Water Mill Beach Club Lifeguard Earns Redemption at USLA Nationals

A little more than three months ago, Barry Moore was still recovering from a long bout of being in agonizing pain.

He also had an agonizing decision to make.

Monday through Friday, Moore, 62, works in the financial industry, for E-Trade and Morgan Stanley. But on summer weekends, he makes the long trek from his home in Rockville Centre to work as a lifeguard at the Water Mill Beach Club.

Moore, a Hampton Bays High School graduate, has been lifeguarding for more than 40 years, originally finding his passion for the job while growing up in Hampton Bays. He first took the ocean lifeguard test in 1980 and worked for many years for Southampton Town, at beaches like Ponquogue, Tiana and Scott Cameron. He’s been scanning the shore at Water Mill Beach Club for 20 years, sticking with the job for simple reasons — he loves how it keeps him in shape, and he loves the beach.

Moore was a standout athlete during his high school years, and went on to play baseball in college and even, for a time, professionally. As he’s grown older, his desire to compete has not waned, and last year, he found a perfect outlet for it — the United States Lifesaving Association National Championships.

Along with the rest of the Hampton Lifeguard Association Team — which is made up mostly of East Hampton Town guards but also includes individuals from other beaches and agencies on the East End — Moore made the trip to Hermosa Beach, California, last year. That trip took a bad turn when Moore suffered a severe shoulder injury while competing in beach flags, a high-octane event where lifeguards have to sprint across the sand and then dive to grab small rubber tubes inserted into the sand, where there is always one less than the number of lifeguards, a kind of musical chairs. While he was diving for a flag, another lifeguard landed on Moore and crushed his shoulder, landing him in a California hospital. He not only dislocated the shoulder but also chipped off a bone fragment, leaving him in immense pain for seven months, he said.

It would have been understandable if Moore had decided to stay home from USLA Nationals this year, and perhaps forever going forward. But the competitor in him couldn’t allow that.

After some back and forth, Moore ultimately decided to take his chances in the sand again in Virginia Beach last week, and it paid off — he won the beach flags event in the men’s 60-to-64-year-old age group, becoming a national champion and earning the redemption he was seeking.

“It was a very good feeling,” Moore said of the win.

He spoke about why he decided to take what many considered a risk — and go against the advice of several friends and family members — and compete in the tournament again.

“It’s all human nature,” he said. “You want to prove something to yourself. It was a personal challenge for me to achieve. I kind of wanted to take care of business.”

Moore said it was only in the last three months that he even entertained the possibility of competing.

“I didn’t think I was going to do it, but I was getting stronger and I said, wait a minute, I think I might be able to do this,” he said. “Then I was questioning myself again, because there are a lot of other things I want to still be able to do in my 60s and 70s, and I thought, do I take this chance and potentially do something really bad?”

Moore is no stranger to pushing his body to the limits. He’s endured six knee surgeries — achieving symmetry with three on each knee — and while he did not require surgery on his shoulder, it has joined the ranks of battle-tested limbs and joints on his body. Ultimately, the thrill of competing, the camaraderie that comes from being part of the HLA team, and the rewarding experience of being part of a national event with like-minded individuals was too hard for Moore to pass up.

He’ll be back next year, he said, not only looking to defend his title in beach flags, but finish strong in other events as well. He also took home a third-place medal in the age group run-swim-run, in addition to his beach flags win, and is already setting his sights on improving his time and performance in that event as well.

He expressed his gratitude and appreciation for the HLA team, led by East Hampton Town Chief Lifeguard John Ryan Jr., as well as for Sean Crowley, one of the chiefs of Southampton Town Lifeguards. Crowley and Moore have been friends for years, and Moore said Crowley encouraged him to compete at nationals when many others were counseling him to play it safe.

“It’s so inspiring to see so many people doing all of these events,” he said of the Nationals experience. “I have to give thanks to Water Mill Beach Club for sponsoring me, and thanks to the HLA team, Johnny Ryan and everyone else, for letting me get in there and give it a try.”