West Point + Swimmers of the Week 3/2/13

Hi All —

1. I wanted everyone to know that our own Mark Curley who swims in our National Group just received word late last week that he was nominated/accepted/appointed to the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY! This has been a dream for him, and he’s been working hard to make it a reality. Mark began swimming with us in our outdoor days in 2006, and has commuted from Ft Hood the last 7 years!! Quite a testament to drive, desire, determination, and focus. Well done Mark! Congratulations to him and his parents, Brian and Melanie, who put in the years of sacrifice. We wish Mark the best!!

 

Swimmer of the Week for February 25^th – March 2^nd, 2013:

Intro to Nitro

Cedar Park:Valerie  Luu & Ashish Jacob – Both Valerie and Ashish have been working extra hard on making all the corrections that their coaches have given them.  Valerie did an excellent job this past week on her breaststroke swim and was able to be a great demonstrator for her group.  Ashish has built up his endurance so much that he is always ready for the next challenge during a practice and doesn’t need extra breaths at the wall.  Keep up the great work you two!!

Bee Cave:Natalie Melhiser– In the short time that Natalie has been with the Intro’s she has improved tremendously. She was a little tentative at first, but her confidence has grown with each new challenge we have given her. Keep it up sweetie!

Bronze

Cedar Park: Angel Caldera– Angel just is a newer arrival to our Bronze group via our Technique and Fitness group. Angel has been doing a great job in practice every day, leading his lane and working hard on his technique. Angel also swam his first swim meet this past weekend to finish of the a great week of training. Great Angel, keep it up!!!

Bee Cave:All the slower than B meet swimmers – We had a lot of dropped times and smiling faces. I was very pleased with the readiness and racing I saw! It was a great feeling to see some awesome body waves and other details we have all worked on this year. Keep it up team!

Technique and Fitness

Cedar Park:Audrey Wu & Tanish Thacker – Audrey has a great attitude every time she comes to the pool.  She always has a smile on her face and a willingness to try whatever we throw at her.  We’ve noticed a great improvement in her breaststroke technique.  Tanish has really shown us some great advancement.  He’s swimming more distance and nailing all of his streamlines, flip turns and kicking.  We can see his increased effort in the pool.  Great job of you two, thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool.

Bee Cave:Erin Fitzgerald– Erin put together a nice week at the pool. Her focus ad determination was clearly noticed by the coaches. Erin always comes and leaves practice with a smile on her face. Way to go Erin, keep up the great work.

Silver

Cedar Park:Andrew Yu– Andrew gets many kudos not just for this past week but for the whole season.  He comes to almost every practice, never misses an interval, and always knows what part of a set we are on, and only needs to hear the set once; no matter how confusing. All of these things play a huge role in making practice run smooth so more attention can be put into stroke corrections and conditioning.  Thank you Andrew for being so attentive and great job at the meet on Saturday!!!

Bee Cave:Brooke Jeffery– Watching Brooke swim the meet on Saturday was exciting every race had the right intensity, her strokes were long, the turns tight, and the breathing well controlled, not what you would expect from an 8 year old, but Brooke has been putting in some very good work and the tell was her 100 free time of 1:18.63 earning a 9 & 10 national BB time. Great job!

Advanced Silver

Cedar Park:Kaylie Pasquino & Dan Vinnik– Both of them had a similar reaction when I gave them the set on Thursday (What?!?! That’s terrifying!). However, by the end of the set they were not only smiling, they were leading the group. It was a great example of a swimmer working their way through a set and discovering that it might not be that bad after all-you just need to try! Great job you too and keep that attitude up as you move forward!

Bee Cave:Caroline Reckart– Caroline consistently shows up to swim with everything she’s got.  She listens well and is kind to her teammates.  All in all she is a pleasure to coach.  When we do a challenge set I’m always impressed with Caroline’s ability to push herself from the beginning of the set all the way to the end.  Keep up the great work Caroline!

