are very smooth and she never complains and keeps positive.  A positive attitude is one of the best assistant coaches.  Keep on smiling!

Bee Cave: Yinbing Xue– Yinbing has only been with Intro for a few weeks now and she is excelling rapidly. Yinbing does a great job in listening to the instructions and putting them into effect. She isn’t just going through the motions, but rather using the skills we are teaching her to improve her technique. Amazing job, Yinbing!

Bronze

Cedar Park: Bronze #6– Bronze #6 has been firing on all cylinders as an entire group. Helping each other become better and swimming fast. All while doing a great job listening to the coaches. Great job as a group!

Bee Cave: All the Turkey Trotters!– We had a fantastic meet this Saturday at the Bee Caves pool with swimmers from both Nitro locations.  The coaching staff was very pleased to see a lot of dropped times and even more smiling faces.  Every swimmer was laughing and enjoying themselves, as were the coaches!  With plenty of enthusiasm, energy, and fast swimming it was a wonderful environment to be a part of.  I’m extremely proud of all the Turkey Trotters and their efforts, I look forward to continuing a great season with each of you!

Technique and Fitness

Cedar Park:Karina Torres & Michael Taylor – Karina had a great week.  We really noticed a difference in her swimming technique.  Her streamlines, flip turns and head position were excellent.  Michael really nailed his backstroke flip turns this past week.  It took some practice and once he got his stroke count down the turn came easily.  Great job you two, thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool.

Bee Cave: Max Bartee– Max has been working very hard in the pool. Not one minute is being wasted when he is present. This weekend he opened his eyes when he swam a blistering 1:00 in the 100 freestyle! This is no surprise to the coaches. He put in the work for this. Congratulations Max, can’t wait to see what else is in store for you.

Silver

Cedar Park: Emilio Cohen– Emilio moved up to Silver from Bronze shortly after our fall season began.  Since his move he has shown great improvement in his stroke technique by doing 2 extremely important things; listening when the coach is talking, and applying every correction asked of him permanently. It’s easy to make a change for a 25 or 50 but to be asked to change your stroke once and fix it indefinitely is a whole other skill.  Keep it up Emilio and you will always rise in skill and never plateau!

Bee Cave:McKelvey Valenti & Addison Orris– Both of these girls put on quite a show at the swim meet on Saturday, with 100% efforts on every swim, the hard work really showed with no breathing inside the red zone, even splitting on the 100 swims, good pull outs and fast walls, it’s easy to see why coach Jeff and I keep saying “Wow that was a great swim!” Keep up the great work ladies!

Advanced Silver

Cedar Park: Sarina Zhou– Sarina is always at practice, working hard, making corrections and keeping a positive attitude. We enjoy having her there! Great job Sarina!

Bee Cave: Katie Touhy & Avery McCrory– Katie had a breakthrough meet this weekend at the Turkey Trot.  By doing so, she exemplified the idea that a meet is just an extension of a swimmer’s workouts.  Katie always gives the coaches and her teammates her best effort at practice.  Does that mean she is always the fastest? Absolutely not.  While speed is certainly one of our goals, many of our sets focus on stroke technique frequently necessitating a slower and more deliberate effort.  In short, Katie consistently directs her efforts according to the needs of the set and this weekend showed how much that kind of discipline pays off.  A special mention goes to Avery McCrory as well. After a race as the girls were sitting in the water waiting for the next group to go, Avery made it a point to high-five her teammate on either side of her lane.  She showed heart in her swims and kindness in her actions.  I am very proud of both Katie and Avery.  Keep up the great work ladies!

Gold

Cedar Park: Viktoria Haide– Viktoria has been doing a great job training pushing herself out of her comfort zone and it paid off with a good performance at the IMX meet. Very proud of Viktoria as she has had one injury after the other over the past few months. Keep it up Viktoria!

Bee Cave:Shannon Bagnal, Jessie Edmundson, Connor Jones, Logann Khollman, Hunter Lee, Brian Li, Andrew Pickard, Reaghan Piotrowski, Tas Saunders & Clayton Meyer– These 10 swimmers challenged themselves better than I have yet seen by any of the Gold swimmers at Bee Cave. In a 40 minute set on Saturday I saw such focus, determination, and effort, put forth by these very tired young swimmers, I was very impressed, yes they struggled, yes they were in pain, and yet each time they stepped up on the blocks for the next round, their faces showed their drive and desire to succeed! Great Job All!!

Coach’s Note: 11/18/2012

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Weekend recap, Thanksgiving Week Ahead…

 

1.      We had two meets going on at once this past weekend. We had 20 athletes down in San Antonio at the IMX meet, and also had our own Nitro meet with 230 kiddos participating, split into two sessions. Coach Flo did a tremendous job running the meet from a computer standpoint, and the other coaches were fantastic keeping the spirits up and the energy positive, and were awesome on the meet cleanup.

2.       I want to say a special thank you to our parents who volunteered to time at the meet, and also to our meet officials who worked the entire meet on their own time. Our officials were: Roland Smits, Trey Prinz, Minerva Martinez, Ranko Vujosevic, Mary Babini, Heather Bleasdell, Ken Forester, and David Dunn. I have some gift cards coming their way this week – THANK YOU!!

3.      I have received a few emails already from parents who attended the meets, saying what a pleasant experience/atmosphere  in the swim center, as it looked like our parents were acting more like the “grandparents” we always talk about. Great job parents – keeping things light, loose, and enjoyable for the kiddos. Remember – the #1 thing your child wants more than anything is to know that you are proud of them. Well done. The coaching staff recognized some definite areas that need some attention in the kids, and we will begin addressing this week.

4.      Reminder – No practices Thursday of this week due to Thanksgiving.  However, Regular practices on Mon, Tue, Wed.

5.      On Friday, CEDAR PARK stays regular Friday afternoon schedule. On Saturday morning, regular Sat morning schedule.

6.      BEE CAVE will be having an early Friday of practices, using the normal Sat AM Schedule for BEE CAVE on BOTH Friday AND Saturday of this coming week.

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

Coach’s Note 11/14/2012

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Very Quick Coach’s Note – College Commitment #8, and new meet added for “A” and Up swimmers, end of January…

 

1.       We are very proud to announce that Nitro’s EIGHTH College commitment is Nathan Howells! Nathan will be taking his talents to Morgantown next fall to be a Mountaineer at West Virginia University! Congratulations to Nathan and his family. Nathan has been part of us since our outdoor days, and we are extremely proud of him.

2.       Reminder, tonight – 7:00PM, we are having a college signing get together in our viewing room at Cedar Park with all 8 early college signees in attendance, wearing their new school colors. We wish them all the best!!

3.       We will be posting an added meet for any swimmers with “A” times or faster for the end of January – 19th, 20th, 21st – MLK Weekend. Hosted by the Woodlands, held at Conroe ISD High School, which will be the same pool that TAGS will be in this March. Timed finals for 12 and Unders; Prelim/Finals for 13 and Olders. Details will be forthcoming, as I am still chatting with the Woodlands coaches on this meet. We had a hole in our schedule and this fits perfectly from a timing standpoint. More to come…

4.       Thanks for being a part of Nitro Swimming, and we’ll see you at the pool! Coach Mike