We love dolphin. My 5 year old boy/girl twins have been attending since they were just over 2 years old. We have made real connections with both their teachers and front desk staff. They love getting hugs at the front desk from the various ladies they have seen each week throughout the 3 years. My kids have all types of energy and each teacher they have had has been patient and also able to push them. There are so many times and swim teachers that if a time or teacher isn't working out you can find another time or teacher easily. There are both male and female teachers which is nice to see. My kids really enjoy their weekly lessons and have learned a life long skill. read more

Dolphin Swim Club - Swimming Lessons/Schools Near Me - Loves Park, Illinois

After having a traumatic experience at a different "swim class facility" we are SO glad to have found Dolphin Swim Club. They are pricier, however, I strongly feel you get what you pay for in this venture. The staff are extremely knowledgeable, well trained- and FUN- they want your child to master the outlined skills but also to enjoy the process of learning. Both of my girls have made leaps and bounds. They are vigilant (there is always an extra in water deck supervisor). The procedures for safety and cleanliness are apparent and upheld. The desk staff are kind - and willing to help with scheduling and finding the right fit for your child. We absolute love this facility. Thank you dolphin swim club for teaching such an important life skill! read more

Can't wait to be done with this place. Seemed ok initially, but their policy that they still charge you if you miss a class is crap. They want you to make it up, but the classes are always full and even when you schedule a make up, at least half the time, they cancel it. It's a ploy to get your money. High staff turnover. Super disappointing for the price. read more

Classes got cancelled for strange reasons, rescheduled us in an over crowd class witch the instructor didn't have time to finish all the activities, but they sure rush you out of the water once the 30 mins is up. I agree with most of the parents review here, over priced and bad customer service. read more

We have been with Dolphin for 6 years and our second child is on lessons now. They are phenomenal! The admin as well as the instructors are doing a great job dealing with Covid precautions. My kids are very safe, happy and continuing swim lessons. The instructors are wearing shields in the water and all waiting and changing areas are well spaced and continuously sanitized. read more

I'd like to start with the only positive I can think of: our instructor. Her name, I believe, is Heather? Anyway, she was super, super, super sweet and seemed to really love the kids and her job. The negatives are as follows: the size of this establishment is WAY too small to handle the volume of students and their parents. It was complete mayhem when we entered the building. Kids running everywhere, tired parents dressing and blow drying their kids' hair in the hallway, and lines waiting to get into the dressing room. So, they have 3 itty, bitty dressing rooms (that aren't even IN the bathrooms - so that's 3 changing rooms for the ENTIRE establishment) that are super small and smell of mold and 3 day old damp towels. The whole place is carpeted...so you can only imagine the smell. Once you're in the bathroom there are only Three toilets one of which doesn't work and only two showers in which only one is operating. My baby who LOVES the water was crying the whole time because they have the baby swim classes in the same area as the other kids. so of course there is CONSTANT splashing and very little room for our huge class of 10 or so babies and tots. Really, really I was so turned off by how little and dirty the facilities were, I could not stand to come here again. Not to mention there's only 1 or 2 changing stations so waiting, while wet, with a crying baby is not ideal. They need to cut their classes in half, clean the facilities through out the day, get the carpet out, and get more than three changing rooms. read more

Loves Park: I would like to start off by saying that every instructor my child has was absolutely wonderful. However, the girls running the scheduling and desk are hardly qualified. They act completely bothered if you need them to schedule make up classes or find a time that suits your schedule. I think they forget that the price for these lessons are NO WHERE near cheap. I am a busy parent with a full time job and another child...for what I fork out for these lessons, let's just say I didn't pay for eyerolls from a teenager because I have to have a class at a time that suits my families needs. This place is not worth the money you have to pay. read more

