Courtesy: Sarah Weiler
At Ft. Liberty, NC nestled between Airborne Soldiers jumping out of airplanes and the day-to-day grind of military life, there is a hidden community with a passion for swimming. Ft. Liberty is the only Morale, Welfare, and Recreation (MWR) program that runs a competitive USA Swimming program. A group of determined coaches and swimmers share not just a love for the water, but also a deep bond forged through countless hours of training and competition.
The team is so popular with families that there is always a waiting list to join the team. With only a four-lane pool for practice space, the coaches do everything they can to give the most possible swimmers an opportunity to join the team. The Ft. Liberty Fighting Fish practice five days a week at on-post pools. The skill levels of the swimmers range from just starting out in competitive swimming all the way up to time standards meets. Two swimmers on the team, Baylor Weiler and Ryder LaDelle, competed in Speedo Sectional meets with goals of Futures and Junior National time cuts.
This team provides a unique opportunity for Military Kids to just keep swimming. In a town of over 200,000 residents, the only non-high school swim team available is The Fish
When Baylor Weiler’s dad was stationed at Ft. Liberty Baylor had been training for years with Kentucky Aquatics in Lexington, KY. The move to Ft. Liberty when he was 14 left a question mark about his swimming goals. Raleigh, NC had nationally ranked swim clubs but was too far away from Ft. Liberty to train every day. The Ft. Liberty Fighting Fish has given Baylor and his teammates the opportunity to swim and race at their highest skill level.
The team is coached by Kate LaDella and Carianne Garner. Coach Carianne also works with the Wounded Warriors Swim Team. The coaches working within the MWR system go above and beyond to provide the highest level of training, competition and motivation to the team. This past season, after lots of red tape cutting, a records board was added to the pool deck. The coaches are building a very unique swim team and keeping in mind the challenges of military life on both swimmers and coaches. Most swimmers and coaches will only be stationed at Ft. Liberty for a short time and move on to the next duty station. While they are here at Ft. Liberty, both swimmers and coaches have the unique opportunity to be on a swim team sponsored by the ARMY MWR.
Awesome work! Go Army, Sink Navy!
I grew up swimming with ft belvoir sharks swim team. Amazing experience. Most fun was the Military Invitational swim meet at USNA. Arch rivals were the quantico devil dolphins. Even got to swim against Jeff rouse. Fun times.