Gold

Cedar Park: Reagan Bleasdell– Reagan had a great week of training leading into a very good 200 Butterfly this weekend at the meet in Bee Cave, first time ever to swim this event and right away a BB time. Very proud of Reagan, also always a great leader to her group and that is something you can not teach, it is something you are born to do.

Bee Cave:Brian Li– Brian continues to impress the coaches by his quiet leadership. Always one to set the right example of practice intensity, working on the details, and measuring his success by the little things he does right. We’re looking forward to seeing Brian take his swimming upward over the next several years.

Swimmer of the Month for February 2013:

Cedar Park

High School Training:Caitlin Lambie – Caitlin has been making progress since this fall when she started with High School Training, however, in the past two weeks there has been a shift in her gears.  She stepped up her game and really surprised herself and her coaches with her efforts!  Finding herself making faster intervals than before and not being as exhausted at the end of hard sets have come as a welcome to surprise to Caitlin.  I am looking forward to seeing what else she can accomplish with this new enthusiasm in the water!

TAGS 2: Max Jones– Max swam extremely well at A Champs in San Antonio.  He’s been very consistent with his practice attendance.  By continuing to work hard in practice, Max has been selected to participate on an 11-12 TAGS relay.   Outside of the pool, Max continues to make each of his team members smile with his energetic personality.

TAGS 1: N/A

Senior: Camden Lemond – Camden has had some great swims in his past few swim meets.  His performance at A Champs had him dropping his 100 freestyle time to a new low of 53.10.  This new time helped him qualify for one of our 13-14 boys relays to the TAGS Championship meet.

Sectional: Alex Manasso and Adam Toler– Alex had a tremendous month performance wise, as a result of some major work. It’s great when that happens. She’s been taking her meet preparation very seriously, and followed up a great “A” Champs meet with a fantastic Sectionals meet. Adam has responded very well in the last few weeks as he’s been working very hard in the water, and has kept up outstanding attendance. Just last week while I was covering the meet, Coach Mike and Coach Flo relayed a story to me about Adam finishing a practice, obviously tired, but a little dissatisfied about not accomplishing a certain threshold of a time on a quality swim off the blocks. After warm down, he expressed that. Flo and I looked at him and said: “We’ve got a little extra time right now if you’re up for another shot at it.”  Without hesitation, Adam jumped on the blocks for another go. Very good signals from both Alex and Adam – as well as the rest of the Sectional group.

Bee Cave

High School Training:Benjamin Gorr – Ben is a very hard worker and joy to have on the pool deck. When I give him a challenge he doesn’t always jump at the opportunity but he always does his best no matter what. Ben is also very good at listening to the instructions and asking the right questions. Keep up the great work and you will go far.

TAGS: Kate MacRae– Kate had an incredible “A” Championship meet, earning 3 new TAGS cuts in the 50, 100, and 200 Breast.  She was absolutely on fire in all of her events!  Congrats Kate on an incredible Championship meet and go get ’em at TAGS!

Senior:Micah Slaton– Micah has quickly emerged as one of our group leaders in Senior. His constant pursuit of perfection has him on a roll this month. Micah goes out of his way to get feedback and pointers. He is beginning to understand the long process of the sport of swimming. Keep up the great training Micah, welcome back.

Sectional:Ben Rodgers– Ben also lit up the pool at the “A” Championship meet.  First the first time ever, he broke 1:00 in the 100 Breast and delivered a huge swim in the 200 IM, swimming an NCSA Bonus Time Standard in the 200 IM (1:57.4).  Ben now has 3 NCSA Bonus time standards as he works his way towards earning a hard cut (or 3!).  In addition, Ben swam well for his high school at his Regional meet, highlighted by his best 100 free relay split (49.0). Congrats Ben!

 

National Group Swimmer of the Month for February: Trent Jackson– Trent, a Notre Dame signee, had a great February both inside and outside the pool. After some very strong training he went 1:39 in the 200 free for the first time at the A Champs meet in San Antonio… unshaved. At that same meet Trent proved why he is a natural team leader after seeing one of his younger Nitro teammates get dq’d for a false start, he spent some time with that swimmer getting them back in the right frame of mind and spirit of the meet. Trent has always been a caring, selfless, teammate and a very hard worker…a combo that will take him far at Notre Dame and well beyond! Way to go Trent and good luck at Juniors Nationals in March!

