With drowning being the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4, and the second leading cause for children ages 5 to 14, Aqua-Tots believes that learning to swim at a young age is vital for those living in a coastal community. Aqua-Tots Swim Schools is celebrating its opening of its new La Mesa location with its grand opening scheduled for May 6 from 3-5 p.m., with local vendor, promotions, and giveaways.
Aqua-Tots owner Shantell Dabish said she opened the second location because families from the Otay Ranch site were asking for a location in East County.
“We are teaching kids how to swim to save lives,” she said. “We do this with our motto, ‘Safety First, Fun Second.’ We are a curriculum-based school. We cover 30 to 40 skills per class. We are a four to two ratio. Our pool is completely indoors. It is heated. The atmosphere is heated at 88 degrees, our pool temperature is 91, so it is a nice and warm environment for all of our young ones.”
Dabish said the curriculum is what sets Aqua-Tots apart.
“It is based on repetition because kids learn best with repetition,” she said. “We are open six days a week here in La Mesa, and Otay Ranch is open seven days a week. We have early morning classes and afternoon classes, and we are taking enrollments for both locations.”
As far as students, Dabish said it starts as early as four month-old but teaches all the way to adults,” she said. “We specialize mostly with children, about four-months to 12 years old is our average age.”
Swimming should be an essential sport, said Dabish.
“Every child should learn how to swim before they go on to any other type of sport because it is the only sport that can save their life,” she said. “It is essential for kids to understand those safety requirements and learn what to do if they come into a pool of water. What we do is a swim…roll…swim method. They jump into the pool, turn their eyes to that wall, then get out using their whole body. We get them used to breath control. That is very important because that can save their lives.”
Dabish said its teaching is designed where each level builds off each other until they become independent swimmers, which is by the end of Level 6.
“By the end of Level 6, they will understand their freestyle, side breath, sidestroke, front stroke, and backstroke. If they want to stay on into our levels seven and eight, we do start to teach competitive strokes like the butterfly, the flip turns, and control techniques. After Level 8, we have a swim club, where kids work on one stroke a week. We focus on getting their timing down on the distance of the pool, not the width, so they get more laps in, getting them ready for team competition material. We also give introductions to water polo and some body conditioning.”
The La Mesa facility is a 7,000 feet location. The pool is 64 feet long. It has 20 swimming zones, 14 changing rooms.
“The pool is surrounded by glass walls, so kids will swim comfortably in a heated environment while parents are in an air-conditioned environment. We have a coffee bar, free Wifi, and we make it convenient with amenities like blow dryers, lotions, Q-Tip’s, hair ties, swimsuit dryers, community showers, bodywash shampoo, accessible to them, as well as 14 changing tables installed,” she said.
Levels one and two are parent-taught classes, and parents are very involved.
“Not only are the kids learning the curriculum, but the parents are learning the curriculum,” she said. “We also send out a progress report to show exactly where the child is in the curriculum and what is needed to get to that next level. That way parents are involved by understanding exactly where they are always at in the curriculum. We also give homework so parents can practice those skills, not only in our pool, but in any pool of water. Kids get more comfortable if they get introduced to more pools of water.”
Dabish said the goal is to teach them to be strong independent swimmers, so by the end of Level 6, they can swim in all forms of water.
Dabish said its app is a great tool for parents.
“Usually, most sports do not have a makeup policy. If you lose a class, miss a class, there is no makeup policy. If you cannot make it to class, all we ask is that you go to the app a few hours before, cancel your class, and you can reschedule your makeup class for any time. Those makeups never expire. The app is convenient because you can check in through the app when you walk into the facility. It also gives information about where your child will be in our pool, our instructor. You can change credit card information. You have access to all information at the palm of your hands,” she said.
Dabish said it is important to learn how to swim.
“All children should learn how to swim because we live in the state of California where we are surrounded by all forms of water,” she said. “We have lakes, rivers, oceans, pools. It is an essential sport that will save your life. We feel it is important that everybody gets the education to understand that swim lessons are essential.”
Aqua-Tots Swim School La Mesa is located at 5628 Lake Murray Blvd. in La Mesa. Aqua-Tots Swim School Otay Ranch is located at 2015 Birch Road, Suite 1505, in Chula Vista. For more information, visit www.aqua-tots.com.
