I am a grandmother taking Parent & Tot lessons with my almost 2-year-old grandson, Leo. When we started 2 months ago, he was nervous and clingy, but Coach Aron was so gentle and engaging that Leo relaxed immediately. Aron has such a warm approach and enthusiasm, as well as a contagious confidence that helps little ones adjust to the water. Coach Aron is very sensitive to what his students need at any moment. Leo is advancing well in learning to function in a pool, because Aron is such a good teacher. I'm impressed after observing him at work and I commend him and thank him wholeheartedly. read more

Coach Ashely has been amazing and so has the deck supervisor, my son was nervous his first time and they were very attentive to ensure he felt comfortable. He loves coming here and always looks forward to his classes. read more

I popped into the Thornydale location the other day to inquire about classes and see the facilities. The young woman wasn't friendly and her curt attitude was a big turnoff. I blew off asking for a tour I was planning on taking 2 or 3 classes which would have been about $300 per month but based on this short interaction I have no desire to become a customer of this business. The outdoor shopping clomplex looks about 1/2 empty. The parking is abundant. read more

Saguaro Aquatics - Swimming Lessons/Schools Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

They're doing a good job with my grandson. Nice people he likes going and he's getting better.

I have been brining my kids here for private lessons and I am never disappointed. Coach Serena and Coach Max are amazing! they are so kind, patient, and encouraging. My kids look forward to every swim lesson! read more

We used to go to Saguaro Aquatics at the old location many years ago. It was a far drive, but always worth it... We recently moved back to the area and I was very excited to see they have moved, and it is now closer to me. The owner is involved, he's very social and cares about his establishment. He was like this years ago, and he is still coming around, making sure everything is going smoothly. My 9 year old has Coach Jackie. My kid can be quiet and shy, Jackie notices that and gets her out of her shell. She pays attention to your kid and what they are capable of, and pushes them when they need to be pushed. My kid really loves her, highly recommend her! My 6 year old has Coach Kayton. He is so great and patient with smaller kids. He makes it fun and is funny. My kids look forward for swim, and progress well. Highly recommend. read more

We've been a member since 2019 and keep going to swim during the pandemic, I have 2 kids, and both were students there. But since last year, a lot of senior & experienced coaches leave. So the quality is not as good even getting worse! My older one has graduated and moved to the swim team since the end of 2021. My younger kid has already reached the last level (even though I don't think he is really mastered all the stroke). He has swims only once a week since the coach said that he has graduated from the last level. And we intended to tell the admin to drop his lesson. Considering our relationship as an old member, I decided to speak in person instead of by phone or email. So we decided to talk to the admin when we come for practice. And as I remembered, the time limit for the drop is the 20th for each month. It was the 16th of the month, and the admin said I would get charged $50 because I missed the 15th of the month. She said that my son could swim another month to avoid the late fee. (I explained to the admin why I come to the office thay day but she can't do anything. The owner don't care whether you are an old or new member or whatever the reason that you can't tell them earlier than the 15th of the month) Oh well, I think it's my unlucky fate that I thought I could keep a good relationship by talking in person and never checking the rules change because I trust them. They just think about profits. Honestly, if it's a couple of years ago, I wouldn't have any hesitation to recommend this place, but now... with current quality... I would suggest you reconsider before taking a lesson there. read more

All of the coaches we have had as we progress through the levels have been great. Our current instructor, Coach Maryn is awesome!

I give Saguaro Aquatics a high rating, 5 Stars of which the management and swimming instructors much deserve. The instructors are hard working and great with all kiddos, sensitive to families and their children's feelings. The management is dependable, fair and flexible as when my boy broke his arm at home and had to return to classes three weeks later without missing a beat. Now I will take my son tubing or boating and know he can swim and enjoy the water. Everyone should learn to swim and Saguaro Aquatics is the best choice. GP read more

The coaches are great. Unfortunately, it stops there. Office staff is incredibly rude and unprofessional. Karen in the office doesn't respond to multiple messages left. When I did get a hold of her 2 weeks later, she acknowledged she did get the messages by phone and the online portal but assumed management would handle it and just ignore us. When I asked to speak to someone in management, she hung up on me. Sadly, I will never go there again. Now seeing all the other messages about the horrible office staff, I see it's not just me they treat this way. read more

