Give the Gift of Water Safety with Year-Round Swim Instruction
Article by Lisa Valentine
Photography by Provided
Originally published in Franklin Lifestyle
While the weather may be getting colder with winter just around the corner, there has never a better time to make sure the kids in your life know the importance of water safety. Rather than waiting until next summer to enroll children in swim lessons, give them a chance to escape the cold and swim inside, while also helping them get a jump start to be prepared for when the warm weather rolls around.
“We believe that swim lessons should be offered year-round because it helps our students maintain and improve their swimming skills and knowledge of water safety,” says Lincoln Walden, owner of Goldfish Swim School – Franklin.
As a childhood swimmer who went on to swim competitively at Southern Methodist University, Walden has a passion for the water, and as a father of three boys who have all grown up taking swim lessons, he knows the importance of water safety for kids. “Drowning is the number one cause of injury-related death in children ages one to four and the second leading cause for ages five to 14,” shares Walden. “One of the best ways to protect your children against drowning is to improve comfort level in the water and strengthen swimming capabilities through swim lessons, which can reduce the risk of drowning by 88%.”
While living in Chicago, his sons—now 14, 12, and 7—started swim lessons at the Goldfish Swim School location in downtown Chicago and when their family saw how much fun the boys were having, while also receiving a strong swimming foundation, they knew it was something they wanted to be a part of in a bigger way. After seeing a huge demand and need for this type of swim instruction in middle Tennessee, Walden and his family made the move to Franklin to start their own franchise in May of 2019.
With year-round swim lessons for children starting as young as four months old, Goldfish Swim School specializes in classes for infants and toddlers, offering lessons for kids up to 12 years old. Through repetition and a well-developed curriculum, they make sure that children feel comfortable in the water and are equipped with the skills needed to keep them safe, bringing a peace of mind like no other to parents.
“Goldfish Swim School lessons help increase muscle memory by practicing basic techniques for kids to use during a water emergency – such as the crab walk, properly getting in and out of the pool, going under water, rolling on their back, treading water, learning different strokes, etc.,” explains Walden. And while their top priority is to keep kids safe, their methods focus on “teaching swim and safety skills while building character through guided play.”
Shout Out Awards
The team at Goldfish Swim School – Franklin is all about encouraging children and celebrating their accomplishments and progression in the water, but the franchise also places great importance on honoring their team of instructors for the incredible and potentially life-saving work they do. “The Shout Out Award is how we celebrate our staff for going above and beyond to provide a Golden Experience for all of our swimmers,” shares Walden. “We believe in celebrating our students, but we also want to encourage our staff by calling out their achievements. Shout Out Awards are just one way we let our staff know that we see and appreciate the hard work they do each and every day. Our team is responsible for teaching children a life-saving skill, and we want to make sure they understand how important the work they do is.” GoldfishSwimSchool.com/franklin
