Barb is originally from Mandan, ND where she started swimming in the fifth grade with the Mandan Marlins Swim Club.  She swam for Mandan High School until her freshman year.  Her sophomore year she swam and played basketball in the same season.  She held the 100 Fly school record for one year until Susie Helvig broke it.  She has 30 years coaching experience and the last eight years has been coaching swimming at the club and high school varsity level.  The first part of her coaching career was coaching varsity tennis at the high school level for the Fargo North Spartans.  Her last year as head coach with the Fargo North girls’ tennis team, they won a state team title.          

She loves coaching because "swimmers and divers are fun people and hard workers.  Swimming is a great sport but not an easy sport, so I admire those young people that choose to swim.  I enjoy coaching new skills and watching them improve with every week of practice."      

In her life outside the pool, she is married to a swim coach who retired from teaching after 30 years. They have two adult boys. The oldest competes in cross-fit throughout the year, enlisted with the MN Air Guard, is married, and has a dog named Lewis. Their next dog's name is going to be Clark (Lewis and Clark). Their youngest is about to graduate from college and pursue a career. Both boys competed in multiple sports, including for swimming for Fargo North High School. They both had their father as their coach for their entire 6 years on the team. As a Co-Head Coach for the West Fargo Packers Boys Swim and Dive, Barb competed against them and cheered for them at the same time. This made for some fun conversations at home. 

Natalie was born and raised in Maple Grove, MN. She started swimming at the age of 7 for the New Hope Crystal Plymouth Swim Club and swam there her entire career. During the high school season, she swam for Osseo High School where she was part of the relay team that still holds some school records. After high school she swam for 2 years at MSU-Moorhead and was fortunate to be a part of their 2017 NCAA team. Natalie mainly swam butterfly, backstroke, and distance freestyle. Her favorite event is either the 200 yard butterfly or the 800 meter freestyle. 

Natalie helped coach her former club from 2017-2019 and started coaching with the Flyers in 2022. She is also the assistant coach for the Horace Hawks Girls High School Team. Natalie favorite thing about coaching is seeing her swimmers work hard to reach their goals and make life-long friends along the way. 

In December of 2019 Natalie graduated from NDSU with a Respiratory Care degree and started working at Sanford Children's Hospital as a Respiratory Therapist in February of 2020. In April 2023 she joined the AirMed Flight Team as part of the Neonatal and Pediatric specialty team. She loves the critical thinking skills that working in the medical field requires.

Natalie met her husband, Matt, while working together at the Hulbert Aquatic Center during college and they got married in February of 2023. They currently reside in West Fargo, enjoy traveling, trying new restaurants, and watching movies together. 

Coach Ella was raised in Fargo, ND. She swam for Fargo North High School for 6 years and the FMY Gators for 12 years! Her favorite events to swim were the 500 freestyle and the 50 butterfly. Ella has been part of the Flyers coaching staff since August 2020 and loves coaching along her former coaches, Talia and Barb.

Outside of swimming she is going to school for her bachelor’s degree in accounting. She also works part-time at Bardy Martz & Associates, primarily working on taxes. When she is not working, she enjoys spending time outside, crafting, and spending time with her family, friends, and her kitty Riya.

Holly is originally from Minot, ND where she started swimming for the Minot Swim club when she was 5, almost 6 years old. She got to be on the High School Varsity Swim Team starting in 7th grade where she was mainly a butterflier and IMer throughout her high school swimming career, but she enjoyed trying out all events throughout the seasons. She was the ND State Champion in the 100 Butterfly her sophomore, junior, and senior year. She was the designated butterflier for medley relays (some of which were state champions) and was also a member on the 400 free relays (some of which were state champions). She was named ND Swimmer of the Year her senior year and was inducted to the Minot High Hall of Fame in 2011.  She went to UND on a swimming scholarship where she was still a butterflier and IMer, but added the backstroke to her All-American swims. She was the butterflier on the 200 Medley and 400 Medley National Champion Relays at NCAA Div 2 Nationals in 1999. 

As a kid, she was a swim lessons teacher for her club, and continued this for most of her younger years. She helped coach Minot one summer when home from college. She then helped her good friend Jeff coach Fargo North Girls Swim Team one year when she first moved to Fargo.  She officiated high school swim meets for a couple years after that. In 2019, she started to help coach with the Flyers. 

She loves coaching because she loves swimming! She loves the smell of chlorine and the sound of water.  She loves seeing kids improve throughout the season and the excitement they have when they have good races. She loves seeing kids having fun and forming great friendships with their teammates (some of her closest friends have been her swimming friends that she swam with, and even against!) 

Outside of the pool, Holly ended up transferring from UND to NDSU and graduated with a Doctor of Pharmacy degree. She is a Pharmacist at The Prescription Shop in West Fargo.  Her husband Ryan and her have a son (Dax) and a daughter (Elin). Elin is 8 and started swimming for the Flyers last year. Their pets include a horse and the family dog. They love sports, the lake, snow skiing, and traveling!

Lisa is a West Fargo Swim Team original.  In the summer of 1977 she joined the West Fargo Frogs as the swim team began.  She swam on the team through HS graduation in 1987, with 6 years on the West Fargo Packers team as well.  She stated that she has nothing but incredible memories of her days swimming; this is a sport she has always loved and is grateful for the opportunity to give back in some way.  That opportunity came when her own four kids became swimmers after a “tour of sports”.  Her competitive swimming had a revival a few years ago swimming the last meet in Berger and the first meet in Hulbert.  Now she is much more capable as an official, volunteer, or coach!  It doesn’t matter where, she just likes being around the sport.

