For one North Bergen High School senior, being on swim team will not only aid her in applying to college, but has given her self esteem.
“I used to be a shy person,” Rikki Reyes said last week.
Reyes had never competitively swum before joining the high school swimming team during its inaugural season last year. During that season, her time for her “signature stroke” of the butterfly went from 1:43 to around 1:27.
“I think I did pretty good and I got top 10 for the whole county [for girls swimming],” she said. It felt great. I didn’t think I was going to be one of the top 10.”
The girls’ swim team finished fourth overall for the entire county, quite a feat considering that North Bergen High School has never competed in the sport before. While the boys did not place in the top 10, they still had a competitive season.
“Even if someone is in dead last, everyone starts clapping…it’s great sportsmanship.” – David de la Vega
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“It was interesting, the children were eager to participate,” he said. “Most of them, 80 percent of the team, started from scratch. They didn’t necessary have the skill, [but] they had the fortitude to stick it out.”
Motivating teammates
Junior David de la Vega had formally swum last year at the county’s public school, High Tech High School, while attending a vocational program there in conjunction with NBHS. He said at first it was difficult to teach new swimmers at NBHS the many different strokes, but his fellow students learned quickly.
“It’s a really good sport actually,” he said. “It works out every muscle in your body. Even if someone is in dead last, everyone starts clapping: the entire place, the other teams, it doesn’t matter. It’s great sportsmanship.”
Jonathan Galang, also a junior, said he had competed at Ferris High School in Jersey City before moving to North Bergen. He was surprised when he learned the school would now have a team.
“I’m surprised because when we started off, we did kind of bad, [but] as the season ended, we kind of improved,” Galang said. “I’m happy our team is improving.”
Competitive with other schools
North Bergen Mayor and Assistant Superintendent Nicholas Sacco said that they first started looking at a swim team since NBHS seemed to be one of the few without one.
Once members of the Recreation Department were done competing at the township’s outdoor pool for the summer, their only option was to go to some other town.
“Kids were being short-changed by not having this avenue,” Sacco said.
Since the high school does not have an indoor pool, the township and West New York rented the St. Joseph’s of the Palisades pool together at $13,000 per town.
NBHS Director of Athletics Jerry Maietta said that because it is a new program, there will be “bumps along the way,” but that so far it has gone great.
“The kids are enthusiastic,” he said.
Tricia Tirella may be reached at TriciaT@hudsonreporter.com.