Swim Lessons In/near Danville

Little Dipper Swim School has a FANTASTIC mom & me class! I have tried lessons at several different places, and none have compared to Little Dipper. Check them out at www.littledipperswimschoo.com

We have been going to Sue's Swim School in Alamo for several years. They do not throw the kids in with cloths on, but they do have a very business-like approach, with the belief that it is most important to teach water safety. My son just turned 4 this summer and he can swim 2 laps across a large, public size, pool. I would highly recommend Sue's if your goal is not just familiarity with the water, but to actually get your child to swim. That being said, they are only open April through September so you would have to wait about 6 months to start. However, by then your son would be at a better age to start "real" swim lessons.

My daughter took swim this summer and is again this fall at Dublin Swim Academy. She had a blast! She's 2 1/2 but there are lots of infants that go there as well. If you can go Thursday mornings, Andrew, the director there, teaches and he is GREAT! It's an indoor pool that's heated to 92 degrees and the parent goes in with the child.

I know this is an old post but I saw it when I searching for Little Dipper web site to get their session schedule for 2011.I live in Danville and we have tried swim schools in the area.. I felt like I was wasting my money as my kids learned zip... A good friend of mine in Martinez told me to try Little Dippers. They had all four of their kids attend there and she herself used to attend as a child. So we signed up.. they have long sessions so we were able to know what our schedule would be like and plan around it, also not having to worry about paying monthly we could pay up front (makes it so easy), we were able to stay at our time for over a year as we can roll over session to session. I love this as a mom to three kids under the age of 9 as I was able to plan everything around it. We only changed times as my oldest daughter's school schedule changed. We e-mailed a request in and was placed in a new class not even 5 min later. They have EXCELLENT customer service. I have had my kids enrolled into other sports and it is so hard to reach anyone in the office. At karate it takes about a week for answers. Little Dippers responds to e-mails as they come in right away and anytime of day. I have e-mailed in on a Wednesday night at 9pm and got a response back. We love this program and have so much good things to say. All of their teachers are warm but firm when needed. My kids have progressed and we get compliments from other parents at our community pool all the time. Go to Little Dippers it is worth the drive to Walnut Creek..

I agree Little Dipper Swim School is the BEST! We have been enrolled there for the past 4 years with all three of my kids and LOVE it! They are celebrating their 30th year in business this year. We send all our friends there and hear only wonderful things!

K. D

Little Dippers is great and so is Sherman Swim School which has been around forever! Sherman has been great for our 3 1/2 year old - they really incorporate play into the learning.

I just wanted to warn you about Sue's Swim School. My son was enrolled when he was 18 months old. I was all for the more aggressive approach to water safety if, god forbid, he ever fell in a pool. We went to the mommy and me classes to start. Next session of classes was him in the water without me and with an instructor. My son has always LOVED the water but when we'd come to class, he would get very frightened and resistant. Sue SCARED him and she wasn't even his teacher. They were very forceful with shoving his head in the water, even if he was crying and not ready. I was told this was something he needed to get over because this class was going to save his life one day. I always had this terrible feeling in my gut, like I was making a mistake but I thought Sue knew better than I when it came to water safety. So each time my son grabbed on to me and begged me not to let go of him, and then I reassured him everything was alright and he NEEDS to get into the water, I later felt I lost his little trust in me.

The final straw was when my son's instructor was squeezing and forcing his head and neck so hard to go underwater (he was crying so hard) that he had BURN marks like hickies on the right side of his neck from her fingers. I asked her what happened and the instructor said she didn't do it. That they were there before he got into the pool. I couldn't believe it had happened at all but that she didn't even take responsibility for it. I spoke with Sue's husband and he said he'd have a talk with her so she wouldn't do it again. And if I liked, they give me a different instructor. WHAT????? I declined to return. My son who was once so excited to see a pool and jump in, was afraid of them for over a year.

I've never been one to take a stand on something like this but I really wanted to warn you. Just check it out first. We now go to Splash Swim School in San Ramon and it's awesome! We started with the mommy and me classes again to get him comfortable in the water. My son is swimming by himself now and there is no forcing. It's only been a couple of months since we enrolled. They are patient and kind. He was timid the first day (because of his previous lessons at Sue's) but then had a great time learning. Good luck.

J.,

We completed the ISR program through All Star Academy of Danville--www.allstarswimschool.com--with our 22 month old this summer and it was amazing. After a year in mommy and me classes at Splash, Hayley loved the water, but wasn't learning anything about water safety or how to swim. The ISR program is intense, ten minute private lessons five days a week, but after seven weeks, she was swimming and most important, water safe (although you'd still of course never intentionally leave her alone in the water). She is now in stroke lessons there once a week and learning side breathing. It really is an amazing program and well worth the time and money. When she was in class, there were seven month old twins right before her--they take kids as early as six months. Good luck!