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

Coach’s Note 11/14/2012

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 – 19^th, 20^th, 21^st – 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

Coach’s Note + SOW 11/6/2012

Hi All — Quick few points, then Swimmers of the Week and our Swimmers of the Month…

 

1. Since we began, I have taken great pride in not having “required volunteer” hours of any kind in our program. I prefer to keep it that way. If you want to lay low on the radar, drop off your kiddo(s), pick them up, etc., cool by me. If you want to help a little and time at one of our meets, that’s cool as well. Totally voluntary, nothing required. That being said, we had a sign up system for the this past weekend’s meet at UT. Parents signed up for small shifts, and some of those who volunteered thought ahead and looked at the timeline of the meet and figured out when they could time and still not miss their kiddo racing. Well, that all sounds great, and works in theory. It doesn’t work out too well when people sign up to cover a slot and then fail to show up. It puts the burden on the person who was already there expecting to get relieved. I hope next meet at UT we have timers who sign up and then live up to their commitment. It is not required, but if you are going to commit, then see it through. I want to thank those that timed, and I saw some new faces in the seats on deck — great to see. I also saw some of the same folks as well that seem to volunteer every meet. We appreciate the help you continue to provide.

2. Nitro had 39 members of Team Nitro walk/run at the Susan G Komen Race for the Cure this past Sunday. Tracy did an outstanding job of organizing, the pink shirts definitely stood out, and as a result of the Red vs Black Meet for the Cure, and other donations, Nitro was proud to donate over $7,000 to the cause. Congratulations to all who participated, and thank you to all of you!!

3. Nitro’s own Haley Timmons was the first female finisher of the 5K in a time of 19:00.00, and was 6th overall. Way to go Haley!! She then headed over to the pool for the afternoon meet session. What a day for Haley!

4. Hooray!! Next Wednesday, from 7:00-8:00PM in the lessons viewing room, our 8 early college signees will be meeting for a congratulatory party and hopefully having to sing their new college fight songs! We will have photos posted on our website afterwards.

Swimmer of the Week for October 29^th – November 3^rd:

Intro to Nitro

Cedar Park:Annabelle Chang– Over the last few months Annabelle has shown a lot of progress in all of her strokes and in her confidence level.  She is doing swims and sets that 6 months ago she would not even thought twice about doing.  Annabelle always does a great job listening and is quick to remind her lane buddies about underwater push-offs and watching the clock!  Way to go Annabelle, keep doing what you are doing!!

Bee Cave:Adriana Klaas– Adriana is an excellent student. She in not only a very good active listener but she also asks the right questions. Adriana works hard at every practice while constantly having a smile on her face. Keep up the great work Adriana!

Bronze

Cedar Park: Maci Currin– Maci has had an amazing week of practices, really working on exact stroke corrections every time the coaches give her feedback. She is about the tallest 9 year old in existence and look forward to what the future in swimming has in store for Maci. Keep up the great work!

Bee Cave:Hannah Ward– Hannah is a swimmer that is fun to coach.  Always engaged on what the coach is saying, she ready to learn more.  She is ambitious and enthusiastic during practice.  Hannah is consistent in her work ethic as well as being a team player.  One of the best things about Hannah is she NEVER wants practice to end and says she wish she could stay at the pool all day.  We are looking forward to a great, fun future from Hannah.  Way to go!

Technique and Fitness

Cedar Park:Ella Baldwin & Quinton Koenig – Ella did an amazing job in the pool this past week.  She is coming off of having pneumonia and tried swimming a few weeks ago.  She hit a rough patch.  This past week she was back to leading her lane, watching the clocks and demonstrating for the group.  Nice work.  Quinton is really coming along with his technique.  There is some definite improvement in his stroke work and it shows.  Great job you two, thanks for being a part of NITRO and we’ll see you at the pool.