Avoid this place - We are so disappointed in this business and their lack of care for its customers. We enrolled our four year olds in semi-private lessons, over the first 6 weeks we noticed them not really wanting to go as the lessons were really repetitive and they were loosing interested. We understand there are basics that need to be covered so we kept encouraging them to make the best of it. on Feb 9th - well before the schools 15th cut off date to drop classes, I spoke with the front desk and said we needed to make a change to a different class or drop for a while so I could try and get the kids excited about coming again. I was told to wait until our visit next week (16th of month) because they didn't have the calendar out yet for March..... When I came in that day and was told my girls were not ready to move on to a different class (totally fine- they're the experts) I asked to drop for March and was told I had to now pay $100 to do so. Horrible customer service, the office staff was rude and uncaring to both me in person and my husband when he called in. While we would have just taken a month break before this, we will never be back. I asked for the owner to reach out but never heard back from them either. read more

My husband and I have been bringing our two kids here for over a year. they were 3 & 4 when they started. We love the facility, Faculty and classes. It was not easy to get into classes, but worth the wait! Class sizes are very small, only 3 children max. The facility are very communicative and have been great with us on what each child needs and move them when it is time. We highly recommend this business! read more

Karen was so incredibly helpful! She helped me fit my snorkel gear correctly and caused me to feel at ease with my upcoming trip. She went beyond her duties. I am so grateful read more

I guess I should have read the reviews before enrolling my girls. Like most people say, the instructors are good, the office staff/management is terrible and rude. Main issue is how they schedule classes. Especially if you have more than one child. When one bumps up to a new level, it throws off the schedule. You get a new time that sometimes won't work with the other child and their time slot. My price raised almost every month also. The instructors come and go often. I never know who my younger daughter will have, she's pretty consistently gotten a different coach almost every week. Sometimes we get a notice about it, sometimes we don't and when we do, it's not the person they say will even be the new coach the next week. SEVERAL times we have had to end lessons early for poop in the pool which I realize isn't anyone's fault, however it's very hard for us to schedule makeup lessons again because my daughters are in different levels, and I can never seem to find the same time slots or even days for them to schedule them. So we lose out on money through no fault of our own. They refuse to refund that even if none of their makeup classes work for us. And we weren't the ones cancelling. This month they charged me not only the regular monthly fee, but a raise in price plus the annual registration fee. At the same time tho, my daughter moved up a level and when I tried getting her new schedule it was impossible to make work and the general manager was rude, inflexible, and refused any kind of refund even tho we can no longer come, so I'm paying the annual fee for no reason. She wouldn't even refund that part. She also hung up on me at the end of the call. I will find other places to post this review because people need to know this. read more

My daughter had attended classes at Saguaro Aquatics for a couple years. Early in our membership things were great, however things started to change and coaches came and went and there were so many inconsistencies between coaches. My daughter was ready to move to the next level but the instructor refused to move her forward even though she was beyond excelling at the current level. It became so ridiculous, my three year old was even able to express how bored classes had become and had completely lost her attention span doing the same things week after week. Our final straw came when my daughter broke her arm and so we were not able to do lessons for obvious reasons. When I tried to pause lessons for the month she was going to be casted, they said we could not pause and needed to pay $50 to cancel our membership or schedule makeup's. The catch with makeups however is that you are only allowed 1 per month and they need to be completed by the end of the year. Well since it was November at this time, it would been impossible per the policy to do the makeups. I want to love this place so bad as there aren't many swimming lesson options in town. But the above scenarios were so frustrating and ridiculous! read more

CHILDREN TRAUMATIZED HERE. The owner dunked my 5 year old child under water repeatedly over & over for not following instructions. The owner stood by his actions when I confronted him and then later offered to apologize to my child only. It was traumatizing for my son, he didn't want to continue lessons afterward, and he now won't go into a pool. read more

