3 minute read
SWIM
EAT MY Bubbles
RCC Stingrays swim through a fun, fast summer
FLASHES OF BLUE and red crest the water, as a fever of Stingrays warm up. Young, sun-kissed ’Rays share a Sharpie on the pool deck, tattooing teammates’ arms and backs with the battle cry: “Eat My Bubbles!”
Their coach, Noah Hensley, is on the deck at Raleigh Country Club in Raleigh, North Carolina, doublechecking heat sheets and relay team lineups.
“I’m so glad we’re getting to have meets this year,” confides Hensley, noting that last year’s summer swim season was a washout due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “Swimming brings an element of fun, competitiveness and lifelong friendships. Those three things brought me into this sport and kept me going for like 20 years. Now I want these kids to do the same.”
Hensley grew up swimming just outside Orlando, Florida. He followed his brother onto the team at Florida State University, but transferred to North Carolina State University, where he swam for four years. Now age 24, the butterfly and backstroke specialist assists with coaching NC State’s Wolfpack Elite as well as the Raleigh Country Club Stingrays.
“It’s a bit of disparity, coaching very elite athletes and kids just starting the sport,” he says. “I decompress after leaving NC State, then I come here and just have fun.”
Summer coaching has taught him plenty about getting from one end of the pool to the other. “You never stop learning when you’re a coach,” says Hensley. “What I learn from a 6-year-old is equally as important as what I learn from a 24-year-old who thinks they know everything.”
This is Hensley’s second summer with the Stingrays, working alongside co-head coach Makayla Sargent. Both look to longtime swim parents Jim and Ellen Baker for advice, guidance and support. The Bakers have watched Raleigh Country Club’s
Jim and Ellie Baker
aquatics program almost double in size since their daughter Ellie first stood on top of the blocks at age 6 (she’s now 22).
Jim Baker swam in college and wanted to pass his love of the water on to his children. About 10 years ago, he created a big splash when forming the Raleigh Area Country Club Swim League. The ripples continue to traverse the region today.
“It’s not as structured as some of the hardcore swim leagues,” explains Ellen Baker, noting the season runs May through the end of June. “We wanted it to be more relaxed. It’s a compact season, so families can go on vacation for the Fourth of July, and children can go to summer camp. It’s a fun way to meet lots of families.”
The league pits RCC’s Stingrays against teams from Carolina Country Club, The Country Club at Wakefield Plantation, North Ridge Country Club and MacGregor Downs Country Club. Swimmers 4 to 18 years old race against each other in designated age groups across a full discipline of strokes, basic freestyle to the grueling IM — an individual medley that’s one lap each of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle.
Ellen Baker pulls out old team photos of freckled-faced swimmers. “It’s fun to watch the children grow up,” she says. “To see them start out little bitty and scared to get in the water, and then they’re the first one across the pool, and so excited to get a popsicle, or win a first-place ribbon.”
Hensley is happy to see so many kids bobbing along in his wake.
“Swimming is about safety, but it’s also about a lifestyle,” he says. “People who learn how to swim at a young age will most likely be healthier throughout their lives. It’s also very personable. You can make friends and have a lot of fun. Those are the two biggest things we try to incorporate at RCC.”
Good health and good friends. Two big bubbles few can pop.
— Noah Hensley, Swim Coach at Raleigh Country Club