For Skokie. Also, I don't work there, am not paid for this or have hidden agenda. This is for parents looking for real review. We started my daughter at 8 months. we kept her there for over a year. She is now 2 1/2 and is a Navy Seal. (J/K). She is uber-comfortable in the water. Submersion, Safety, semi- Assisted backfloat. The managers Christine then Nikki were always super nice and concerned with how we felt. They taught my daughter as well as me in how to work in water. I pulled her out because she became the oldest in the class and until she turns 3, she would be doing same drills. So, I work with her now but the foundation laid by DSC staff is immeasurable. I recommend it, but also, parents have to know what they want/expect. With the glut of baby swim schools now, I felt the need to send shout out to the girls at Skokie DSC. I have seen the older kids class and they had a couple of 'tough' instructors but that is the way it's supposed to be: sink or swim. I enjoyed them. Either way, They taught me a lot about baby swim, I will take over from here because I am part merman, but for newborn parents, I highly recommend it. Only gave 4 stars because it is in the hotel pool, albeit fine, would prefer fully functioning swim facilities. Price is competitive to other schools. I feel fatherly-pride when we take daughter to pools, other adults comment on how good of "swimmer" she is. No joke. Don't believe me, remember me when my daughter takes every gold medal known to woman-kind in swimming. Peace and see you in the ocean. Vittorio Gomez read more

I'll second the high instructor turnover. In 6 months we went through 4 instructors. We took a break over the winter due to scheduling conflicts. They were supposed to call me to set up a new schedule for private lessons for March. Never received a call. I called them and when I hadn't heard from them for 4 days called again. Had to, yet again, leave a message. Finally received a message on our answering machine which was abrupt and bordering on rude. They let me know that they are no longer doing private lessons and there isn't any way they could do a private lesson at the times I requested anyways. Um....ok. Is it that you don't do them or there isn't availability? There was no apology and no offer to speak further about schedule and class options. Just a quick "we don't want your business" message. I doubt I'm getting a pro-rated refund of my annual "facility fee" even though they refuse to schedule any further lessons Thing is, they still list private lessons as being available on their website. Horrible customer service. Wonderful news is I looked around and just found lessons that are closer and $60 less per month. So thanks for being rude! read more

Used to go to the facility in Loves Park, had memberships for my folks but the facility is not kept up or maintained inside or out. Very small pool, cramped quarters. Parking lot asphalt broken-unsafe for little ones, strollers, seniors or anyone. How can an alleged 'safety training' facility be so careless with their exterior. It's clearly unsafe. OVERPRICED Lessons and swim memberships, better off going to the YMCA or health club. Once they went down hill we stopped getting memberships. read more

I took my child to the Loves Park location for swimming lessons this winter and have been pretty disappointed if I must say. Although some of the instructors were very nice to my child, I felt the overall condition of the facility and pool area wasn't anywhere near where it should've been. There's virtually no room around the pool, and what room there was, was always extremely slippery and dangerous according to my child. It was also brought to my attention from another customer that the facility manager and operations manager were "hooking up" after hours as well. That was it for me, definitely not a place I would trust bringing my kids to. read more

My daughter has been taking lessons for several months and loves it! Miss Chelsea is wonderful, as is Miss Kristine. They are so patient and my daughter is quickly becoming an able swimmer. We are so pleased and recommend the Dolphin Swim Club highly! read more

We love Dolphin! Our son has been taking classes for about 6 weeks now, and they are great with! Heather has done great! The staff is always friendly, and the entire facility is always clean. read more

I've had my son and daughter in classes at the Loves Park facility for eight months. I haven't been impressed and if there was another swim school in my area I'd go there. On the plus side both of my children, ages 3 and 7, love going and really like their instructors. I feel they are learning good foundation skills to build on. My issue is that although my kids are dedicated and listen to their teachers they have not advanced to a higher level. I enrolled them in October hoping that by the following summer my seven year old would be safe to go to our local lake without me having to hover over him. That is not currently the case. The Dolphin approach is that as soon as the student is able they are advanced to the next level. Therefore if a child learns skills quickly they aren't stuck an that class till the quarter ends. Since my child is paying attention the only reason I can see that he's not advancing is that the instructor isn't doing his job that well. Given the price of these lessons I wanted/needed to see more progress. At this point I've spent $600, and he can't swim. - My other issue is that because of students, supposedly, moving levels at a weekly basis lesson openings are only posted weekly. This has made it difficult to schedule make-up lessons. Especially having two children at different levels I've never been able to coordinate their make-up lessons or been able to try a different teacher for my son. Once, you're in a time slot you are guaranteed that spot, but it's proven very difficult to change. read more