Saguaro aquatics is hands down the worst learning environment to bring your children. I had two separate occasions where I had to get my child out of the water due to the instructor being too overwhelmed. There were kids twice his age, in his normal group that had priority because they were "make up classes." When we asked for withdrawal and refund for the last two classes of the month we were denied and told that our child was a "safety concern." The real safety concern is the assistants around the pool that can't look up from their computers while on duty. read more

Abysmal customer service. If you need to speak to a manager, none of the associates have any answer on when exactly they will be in, because they have no set schedule. I was told that a manager had been reaching out to try and resolve an issue, but between me and my wife, we have exactly zero voicemails. My wife was in the hospital in July, so naturally, my son's swim lessons were the last thing on my mind, and he missed the lessons. School is now starting up, so I'm planning on withdrawing him. After trying to get reimbursed for July and then getting charged for August (which they won't reimburse either), I am out of about $600. When i was finally able to speak with the manager, my complaints were met with a monotone, "I'm sorry sir, but company policy..." read more

Maile is the BEST! Our daughter started at two and was terrified and within one lesson she was going in the water w Maile. It's been a little over a month and out now three year old is going under and LOVES the water. This is a great facility, clean and well organized with an easy online system! Highly recommend!! read more

My son had been taking lessons there for over one year. On January 27th of this year my father had a stroke and required immediate care from the family. We couldn't continue to fit swimming lessons into our current schedule. I reached out to them to pause our membership while my father recovered and our family found our new normal. Molly is the person that contacted us back citing their cancellation policy. My wife once again reached out to them and explained our circumstances and desire to continue lessons in the near future. Molly was insensitive to our situation, charged us the $50 late cancellation fee and we have decided that once we do wish to continue swimming lessons, we will seek out a new establishment to do so. read more

Saguaro Aquatics - Swimming Lessons/Schools Near Me - Tucson, Arizona

I would never recommend this place to anyone, we have had two horrible situations happen back to back where my child was not being watched and went under water, thank goodness i never took my eyes off him or he wouldn't have even been noticed! The instructor clearly cannot manage more than one kid at a time, i tried calling and talking to the manager and no one would answer and instead sent me email stating it was my 3 year olds fault and we will not be refunded or reimbursed for the rest of the month and he is not a good fit for the swim school, there was never an apology( certainly don't want one now) or concern, hands down the worst management i have ever experienced!! read more

I am very disappointed with this business. My 3 year old special needs nephew was kicked out from his swim class due to an administrative error. That is exactly what the staff told my sister when she called to find out what happened. She was told it was an administrative error but there is nothing they can do because my nephews swim time has already been taken by another family. He has been a client of theirs for 4 months and instead of them trying to fix it they stated they cannot kick out the new family because that is not how they run their business yet they kicked out my nephew. This saddens me because my nephew was connecting with his instructor which is not easy for him. I'd think twice about enrolling here. read more

My 3 year old grandson attended his first class in June and completely freaked out. Cried and screamed for a solid 10 minutes. The instructor was very patient with him and tried to get him in the pool and the young girl at the check in desk even came in to help but my grandson wasn't having it. We left and and I just figured we try again next year. They sent reminders in December that I had credits for make up classes so I thought we would try again. Ben and Erin were so patient with my grandson who did freak out again. But, they talked to him and calmed him down and he finally, slowly, got in the pool and he even had a successful 1st lesson. I don't know if we'll make it back again but the staff is fantastic with the little ones and that means a lot! read more

