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CP Bluefish Swimmers Enjoyed Summer of Fun, Dual Meet Wins
Bill Alden
After coaching the Community Park Bluefish swimming team to the Division I title this summer in the Princeton Area Swimming and Diving Association (PASDA) regular season, Matt Hand could've been disap- pointed by his team's showing in the PASDA championship meet.
Shorthanded due to many swimmers being off on family vacations, the Bluefish struggled to a last place finish in the PASDA meet, which was held on July 29 at Rutgers University.
But in reflecting on his squad's performance in the meet, Hand wasn't perturbed a bit. "It was a case of where we had about half of our swimmers, they go through the season and then head for the beach," said Hand with a smile.
"Whether we win or lose the team comes together afterwards. They all have smiles, they all have a good time. Everybody is happy and excited to be a part of something."
For Hand, who has been part of the Bluefish as either a swimmer or coach for more than 10 years, the whole point of the program is having fun.
"I've been coming here summer after summer, I started when I was eight," recalled Hand, a former star swimmer at Princeton High who is entering his senior year at the University of Pennsylvania.
"It's just fun to come out here and watch the kids improve and have fun out there. The kids are doing this for enjoyment and my job is to make them enjoy it. I think our staff does a pretty good job of that. Swimming is the kind of sport that you have to enjoy in order to be good at it."
Hand's positive approach has clearly gotten through to his swimmers. "It's really fun because the whole team hangs out and we play tag and eat pizza together," said Katie Matheson , a Princeton resident who won the Division I girls' 10-and-under 25-yard freestyle in 13.68, 25-yard breaststroke (17.57) and 25-yard butterfly (14.53) at the PASDA championship meet. "It was really a great season. I just tried to do my best, I really like racing."
Hannah Matheson, 8, concurred with her older sister. "It was really fun to be swimming this summer, a lot of my friends were here and we had a lot of fun together," added the younger Matheson, who took first in the Division I girls' eight-and-under 25-yard breaststroke in 21.34 and second in both the 25-yard freestyle (15.80) and 25-yard butterfly (17.10).
Another Bluefish swimmer who had fun during the season and at the PASDA meet was Pete Hand, Matt's younger brother and a mainstay of the PHS boys' swim team, which was second in the state the last two seasons. Hand took first in the Division I boys' 17-and -under 50 yard breaststroke in 28.77 and won the 100-yard individual medley (56.99) at the PASDA meet.
"I don't think Pete lost a medley race all season," said the elder Hand. "He really did well this summer. For him and other kids who swim in clubs year-round, the summer season is kind of a break."
The Bluefish did mix in some key dual meet wins with their fun. "I think a highlight was beating Flemington in the beginning of the season," said Hand.
"I thought that they've always been one of the best teams in the division. It's so far away and we had the majority of our swimmers that day and were able to beat them. I didn't expect that at all. We also beat Hamilton by 20 points, the relays in that meet were tight. They have some really good swimmers and that was very competitive and fun."
Hand was certainly happy to see his squad take the regular season title. "Record- wise, it's great to have an- other trophy in the case," he added.
Yet, in Hand's view, while winning a title is nice,
that isn't what ultimately deter- mines the success of the season.
"We could've been 0-4 and it would've been a great season
for me," asserted Hand. "The kids really loved it this
year. Everyday I left here I felt like I was doing something for
people."