Bee Cave:Spencer Denton– Spencer has been working very hard in the pool this past week. He is constantly looking for feedback when he swims. His flip turns this past week has really improved. In result, his efficiency in 50’s is outstanding Way to go Spencer! Keep up the great work.

Silver

Cedar Park:Katie Law– Katy is always in a positive mood.  Swimming is a difficult sport and if you do not have a good attitude it is a lot more difficult.  Katy’s great attitude and hard work at practice paid off this week when she swam the UT meet.  She swam the 200IM for the first time and faced it like a champ. No breaths off the walls with strong streamlines and finishes throughout. Great job Katy!!!

Bee Cave:Carter Dean– Carter has been working very hard on improving his butterfly and breaststroke this last week, he is able to apply the corrections that coach Todd and I have been giving him on both strokes which has greatly improved his IM. I can’t wait to see him swim the 200 IM as well as the 100 fly. Keep up the great work Carter!

Advanced Silver

Cedar Park:Avery Chan & Matthew McCartney– Both did a terrific job at the UT meet this weekend checking in with me after their races. Matthew also completed his first 200 yard butterfly swim, one of the toughest races out there. Avery had a great meet, picking up a number of ‘A’ time standards. Great job this weekend!

Bee Cave:Teresa Luo– Teresa may be quiet, but she speaks quite loudly with her actions.  Though she has been kicking for the better part of the last month and a half, Teresa put together a strong meet this weekend.  Meets are a great opportunity to see how your training is going, have some fun with your friends and challenge yourself “on stage” in some direct competition.  I’ve always attacked them with the attitude that, if you train right and prepare yourself, a meet is simply the culmination of your work and concentration at the moment of execution.  Teresa is a great example of this mentality.   The focus and effort she gives in practice can be seen directly in weekends like this one.   Keep up the great work Teresa!

Gold

Cedar Park: Gregory Raper & Anthony Luo– Greg had a really good weekend at UT this weekend really following through on the racing points we talked about and it paid off in a big way in his races. Greg was also the only swimmer who opted out of Trick or Treating to attend practice and this says a lot about his commitment to this sport. Anthony had some really memorable swims this weekend, including but not limited to his 200 Freestyle and his 200 Butterfly. His 200 Free he dropped 16 seconds from a 2:24 to a 2:08 but him among the elite 11 year olds in this event. Keep up your extreme work ethic and great attitude Anthony!

Bee Cave:Annie Halm & Gavin Moak– Annie has been working very hard this week, great focus on turns, and challenged herself in some back and breast swim sets, yet still left the pool after practice with some pretty big smile. On Saturday and Sunday at the UT swim meet she put a big smile on her coach’s face with time drops in almost every swim, with AA times in her 100 free and 50 back, while just missing AA cuts in her 50 breast and 50 fly! Great job Annie keep up the good work. Gavin Has shown great improvement in his focus during practice, he also was able to break through on a difficult IM set, and the improvements he’s made to his breaststroke will certainly pay off the next time he swims the 400 IM. This Sunday he gave us a pleasant surprise in his 200 butterfly dropping 20 seconds, using solid mechanics, and good pacing he held the second 100 within 4 seconds of the first 100. Well done Gavin!

Swimmer of the Month for October 2012:

Cedar Park

High School Training:Morgan Griffith– Morgan has been working hard in and out of the water.  At the November Unclassified swim meet this past weekend Morgan took a huge step in his swimming; taking on big swims like the 500 freestyle and the 200 butterfly for the first time.  Swimming the 500 freestyle after not feeling the best on Saturday he stayed right with the heat he was in and will likely be swimming it again.  As for the 200 fly, he worked hard and now knows what to expect for the next time he swims that!   Way to step up the the plate Morgan!

TAGS 1: Nick Milikich– Nick trains very consistently every day and is a great teammate to the other member of the group.

Sectional:Josh Winn & Sammi Sutton– The “Short Dawg” is a “Big Dawg”! Josh has a big work ethic and big goals. Sammi is sitting on the edge of something very special. Just remember I told you so.