Her coaching experience started later than most.  While in college she helped with some HS coaching but didn’t come back to it until about 10 years ago.  She has been a Flyers coach during that time and also the West Fargo Packers Boys Swim and Dive Co-Head Coach with fellow Flyer Coach, Barb Fisher.  She has also had the opportunity to be an assistant coach for Team ND Zone Team for five years and the All-Star team for three years.  

Lisa's favorite thing about coaching is "watching a novice swimmer improve month after month.  Seeing their excitement when they swim a best time, do something legally for the first time, learn a new skill, watching them have fun with their friends, and laughing, lots and lots of laughing with them every day."

Outside of the pool, Lisa and her husband Paul, have been married for nearly 30 years raising four incredible young adults, who have also been swimmers for the Flyers and Packers.  They have had 2 black labs and currently have 2 cats who adopted them.  Her professional life is as a Professor at NDSU in Biological Sciences where she studies discipline-based education research, or in lay terms, she studies how people learn and work to make the classroom a better place for everyone to learn.  She "loves helping developing minds and bodies learn new things."

Sarah is from West Fargo, ND and is a Flyer alum! She started swimming at 6 and continued with the team for 15 years, also swimming for the West Fargo Packers in high school. She has been coaching the Flyers and Packer Girls for 3 years now, starting in 2021. You are likely to find her younger sister, Anna, working in the booth at swim meets, her mom Lisa officiating, and her sister-in-law Natalie coaching alongside her!

Sarah's favorite thing about coaching is watching the new swimmers get excited over new experiences: skills they learned, first swim meet nerves, and the sense of community the kids will feel on the team. Her best friend of over 15 years was made on the L.E. Berger pool deck during her career as a Flyers swimmer!

When not at the pool, Sarah teaches 7th grade science at Liberty Middle School, works as an arborist for the City of West Fargo, and spends most of her free time reading, playing board games, hanging out with her dog and rabbit, or trying out new restaurants in the area. Ask her about her favorite things: frogs, sharks, science, and Avatar!

Coach Kaylee grew up in Minot, ND and started swimming in 2nd grade. During high school she swam for Minot High School and her favorite stroke was breaststroke. Kaylee started coaching with the Flyers in 2021 and enjoys watching athletes accomplish a milestone that they have been working on, like whip kicking on their back – legally. When Coach Kaylee is not on the pool deck coaching you might find her officiating Girls/ Boys High School Swimming and Diving. She loves the atmosphere on the pool deck during meets whether as a coach or an official. She is also serving as the ND LSC board as the secretary. 

Besides coaching, Kaylee works as a Clinical Perfusionist at Sanford Health. When Kaylee is not coaching, she likes to be outside as much as possible when the weather allows, whether it is going for a walk, bike ride, or just sitting outside reading a book. Kaylee also enjoys going to sporting events (she enjoys cheering for UND sports and the Green Bay Packers), concerts, and hanging out with her friends, boyfriend, and most importantly her boyfriend’s dog – Little Bear. 

Coach Matt is a native of Fargo, ND. He started swimming club when he was 10 and was coached by Coach Talia. During high school season he was for the Fargo South Bruins. After high school he attended St. John's University and swam for all 4 years. His specialty was butterfly and backstroke. In addition to swimming, Matt played on the Water Polo club team. 

After college he moved back to Fargo and started coaching with the Fargo Davies Boys Swim and Dive team. He has been one of their assistant coaches for 8 seasons. Matt started coaching with the West Fargo High School Girls Swim and Dive team in 2018 and is currently the Head Coach for the Packers. He started coaching with the WF Flyers in 2021. 

Matt's favorite part of coaching is working with athletes to correct their technique and the excitement they have when they drop time and reach their goals. His favorite race is the 100-yard butterfly. 

Outside of coaching Matt enjoys watching movies, going for walks with his dog Macchiato, and traveling with his wife Meghan. 

Coach EJ was born and raised in West Fargo. She started swimming with the Flyers at age 9 and swam until she graduated high school. During the high school season, she swam with the West Fargo Packers. Her favorite races were the 100 butterfly and the 200 breaststroke.

EJ has been coaching with the Flyers since December 2022 and has loved it! She enjoys learning from her fellow coaches and working with them on the pool deck. She loves watching athletes fall in love with the sport and be proud of themselves for all their hard work.

Off the pool deck EJ is a classroom assistant with Go Beyond Childcare and Preschool. There she helps 3–6-year-olds foster strong connections and develop skills through play and real-world learning. She also volunteers once a week at Cats Cradle Shelter Inc in Fargo.  

At home she enjoys spending time with her family, including an Irish Setter/Golden Retriever named Layla, two chinchillas named Cloud and Yuno, and a Bearded Dragon named Florence.

Coach Maggie is originally from a small town in Minnesota where she swam for the Hwy 12 Waves. Eventually she moved to Mandan, ND, where she swam for Mandan High School and the Marlins club team. She primarily swam the 200 IM and 100 breaststroke. Maggie looks up to the coaches who have taught her over the years, including Jackie Hicks and Ralph Manley.

Maggie began coaching with WFF in the fall of 2023 and has been so happy to be back on deck! She loves seeing athletes feel accomplished and excited to learn a new skill and begin mastering it!

When she is not at the pool, Maggie is a 7th Grade English teacher in Fargo. She also works at the International Music Camp in the summers as an equipment manager and was a camper there for 6 years! Maggie also enjoys spending time outside either biking or working in her garden. You can also find Maggie with her nose in a book, with a yearly goal of beating the number of books she read in the year before.

Coach Jordan grew up in Fargo and I swam competitively for 7 years. She has been coaching for the Flyers for 2 years now. Her favorite event to swim was the 500 freestyle.

When she is not on the pool dech she likes to spend time at the lake and read books.