Gravar data com hibernate!

Pessoal pq não consigo pegar uma data que está sendo inserida numa string e gravar no firebird com string? Existe algum problema?

[code]2005-03-29 10:39:36,375 DEBUG hibernate.impl.BatcherImpl -> preparing statement
2005-03-29 10:39:36,875 DEBUG hibernate.persister.EntityPersister -> Dehydrating entity: [Amigo#Jo]
2005-03-29 10:39:36,875 DEBUG hibernate.type.StringType -> binding ‘eeeeeeee’ to parameter: 1
2005-03-29 10:39:36,875 DEBUG hibernate.type.StringType -> binding ‘44444444444’ to parameter: 2
2005-03-29 10:39:36,875 DEBUG hibernate.type.StringType -> binding ‘4444444444’ to parameter: 3
2005-03-29 10:39:36,875 DEBUG hibernate.type.StringType -> binding ‘444444444444’ to parameter: 4
2005-03-29 10:39:36,875 DEBUG hibernate.type.StringType -> binding ‘02/02/1999’ to parameter: 5
ERROOOOOOOO
java.lang.IllegalArgumentException
at java.sql.Date.valueOf(Date.java:103)
at org.firebirdsql.jdbc.field.FBDateField.setString(FBDateField.java:78)
at org.firebirdsql.jdbc.AbstractPreparedStatement.setString(AbstractPreparedStatement.java:228)
at net.sf.hibernate.type.StringType.set(StringType.java:26)
at net.sf.hibernate.type.NullableType.nullSafeSet(NullableType.java:48)
at net.sf.hibernate.type.NullableType.nullSafeSet(NullableType.java:35)
at net.sf.hibernate.persister.EntityPersister.dehydrate(EntityPersister.java:387)
at net.sf.hibernate.persister.EntityPersister.insert(EntityPersister.java:460)
at net.sf.hibernate.persister.EntityPersister.insert(EntityPersister.java:436)
at net.sf.hibernate.impl.ScheduledInsertion.execute(ScheduledInsertion.java:37)
at net.sf.hibernate.impl.SessionImpl.execute(SessionImpl.java:2449)
at net.sf.hibernate.impl.SessionImpl.executeAll(SessionImpl.java:2435)
at net.sf.hibernate.impl.SessionImpl.execute(SessionImpl.java:2392)
at net.sf.hibernate.impl.SessionImpl.flush(SessionImpl.java:2261)
at AmigoDAO.insert(AmigoDAO.java:26)
at Controle.Insert(Controle.java:28)
at Lab.JBcadastrarActionPerformed(Lab.java:218)
at Lab.access$400(Lab.java:13)
at Lab$4.actionPerformed(Lab.java:112)
at javax.swing.AbstractButton.fireActionPerformed(AbstractButton.java:1786)
at javax.swing.AbstractButton$ForwardActionEvents.actionPerformed(AbstractButton.java:1839)
at javax.swing.DefaultButtonModel.fireActionPerformed(DefaultButtonModel.java:420)
at javax.swing.JToggleButton$ToggleButtonModel.setPressed(JToggleButton.java:273)
at javax.swing.plaf.basic.BasicButtonListener.mouseReleased(BasicButtonListener.java:245)
at java.awt.Component.processMouseEvent(Component.java:5100)
at java.awt.Component.processEvent(Component.java:4897)
at java.awt.Container.processEvent(Container.java:1569)
at java.awt.Component.dispatchEventImpl(Component.java:3615)
at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:1627)
at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:3477)
at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.retargetMouseEvent(Container.java:3483)
at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.processMouseEvent(Container.java:3198)
at java.awt.LightweightDispatcher.dispatchEvent(Container.java:3128)
at java.awt.Container.dispatchEventImpl(Container.java:1613)
at java.awt.Window.dispatchEventImpl(Window.java:1606)
at java.awt.Component.dispatchEvent(Component.java:3477)
at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:456)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:201)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:151)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:145)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:137)
at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:100)

[/code]