Bee Cave:

High School Training: Taylor Main– Taylor is a standout student, who doesn’t just go through the motions of each drill but tries to understand why we are doing each one and puts those lessons into his technique. He is constantly asking for feedback and consistently works hard at every practice. Keep up the great work!

TAGS:Maggie Taylor – Maggie has a tremendous amount of talent & has been leading lanes, going on the fastest intervals, and honing her butterfly.  At the UT meet this past month, Maggie was close to getting TAGS cuts and will try again this month at the next UT meet as well as at COR.  Maggie is a ‘racer’ and always steps up to meet challenges. Way to go Maggie and keep it up! I see (individual) TAGS cuts in your near future!

Senior:Lisa Dunlap– Lisa’s training in the pool has gone to a new level. She is challenging herself to things she has never done before. Recently she decided to swim the 500 freestyle in this past weekend’s meet. For most it is an intimidating event, she went out there with confidence and owned that race. Lisa held even splits to go a 6:16 in her first time in the event. Looks like she might have a future in this event. She is steadily rising to one of our group leaders in the pool. At times she sets her mind to beat someone during practice, and executes it. Her determination and high energy attitude has coaches’  eyes opening wide. Keep up the great work Lisa! Can’t wait to see what you can do during championship season!

Sectional:Jessica Conrad– Jessica’s training has gone to a whole new level of consistency as she works hard toward Junior National cuts. She started off the season at the past UT meet by making some nice improvements in her butterfly and has proven to be quite competitive on our ‘Friday Night Lights’ stand up racing sets on Fridays!  Jessica has a great amount of ‘upside’ and is just now starting to see how her consistent training can help her reach her goals.  Congrats on being named Swimmer of the Month and keep up the good work!

 

National Group:Zach Thomas– Zach has had a super start to his season with very strong training in September and October and that is showing in his meet performances. Zach has improved in all phases from technique and strength, to attendance, and overall training toughness and it has been really fun to watch him take his swimming to new levels. Zach does a great job academically and is truly an embodiment of the phrase “student-athlete”. The entire National Group has taken notice of Zach taking his swimming to new levels and we are all proud of him super signs as he points to Junior Nationals in Orlando this March. Great job Zach…keep it up!

Thanks for being a part of Nitro and we’ll see you at the pools! Coach Mike

 

Coach’s Note + 7th college commitment

We’ve added two more meets to our meet calendar to meet the needs of the groups and have another college commitment to announce…

1.       Nitro Turkey Trot meet —  will be held at Nitro Swimming Bee Cave, it will be open to Bronze and Silver kiddos, and also our more experienced Technique and Fitness swimmers – (those who have some meet experience) and it will be sanctioned, which means the times will count on the USA Swimming data base. Meet will be Saturday, Nov 17^th. You have your choice to attend either session 1 (1:30 warm up, 2:30PM start) or Session 2 (4:30 warm up, 5:00PM start). We will close a session out once we reach 160 kiddos. Quick turnaround on this meet, with a registration deadline of 11:59PM THIS SATURDAY NIGHT, Nov 3^rd.

2.       San Antonio (Alamo Area Aquatics Assoc) “BB and Under” meet, Dec 15-16^th. This means that to swim in this meet, a swimmer cannot have an “A” time or better in the event. Go to www.usaswimming.org and click on time standards to better understand how they work. If your swimmer doesn’t yet have an official “A” time in the event, then OK to enter that event! That is why it is called BB and Under — as the time standards begin with “B”, then as the athlete gets faster, they achieve “BB” times. Still faster, some get to the “A” level. From there, it progresses to “AA,”  “AAA,” and even “AAAA” which is quite a big accomplishment. This meet is open to any of our groups who don’t mind driving about an hour and a half for a meet. Great facilities, friendly team.

3.       We will be adding a Nitro at the Races meet probably on that same Saturday, Dec 15^th – for our less experienced swimmers in Intro, Bronze, and Technique and Fitness groups. Not a sanctioned meet, coaches will be the starters, and more info will be coming.

4.       That’s it for now – except Nitro’s 7th college commitment: Christina Jonsson (known affectionately as “CJ”) will be taking her swimming talents to the University of San Diego next fall!! Congrats CJ!!

