Head Coach: Jeff Ward

Coach Jeff comes to Bluefish with over 40 years of experience in athletics. His college swim coaching career started at West Point, as an assistant to the men's program. He then went on to be the head coach of the women’s team at Columbia. At the club level, he was head coach of the Hanover Swim Team and the West Point Swim Club. He has worked extensively with swimmers at all levels from beginners to national champions.

His administrative experience includes 14 years as the athletic director at Bowdoin after serving as the assistant AD at Brown. He was also Chief Program Officer at Asphalt Green where he supervised the AGUA swim program and helped develop it into a USA Swimming Gold Medal program, the top distinction in USA Swimming. As an administrator and consultant, he has developed and led programing in a wide variety of areas including leadership, college recruiting, and inclusion.

Jeff is the lead coach for the bronze, silver, gold, and nationals groups.

Lead Coach for White and Mini Makos: Jem Bullock

Jem grew up on Bainbridge Island, Washington, where he started swimming competitively at the age of 7. He participated in both club and high school swimming and went on to swim at Bates College. At Bates, he served as the captain of the swimming and diving team and the club water polo team and helped lead the swim and dive team to their best conference finish ever.

Jem brings a broad background of coaching from his four years at Suffield Academy where he was the head swim coach for two years. Jem takes inspiration from his former coaches to make practices interesting and challenging. Jem has coached swimmers to NEPSAC Division I Championships, All-American performances, and many personal bests.

Jem likes to keep busy with triathlon training, playing water polo, and exploring all the outdoor activities Maine has to offer. 

Lead Coach for Green: Catherine Peterson

 

Catherine grew up in Maryland where she started swimming at her community summer team at the age of 10. She competed at the club, high school, and college levels. During her time at Bates College, she achieved top-10 performances in the 50 and 100 breaststroke at the NESCAC Championships.

With over a decade of coaching experience, Catherine’s journey began in high school as an assistant coach for the 10U group at Machine Aquatics. In college, she led her Maryland summer league team to a Division B championship as head coach. Most recently, she worked with the University of Denver Hilltoppers, coaching both their Senior I and Toppers (8U) groups.

Now back in Maine, Catherine is thrilled to join Bluefish and share her expertise and enthusiasm for the sport!

Email: [email protected]

Lead Coach for Blue: Ava Emery

Ava has always been a water lover and started swimming with the Hurricane Swim Club in Machias, ME when she was 8 years old. She grew up competing at both the club and high-school level and then spent her summers in Portland swimming under the Southern Maine Aquatic Club (SMAC) banner.

After completing her club career, Ava continued swimming by competing at the NCAA level for the Husson University Eagles. “I love swimming because of what I have learned from it both in and out of the pool and I hope that is something that I can bring to the kids through my coaching! Excited to be at Bluefish!”

Email:  [email protected]

Assistant Coach: Chris Drake

Assistant Coach: Kai Nault 

Assistant Coach: Peyton Tran