I truly hate leaving negative reviews and rarely do it, but this was such a bad experience. In sum, the actual teachers are lovely; but the management is a nightmare. I signed my 3 yr old daughter up for the preschool earliest level class. The other kids in the class were much older and much more experienced at swimming. My daughter was really terrified on Day 1 and i could just tell it was not the right environment for her -- it is really loud and really crowded, as they divide that small pool into A LOT of classes, so it's a tiny space with a ton of splashing. I asked on the very first day if we could cancel and just refund, as it was not the right fit. They refused and said they would provide extra staff on-deck to ensure that there were more teachers to help. When we reluctantly returned for another class, there were no extra staff--zero--and the 1 very nice instructor who was there understandably struggled to manage the older, eager swimmers alongside my sobbing, very young daughter who clearly had no place in that group. I returned to the office to ask, again, if we could do a refund since this clearly was not working. And, again, they refused. The truly weird part about the management at this pool is that they are exceptionally cold & defensive. When I asked if maybe there was a manager or supervisor I could speak to, they said they could not give out that information. You'd expect this kind of behavior from a sketchy used car dealership or a telephone scammer, not a kids' swim school! It was honestly just really weird. I can only assume they are getting asked for refunds all the time, I'm not sure why else they are so hostile about it. My kids normally do swim at the JCC, which is incredibly spacious, with kind, understanding, and flexible people in charge--they are happy to credit you if the time or lesson is not working out for you! I had opted for Saguaro this time around, as the class time worked out better with my schedule, but I have now signed all the kids back up at the J and will never return to Saguaro. I have 3 little kids and have had nothing but positive experiences with sports, swim, and activities all around Tucson. People are always so flexible and understanding! But Saguaro Swim is just a really, *really* weird vibe. From what I can tell, the actual swim instructors are lovely & sweet; I just feel bad they have to deal with the odd situation with the management. Maybe they are going bankrupt or something, who knows. It was weird. If they had refunded the swim lessons, I would have been appreciative and would have waited a bit to sign my daughter up soon, once she had some more pool experience, as the youngest class there was just not young enough. But instead, I'm profoundly unhappy and I think the parents of the kids who had to share their instructor with a much-younger toddler weren't too thrilled either. Not great long-term strategy by the Saguaro Swim management. read more

We are so pleased with Ben as our son's swim coach! The front office staff is really helpful and friendly, and the facility is always spotless and organized. Would recommend this swim center to anyone with kids, for sure! read more

Seems like every review for Saguaro is either 1 or 5 stars, with nothing in between. I'd say my rating is a true average of my experience. I essentially came here as a 35-year-old with no swimming ability who was fearful of the water. I had learned how to float on my back in previous lessons with parks and rec, but that was it. I was paired with Coach Dieter, and he was great. He gave me excellent feedback and really helped me to develop my freestyle stroke. Unfortunately, he moved and I was switched to Domonique. She also gave me good tips and helped me with my ability to tread water, which I really couldn't do before. However, I could tell that she was new and didn't have much coaching experience. She didn't always have a plan for the lesson. I came to Saguaro with very specific goals in order to complete a scuba certification. And I pretty much got what I came for. I took lessons for three months. Toward the end, I felt I had learned all I was going to, and my lessons were getting repetitive. I had asked to work on treading water and every lesson I was put in the shallow end, which didn't help me to learn because I was in 3.5 feet of water and could stand up. I called and requested to be given a lane in the deep end, and I was told no because everyone else in lessons during my time slot was more advanced than I. Okay, the other students were all little kids. 3.5 feet is plenty deep for a 7-year-old, so I was really quite frustrated that I couldn't get adequate space when I was paying $40 for each 30-minute lesson. I chose not to continue and got charged a $50 withdrawal fee, which I was not happy about, but it is their policy. You are automatically re-enrolled and charged on the first of each month. In order to withdraw, you have to give them notice on or before the 15th of the previous month. I chose not to continue toward the end of December because my progress had stalled. Honestly, on the 15th I wasn't sure I wanted to quit lessons. I was not pleased with the available times, and I had a hard time making it to lessons on time, because I work M-F, 8-5. There were very few, if any, evening and weekend time slots. Lessons are 30 minutes, and you start and end on the dot. I didn't feel the lesson was quite long enough, but I did use one of my makeups to double-up and get a full hour once, which was nice. The makeup policy is very confusing, and their student portal is not very user-friendly. So while I felt the lessons were on the expensive side, and I really didn't care for their policies, I did pretty much learn what I came for, so the swimming instruction was really pretty decent. read more

This place has done wonders for my daughters! They are turning into excellent swimmers! Dominque is amazing!! All the swim coaches are just patient, but have a great methods to teach kids of all ages how to be safe and swimming skills. Been to other places and this place is the first one to get my kids actually swimming and truly learning. read more

