By Pat Welter

They are swimming while you are sleeping.

“Good!” Paul Silver yelled in a voice loud enough to pierce through water.

The Marlins of Raleigh swim coach is barking out motivational commands and taking down times at Pullen Park Aquatics center in Raleigh.

“In the United States both North Carolina and Raleigh in particular are two of the bigger hot beds of swimming in the country,” Silver said.

Silver has been coaching swimming for 42 years. The Marlins of Raleigh swim team offers competitive swimming to athletes from the ages of five through high school. Since being formed in the early 2000s, they have had 41 swimmers make the Olympic trials and two make Olympic rosters.

“I had a great experience at the Marlins of Raleigh,” Jesse Ssengonzi said. “I feel like coach Silver was instrumental in instilling drive and dedication.”

Ssengonzi just graduated from the University of Chicago where he holds the division three record in the 100 yard butterfly. He is the latest Marlins of Raleigh (MOR) alumni to make an Olympic roster, only he won’t be swimming for the United States.

“It’s definitely a big dream of mine,” Ssengonzi said. “I feel incredibly blessed,”

Ssengonzi was born in Raleigh, but his parents came to America from Uganda. Ssengonzi lived in Uganda from the ages of nine to eleven before moving back to Cary, NC where he graduated from Green Hope high school.

“All of my extended family lives in Uganda so it’s very family based,” Ssengonzi said. “There’s a lot of strong customs in Uganda, it’s a very entrepreneurial country.”

Before Silver ever coached Ssengonzi, he was getting lessons from his dad Robert, who even started a swim team in Uganda.

“Huge role model for me,” Ssengonzi said. “He always pushed me to try to maximize my potential and give back to my community however I could.”

Jesse and his three siblings, Jethro, Rachel and Rebecca all swam competitively.

“Growing up [our parents] used to talk about you could maybe swim in the Olympics one day,” Jethro Ssengonzi said who swam for University of Marland Baltimore County and is now a grad student studying engineering at NC State.

“Our dad coached us and encouraged us,” Jethro said. “It’s encouraging to see how many things have come to fruition.”

Robert Ssengonzi came to America to get his Doctorate from Penn State. He got a job at a research company in North Carolina which is what brought the family to the Raleigh area.  Jethro credits a lot of their work ethic to him.

“He came from humble beginnings,” Jethro said. “He walked to school with no shoes for the first seven or eight years of his life,”

If only he could see what his family has become.

“He always used to say if you believe you can achieve,” Jethro said.

Robert passed away after a battle with intestinal cancer when Jesse was fifteen.

“It was a tough time while it was happening and after,” Jesse said. “I’d say swimming and having the routine of going to practice and the support system of the Marlins of Raleigh was super instrumental.”

“He was able to come to practice and kind of forget his pain,” Silver said. “While he’d never forget his dad, you need a break from that at some point. His teammates were very supportive,”

At the Paris Olympics Jesse will represent his father’s home country of Uganda and will swim the 100 meter butterfly. He qualified after a world championships meet in February and was officially named to the roster in July.

“The big thing he talked about before he passed was he didn’t want it to hold me back and he wanted me to push forth despite all the circumstances,” Jesse said. “I feel grateful that I’ve hopefully been able to do that.”

Jesse’s mother Joy will be there watching in Paris, he knows his father would be proud.

“The victories we were able to celebrate when he was here were very joyous,” Jesse said. “So I can only imagine at this scale it would be similar.”

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Source: wralsportsfan.com