Hello everyone, I hope you all are enjoying your summer! Hopefully it’s been filled with trips to the beach, backyard bar-b-ques and a nice family trip to Schlitterbahn (I love that place).
The last three months have been crazy for me. The amount swim lessons I have been doing has tripled from last year. Though I really did love being a teacher, I am really glad that I ended up leaving it.
It was always my passion to be an educator and now I get to do it independently of the educational bureaucracy. My personal belief is that the educational system in Texas, as well as many other states, needs to be reformed because it burns out some of the best teachers who really want to make a difference. We truly need to applaud the ones that have been doing it for several decades because it is not easy.
Adults
Though teaching children is something I will always love, one of the most rewarding parts of my job has actually been teaching adults how to swim. I never imagined that so many adults were suffering from some level of aquaphobia before I started this business.
It’s not extreme in most cases, yet very important to address the reasons for individuals who do not feel comfortable in water. This 36 yr old woman (and very sweet I may add) was telling me that she was thrown into a pool by her uncle when she was 5 years old, never came out until someone jumped in to get her, had a near drowning experience and never learned how to swim after that.
She told me that she can be sitting in the shallow part of the pool with no problem, but gets a panic attack if someone so much as splashes her. I had several lessons with her and now she is able to swim without any problem. In many of these similar cases I have found it beneficial to not only teach this person the proper techniques of swimming so that they are confident in their ability but also attempt to talk about and tackle the root cause of their phobia. I guess you could say I have turned into an “aqua-psychologist.”
Group Lessons
Many of my friends who own businesses themselves have suggested that I start offering group lessons. Their reasoning is sound: you can make more money by teaching more individuals in one setting.
Though I have thought about it for some time, unfortunately, it goes against one of the core principals behind starting Feet2Fins. I firmly believe that people best learn how to swim, as well as many other things in life, when they get personalized training. Every person learns things at their own pace and something is lost when you teach something to a group. This is why many students get left behind in school. It isn’t because they are dumb, or unable to learn, but because they are not receiving the information in a way they can personally understand.
I really like the idea of being a private swimming tutor. Many children and adults have come to me after taking many different group classes, having learned virtually nothing in them. Several children have come to me after taking at months of group lessons and do not feel comfortable enough to swim independently.
So, for now, I have no plans of offering group lessons. I am going to try to eschew that idea for as long as I can. I started this company with a clear purpose in mind and its my goal to stick to that.
Its Hot But Enjoy Your Summer
The summers go so quickly so I hope you enjoy the last month we have of it. They are always over before you know it. Make sure you use plenty of sunscreen and stay safe. I cannot believe we are halfway done with 2013. It feels like yesterday we were bringing in the new year. .