I would never take my child here. There were numerous schedule mess ups. Numerous times that we were left waiting until someone amended it. Staff is helpful if they are the coaches for the most part and the office staff tried but are usually rude whenever I talk to anybody over the phone. There is one redhead that is nice to talk to you in person. We got an email earlier this week that they were going to move our time from 3:15 to 3 o'clock. My daughter is in elementary school there is no way that we would be able to make it there in time. We have had this schedule for quite a while now and she had established a relationship with the coach. To have it canceled on us with nothing but being put on a wait list until something opens up is asinine. I called to have some thing done and the woman that talk to me was rude. Unhelpful. And snotty. She asked me if I was aware of what was happening in the world today!? She claimed that they needed to make sure their coaches were getting 30 minute breaks because they were overly tired. I said instead of changing the schedule for people that are already established they should have hired more people and then changed it accordingly. So instead of waiting until they hired somebody they just took away classes for students that had been established for months already. This is upsetting for any young child, they don't understand any of the logistics, all they understand is that they are no longer allowed to do their swim class. Children always blame themselves in these situations. Thank you for scarring our five-year-old daughter. DON'T EVER GO HERE! Total bs. read more

The instructors are good enough, I suppose, but the price is ridiculously high. There is a registration fee of $40 on top of the regular class fee, which covers only thirty minutes of instruction per class. The worst thing is that they are completely inflexible. If you miss more than 2 classes, for any reason, even a death in the family, there is no makeup. I must say I did read this in advance and understand that is there policy, unreasonable as it may be. In their very long contract, I missed that you are automatically enrolled indefinitely. If you do not withdraw from their class 2 weeks before the previous month, they charge $50. $50!!! that is robbery. When you question it they become snarky and refuse to reason with you. In short, I would never recommend taking your children to this school. The learning is slow and the prices are sky high. read more

Pretty terrible establishment. My child has never been fearful of the water- after his first class he now hates it!! Enrolled for four classes in July. Went to one class and needed help rescheduling one class. No one was willing to help so I decided to just not go back and find other swim lessons. Today, while on vacation, I got an email stating I was charged for the August classes. What the heck? We will be gone almost every weekend in August and was not aware (poor verbiage on their website) that he was on an automatic enrollment until I cancelled. Their response back when I questioned was pretty much tough luck and that they don't offer refunds or credits. So I'm basically out the 180$ I have paid- minus the ONE class he went too. I don't recommend. At all. read more

Coaches were great but office staff and owner are incredibly rude and unprofessional. Only care about the money and forget they are working with families and children. read more

We took our child to Saguaro Aquatics for 1 1/2 years. It went well for about the first month or two but they could never seem to keep instructors which meant we were constantly starting over and the ciriculum just kept repeating. On several occasions classes would get cancelled and they wouldn't tell anyone or come in and let us know. We switched to the city pool classes which are far cheaper and much better quality. Our child learned more in the 2 week class at the city pool than 6 months rotating through the new instructor of the week at Saguaro Aquatics. On top of all this Saguaro Aquatics is still trying to charge us $125 a month even though we canceled 6 weeks ago. read more

I can't say enough about Coach Erin and the patients and kindness that she uses to teach my autistic son how to swim. She is so encouraging which keeps him from being frustrated when he can't communicate how he is feeling. She gets him to do things out of his comfort zone that will help him heaven how to swim faster. Sad he's amazing. The facility is always clean, the staff is polite. I highly recommend saguaro aquatics! read more

I am an adult who took lessons to learn better technique. Coach Kayton was the best! How he broke down each step was incredible. Warm pool helped my sore muscles. Felt like a new person when I left. Can't wait to sign up for more lessons! read more

