Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathy Ryan.
Kathy, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My husband Bob and I did not consider ourselves swimmers growing up. We both grew up swimming in lakes, but never learned the four proper strokes. I know them now, but it was a lot of work to learn actual form as an adult. What I ultimately believe led us down the path of opening a swim school in Chicago were a few sleepless nights in 2009 anticipating a family trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina.
I didn’t want to rent a house with a pool, but we were going with another couple, and I was overruled by a vote of three to one. I was terrified at the prospect of our young children running around with an open pool nearby. I mean drowning is the second-leading cause of death among children! We managed to baby-proof the house so no child could get out. Nevertheless, it evoked my strongest fear when our friend’s 4-year-old son fell in. Luckily, my husband was close enough that he managed to jump in quickly and save him, with the only casualty being his cell phone.
After returning home, I became more determined than ever to find a great place for my kids to learn to swim. I needed to arm them with this life-saving skill…and I needed peace of mind. We really did try. But the health club’s times were tough for us and other options were just too cold for my skinny, skinny kids.
Fast forward to the summer, when again we are on a family vacation and with my sister’s children.They were the same age as mine and actually swimming! They were amazing, bobbing up and down in the water, jumping in with no floaties. My sister told me about the incredible program they were enrolled in at Goldfish Swim School in Birmingham, Michigan, and I fell in love with the program. Alas, driving to Michigan for a weekly swim lesson was not even a remote possibility. That’s okay, I thought, I just need to wait for someone to open a swim school in Chicago. I was sure it would be here soon enough.
But the following summer, there were still no swim schools in the city. My husband started watching YouTube videos on teaching swim lessons and produced two pretty impressive swimmers as a result. Still, I held out hope that we would find a great place to take our kids to swim, but they were getting older, and I felt like I was running out of time. I’m happy that my kids will be great swimmers with no form or endurance, just like their parents, but the YouTube DIY method isn’t for everyone.
Finally, in June of 2011 after a particularly painful month of whining and complaints, I felt it was time to get back into the workforce. I told my husband one night on the back porch that I was going to get a job. (He was thrilled incidentally.) Then I told him I wanted to open a Goldfish Swim School in the city. “What do we know about opening and running a swim school?” he replied.
So, after a lot of due diligence, passionate conversations, and trips to Michigan, we began pouring our heart and soul (full-time!) into running this amazing business. Yep, that’s right, my husband too! It has not been easy, and like any small business, we have been crippled with fear at times with worries about our family’s future. I often ask myself, “Who in their right mind would try to build a pool in the city?” But then I look at what we have accomplished: We built a state of the art children’s swim facility that provides the highest quality swim lessons for thousands of children in Chicago.
We have received a tremendous response from the community with our registrations surpassing all of our estimates and an opportunity to offer employment to nearly 50 people to share their love of swimming. I absolutely love talking to families about their passion for swimming, its importance, and benefits for children.
Has it been a smooth road?
The biggest challenges to running a swim school day-to-day stem from managing our staff. The best swim instructors are energetic young people who typically are college students. Their schedules are constantly changing, so we have to work to find a balance between offering consistent instructors to our clients and keeping our best instructors. We have been so lucky to have many of our instructors here since we opened 5 years ago. We are also constantly hiring new staff and training our instructors in our curriculum.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Goldfish Swim School – Roscoe Village and Goldfish Swim School – Wicker Park – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Goldfish Swim School offers Chicago families a bright, warm and fun atmosphere for their children to learn how to swim. Every aspect of our business is designed to make children’s swim lessons fun for them and relaxing for their parents; each of our locations are supplied with amazing staff and instructors trained in our play- and age-based curriculum and facilities designed specifically for high-quality swim lessons. Both of our facilities feature tropical themes, 90-degree pools, family changing rooms and large glass-walled viewing galleries for parents.
The Goldfish program focuses on year-round, perpetual lessons, which allows kids to move up through the levels as they progress, as opposed to a session-based model. We believe this gives kids the opportunity to learn and grow at their own pace and avoid falling behind. Additionally, we understand how busy families are, so we offer flexible scheduling within our perpetual lessons model as well as make-up lessons to help relieve the stress of fitting swimming into their weekly routine.
One of the best aspects of our program is our small class sizes for all age groups — we offer a 4:1 student-to-teacher ratio for our independent group lessons (ages 3-12) and a 6:1 parent/tot-to-teacher ratio for our parent-assisted infant classes (ages 4-35 months). Additionally, we have a special class designed for our two-year-old students who are ready to go in the water independently, without mom or dad, which you don’t find in most other swim programs.
I think Goldfish has built such a community around not only play-based swim lessons and water safety but also with the families who swim here. In a way, I think we’ve changed the swim lessons world in Chicago, raising the bar for other programs in our field and showing families how great swim lessons can be. We truly feel like we’ve become part of the Chicago community over the past 5 years and are so happy to have been able to be part of so many families’ learn-to-swim experience. Also, I’m proud to say Goldfish has become quite the family-affair for me — all of my siblings have opened Goldfish locations across the country!
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I would not change anything. If I had known how risky it was to open a new business and the challenges with opening any small business in the City of Chicago it probably would have prevented us from moving forward, so in this case ignorance was bliss.
Pricing:
- Group Swim Lessons (weekly, 30-minute lessons for children 4 months – 12 years old): $90/month
- Family Swim (open swim times vary by location): $10/person or max. $30/family
- Party: $600
Contact Info:
- Address: Goldfish Swim School – Roscoe Village
2630 W. Bradley Place
Chicago, IL 60618Goldfish Swim School – Wicker Park
1930 W. Hubbard Street
Chicago, IL 60622 - Website: goldfishswimschool.com
- Phone: 773-588-7946(Goldfish Swim School – Roscoe Village)
312-281-7946 (Goldfish Swim School – Wicker Park) - Email: swimroscoevillage@goldfishss.com; swimwickerpark@goldfishss.com
- Instagram: @goldfishswimschool
- Facebook: facebook.com/goldfishroscoevillage; facebook.com/goldfishwickerpark
- Twitter: @goldfishswim
Image Credit:
Birdgirl Photography and Design
Getting in touch: VoyageChicago is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