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

Coach’s Note + SOW 10/29/2012

Hi All — two points then Swimmers of the Week!!

1. I was at the US Olympic Training Center Thur-Sunday in Colorado Springs attending a USA Swimming National Age Group Coaches Summit. There are approximately 2800 USA Swimming clubs in the country, and they selected only 40 coaches to attend the conference. I picked up a lot of great information that I will be sharing with the coaches to pass along to our kiddos. It was time very well spent!

2. Nitro Swimming had two more college commitments in the last few days — I pasted the following from Tim’s email:

 

Congratulations to Mackenzie Franklin and her family on her commitment to be a student-athlete atYale University! Mackenzie is the epitome of the phrase “student-athlete” and did a great job on her recruiting process as well as on all of her trips. Her commitment to be a Bulldog at Yale is a huge credit to her great work ethic…both in the classroom and in the pool. Mack takes care of her business and at the same time is becoming a true leader for our team in her senior year. Way to go Mack!!! Mackenzie committed to Yale around 8:30 pm last night—then at approx 9:00 pm more great news came in as…

 

Congratulations toTrent Jackson and his family on his commitment to be a student-athlete at the University of Notre Dame! Another amazing choice both on the academic and athletic front and Trent will be a part of the first Notre Dame class to compete in the ACC! Trent was very diligent in his recruiting process and did a super job on all of his trips. Trent has incredible discipline and work ethic in and out of the pool and will be a great fit with the Notre Dame program. Congratulations Trent on becoming a member of the Fighting Irish!

Swimmers of the Week for October 22^nd – 27^th:

Intro to Nitro

Cedar Park:Luka Herceg & Fiona Graves– This weekend Fiona and Luka attended their first away swim meet with Nitro!  Each of them did a fantastic job!  Overcoming a few nervous hurdles along the way they each made time improvements.  Luka brought his costume for the parade and had a few coaches comment on his great diving skills!  Fiona was making friends with all the swimmers and learning the ropes of how swim meets work.  I am very proud of both of you, looking forward to the next meet with you guys!

Bee Cave:Ella Forshee – Ella earned this award through her excellent work ethic. She is one who is always trying her hardest to excel and exceed expectations. Ella actively listens at each practice soaking in everything being taught. She constantly has a smile on her face and is happy to be at the pool and seems excited to learn something new. Keep up the great work!

Bronze

Cedar Park:Tatyana Volobouev– She was on top of everything this weekend, she knew when to head over to the ready bench, checked in with coaches after her races and her positive energy kept her teammate smiling the whole weekend!  Always ready for a race Tatyana, had good swims and found a few new things to work on before her next meet.  Congratulations Tatyana!

Bee Cave:Jennifer Bui– Jenny has been a tremendous leader this week.  She showed eagerness and readiness in leading the lane, while also exceeding my expectations in the new drills the group learned.  Jenny was more than willing to help her teammates with technique and interval review.  We look forward to her continuing to boost the group while we start harder practices that will require lots of enthusiasm.  Thanks Jenny!

Technique and Fitness

Cedar Park:Blakely Calderone & James Wang – Blakely had some amazing swimming this week.  Especially in her kicking.  We did a lot of kicking, working on proper head position and she looked amazing.  James had a great butterfly day.  His arms were totally clearing the water.  Nothing but air.  Great job you two, thanks for being a part of NITRO, and we’ll see you at the pool.

Bee Cave:Luke Taylor– Luke had an outstanding meet in Bee Cave at Nitro Day at the Races. His performance is directly related to his hard work in the pool during the week. Every time a change is directed, an immediate feedback is asked by Luke. He is constantly trying to perfect all of his strokes. Keep up the great work Luke!

Silver

Cedar Park:Maja Milanovic– Maja has come a long way since the beginning of the season.  At the end of every practice she asks what she needs to work on and listens when given constructive criticism.  Both of these traits are the reason she has shown improvement and will continue to improve.  Keep it up Maja!!!