I have to agree with the reviews of several other clients. The administrative team and owner clearly have a business "philosophy" of profits over people. I truly appreciate the authentic, heart-centered work being done by the Wellness program instructors. They care deeply and take time to support the group and individual efforts of enrollees on their wellness journey. The policies of the business and the business "philosophy" exposed by the owner are unfortunately counterproductive to wellness. Charging an annual membership fee and full months of registration - one would think that you would receive a full month of service provided as paid. Following the requirement to notify the admin team of an upcoming absence in order to allow for makeups that cannot be used as the client needs is just a bad business policy. Wellness programs are not like formalized, skill-building sessions - one building on another toward proficiency - Group Wellness programs run whether there is one attendee or twelve - the direct cost of the class to the business is the same. Paying customers should be allowed to use "make-up" sessions in a manner that benefits them - NOT "scheduled on any day and time other than your regularly scheduled class' - after all the company has the money in their pocket. Profits over people - this business could use some professional business coaching on handling customer needs and understanding that their business "philosophy" as the owner stated is a direct representation of their core values in how they truly treat their good paying customers. read more

Poor customer service. I'm a very busy parent and merely sent a quick email confirming my verbal request to withdraw, stating: "Please be sure to remove ______ and do not withdraw money from my account again." To which he responded, "Don't send nasty notes to our office!" ...Wow read more

I had a terrible experience at Saguaro Aquatics. I registered both of my children to get swimming training over here. My daughter was at a much higher level in swimming because she's older and already knew the basics, while my son was still learning from the very beginning. The coaches refused to give my daughter separate training at her own level and she used to just sit on the side watching the coach teach my son swimming basics, even though I paid for both of them to get trained (so I did not get my money's worth on any training for my daughter, I paid for her to dangle her feet in the water every session). Although the coaches were really nice, the managers absolutely weren't. They refused to give me a refund for any of my daughter's training sessions; they just continued to automatically get their money every month. When we got a sudden emergency and were going to go out of town for a while (after they had already gotten their money automatically that month), they also refused to give me a refund for the sessions for both of my children even though I informed them they wouldn't have been able to attend the sessions. They refused to help me in any way. I feel like I wasted a lot of money on this for several months and I absolutely did not get my money's worth; I am terribly disappointed. read more

Sad to say we had to pull my daughter from swim lessons due to an incident that happened during one of the lessons with an instructor. Before this we hadn't had any issues. Unfortunately I was not there the day this happened, my husband and mother in law were so I did not get to speak with the staff right away. I did reach out to the owner and left a message but have not heard back. I was considering going down there to speak with them about different days/times to put my daughter in a giving a second chance, but I honestly don't feel comfortable doing that and will look for private lessons else where. read more

I am only reporting on my experience and wish to recognize a talented and effective instructor: That swim coach is Tyler (L)...there are two Tylers. Two children I brought to Saguaro Aquatics began continued lessons with Tyler. During the one half hour of semi-private instruction, he worked on different aspects of efficient movement through the water, during which time they actually enjoyed working under his direction and their progress was measurable. At the last few minutes of their time in the water with him, he did some fun things in the pool. This made them even more positive about about returning and working hard to improve their skills. I am a retired teacher, and I can say clearly that if you give a student a positive learning experience, they will work many times harder to acquire the skills that you offer them. Thank you, Tyler (L). The other Tyler must also be good, but I have not observed his teaching yet. read more

I took my 3 1/2 year old grandson there to learn to swim well enough to be pool safe , especially because he has a pool in his yard . He began his lesson in June at level one which I figured would be pretty easy for him, since I had already taught him how to blow bubbles in the water and kick. He enjoyed his lessons, and I expected him to be advanced to level two, but was told he was not ready because he didn't like to put his face in the water, and he couldn't float on his back independently. I was a little surprised because I thought that was their job to teach him that, but I accepted it and paid for him to repeat level one. I waited till July 20 , after he had a few of those lessons, to see if he's going to be advanced to the next level in the next month, only to find out that he wasn't going to be advanced again, because, again, "he wasn't ready". I really didn't want to pay another $150 to have him repeat the same things over and over, so I withdrew him and had to pay $50 to withdraw him since I hadn't done it by July 15. But I didn't know by July 15 whether he was going to be passed onto the next level or not, as the instructor didn't know at that point. So, now after paying that $50, $300 for lessons, and I believe a $25 registration fee, I paid $375 and two months time , but my grandson is no more safe in his pool at home if he fell in than he was to begin with. I do want to say that his instructor was extremely nice and very patient, but I just expected more for two months of lessons. read more