Swim America Sioux Falls

We did a few lessons at swim America. They were highly recommended. My kids spent most of their time bobbing. There are too many kids to instructors. I once timed to see how much one on one my kids were getting it was 5 minutes per lesson. I couldn't justify spending 75.00 for 40 minutes of lessons. Like I said my kids spent most of their time bobbing and blowing bubbles. I want to them actually swim. We have done one lesson at EmBe so far and we've done more in one lesson than we did in all our sessions at SA. Also staff could be a little more friendly and welcoming

My son had a horrible experience at Swim America. He's 4 and was in the preschool class with Madalyn. He's had many other preschool swim courses at Sanford Wellness, but is hesitant putting his head under the water. His previous teacher at Sanford Wellness was kind with him and eased him into the water. With Madalyn at Swim America, he was pulled under water constantly despite his protests. They usually wouldn't even give him a chance to hold his breath or plug his nose. The teacher would take a long time working with an individual student, while the other students sat on the steps bored the majority of the time. She refused to let them even touch the toys she had out on the side of the pool (which mostly went unused anyway). I asked the coordinator to speak with the teacher about this and it seemed to help, but not for long. I would hear the teacher shushing him when he would get upset so I wouldn't hear his protests and crying. Once I walked in to find him sitting in tears with two employees (one being the coordinator) standing behind him not seeming to care. One of the employees would drop him into the water when he would refuse to jump. Again, he did all of these things with his previous instructor at Sanford Wellness, but refused to do them with the Swim America instructor because (in his words) "She's mean and swimming is scary"! He didn't trust her because of all the dunking and was scared of going to lessons each day. I feel horrible for having sent him here for more than a day, and I warn other parents of young children that may be somewhat hesitant in the water to stay away, particularly from this teacher and probably Swim America in general.

All 3 of my kids have learned to swim through this program. We’ve enjoyed every level, and now they’re doing a developmental swim league this summer, learning more strokes and the finer points of technique. Great instructional program, instructors and director! I recommend this program to others.