Bee Cave: Sydney Sears– This last week Sydney has really stepped up her training, working very hard on her breaststroke she separated herself from the silver group and became a leader not only for the rest of Silver 2 but for all of the Silver Groups at BEE CAVE. It’s hard not to notice when you have other coaches pointing out the improvement and the fact that she was leading a set of 50s by half a length! I can’t wait to see her swim at Duel in the pool.

 

Advanced Silver

Cedar Park:Julia Roberto– She has risen to the challenge multiple times this week during long distance sets. It might be her new event! Great job Julia and keep up the good work!

Bee Cave:Olivia Mazzei– Olivia gives every practice her all.  She remains engaged the whole time and demonstrates her commitment and respect for the sport each time she is in the water.  As an adult looking back on what it was like to be 9 years old, I frequently marvel at Olivia’s attitude and outlook.  To believe in your purpose at such a young age can be incredibly powerful and can help to reenforce a culture of hard work and determination we look for in Adv. Silver.  At the same time, it is just as obvious how much Olivia enjoys being here.  I never see her without a smile on her face even when she is exhausted after a workout.  Keep up the great work Olivia!

Gold

Cedar Park: Zach Matula– Zach has been having a great week of training, which has included some much needed kicking with shoes for him. But on top of that he traveled to the Woodlands Meet this weekend with his younger sister, and was an essential role model helping the younger swimmers understand how to get to their blocks. Good job Zach, way to set a great example.

Bee Cave: Brian Li– Quietly Brian has been chewing up the yards with great focus on his turns and stroke technique, I’ve never seen him get out of a set or therefore a practice for any reason, he always knows what the set is, the interval and his own send off, what the focus of the set will be, and does his very best regardless of any possible distractions. His work on the IM this week was outstanding.

Thanks for being part of Nitro Swimming! See you at the pools! Coach Mike

Coach’s Note: 10/20/12

Coach’s Note – Heading into the Weekend!!

1.       Quick Housekeeping points: A) No bandaids/gum in or around pools. They create havoc for the pumps/filters. B) Swimmers – please do a quick rinse prior to entering the pool. It is the #1 thing we can do to keep the water and air quality great – especially with the colder weather coming. C) I normally don’t post lost item messages, but a Nitro parka with the name Julia embroidered on it is missing. It is possible it went home from the UT meet with someone else. Please check to see if you have it. If you do, email me. Thanks.

2.       Speaking of Parkas — lots of swimmers like to wear a team parka to help keep them warm to and from the pool and also at the swim meets. If interested in purchasing a Nitro team parka, go to our team web page and click on the D & J Sports link on the right side part way down the page. They have parkas, and they do the embroidering of the cool Nitro N on the back.

3.       New Fall Nitro team tshirts should be at the pools at the start of this next week. All swimmers will be receiving one as part of their registration – so look for them this next week. I am a tshirt freak!

4.       We’re a little late with the ribbons from the Nitro at the Races meet earlier this month—Sorry!!! We have most of them completed and will begin handing them out as early as today’s practices, and all next week. We ran out of ribbons, miscalculated how many we needed, and have a rush order to get more in by mid week, so the remaining ribbons will be in the hands of your swimmer by end of the upcoming week.

5.       If interested in sporting the Nitro N on your car, ask for a free Nitro car decal from either front desk. Remember: No road raging!! Drive Friendly!!

6.       Meet schedule will be updated this weekend to add a few. Also – very close to completing group monthly calendars, so you will be able to click on your swimmer’s group and see the month at a glance including weekly practice focus and relevant deadlines/meet sign ups, etc.

8.     Three college signings in three days: Bridget Boushka will be swimming with the Stanford Cardinal next season!! Way to go Bridget! Rachel Hobbins will be taking her swimming talents to the University of Houston — Go Cougars and congratulations Rachel! Nitro’s third signing in three days was Will Licon, who will be making the long global trek all the way to to MLK and Trinity to swim with the University of Texas Longhorns! There is a great article on Will’s decision linked right here: http://swimswam.com/2012/10/texas-gets-verbal-from-jr-national-teamer-will-licon/

 

 

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