UPDATE RESPONSE: I'm not surprised you are denying this ever happened. This is NOT a lie but you…read moreprobably don't remember as you treat children terribly all the time. Lots of unhappy parents to remember all their names. I have all the emails and proof we were at your school in 2023, his name is Ezekiel or "Zeke" and you scarred him for life. You are a horrible human being Joy. This review is long overdue- it's actually been 4 years since we were here but my child is STILL scarred from his experiences with Joy. We were swimming today in a pool and he said, "remember when Miss Joy made me get out of the pool and stand there in front of everyone." It reminded me how terrible she was and I thought I should help people out with a review. If I could give this place 0 stars, I would. Joy should not be anywhere near children, let alone teaching them. RUN, don't walk away from here with your kids. She lacks patience, kindness, and professionalism. She is skilled at swim instruction, I'll give her that- but NOT with children. She should be an adult instructor only. We had swim instruction with her for several weeks and she was VERY rude and harsh with the kids. We finally had the last straw when My son who was 4 years old at the time, (a Covid baby) and still learning to swim had a moment he has never forgotten. Joy YELLED at him and called him a "brat" when he made too big of a splash getting In the water, she made him get out of the water in front of his peers and stand there cold and crying while she made "an example" out of him. She told the other kids, "see if you misbehave like this boy, you don't get to swim." Thank God my husband stood up to her and told her how he felt as she just let my child cry on the steps. We never went back and didn't even bother asking for a refund as I knew we wouldn't get it.

Both of my sons have attended Aloha swim school, and have learned swimming skills efficiently. Both…read moreJoy and Amy are very experienced, kind and knowledgeable. They do focus on teaching and do their best to accommodate different schedules

This playground was amazing and one of the cleanest and most well maintained I've seen. It was…read moreenclosed, huge bonus, had a sandpit that was freshly raked or flattened, as well as a fake tidepool water table type feature. The play structure was large and elaborate and the castle and dragons theme was carried out throughout. My kids also loved the music corner with the guitar and keyboard features.

Lots of activities for the kids. Nice shaded areas and plenty of parking. Beautiful grounds and…read moreoverall very clean

We've had such a wonderful experience at Goldfish Swim School in Aliso Viejo! The lessons are well…read moreorganized, the facility is always clean, and the small class sizes make a huge difference. My child looks forward to every lesson and has made so much progress since starting. It's clear that they really took the children's and family's needs into consideration when designing the place: the pool is warm, there are plenty of changing rooms and showers, a fun waiting area, and snacks on hand too!

We're active members of Goldfish swim! It's certainly helpful in getting our toddler to learn how…read moreto swim. He seems to have improved. We like the clean facility and yummy snacks. Cost efficient as well.

We brought our son here when he was 9 months old and my wife enjoyed the water time with him. Fast…read moreforward to three years old, turning four and they were still in the water together! My biggest three gripes were that we were watching younger kids come into the class and we essentially became the co-trainers. My son was so bored he just goofed off and didn't listen anymore because he could already do everything at that level since he'd been in the same class for over a year. We had asked her and she said she could move him up but she had to find spots in her other classes and she kinda seemed like she preferred the parent staying because it would be less work for her. Which goes to my next gripe that the other families in our time had been with us since the beginning! Yet she was willing to move all of our times, while they were still infants, to their nap time but she couldn't find time to transition them to swim by themselves. Since going, we've had the time changed 4 times all on Saturday. As any parent can attest to, messing around with nap times is a huge PITA. You could make the argument that she was being cautious not letting him swim without his mom because she felt he wasn't ready. However, he had been swimming without my wife for over a year already. We had been going to another swim school because she stated there weren't any slots open and weren't seeing much progress with her. The last complaint I have is that we never got what we paid for. The class started 10 minutes late and ended 5 minutes early. For a 30 minute class that's essentially half the class she spent chatting with the class prior, snacking, or ending it so she could snack. That's very unprofessional and should be something she baked into her schedule versus taking time in the class.

Ms. Julie is a phenomenal swim teacher. We sadly had to cancel switch to different lessons that…read morewere covered by our charter school but will always be so grateful for her patience and wisdom in getting our daughter over her fear of the water!

My coworker used to work at Evolution and recommended we bring our baby to teach water safety... I…read moreonly wish we had done it sooner! We brought our 7-month old son to the Water Bugs 1 class, which is for babies 3 months-9 months old. It's offered 3 times a week and is FREE. The facilities are great. There's a big open seating space for families to watch and there are books and toys for kids to play with while they wait for their class to start or wait for siblings to take their class. The family locker room is clean and spacious. It has private dressing rooms and lockers to store your things. There are also hair dryers and a nice area to get ready after swimming! The pool itself is warm and comfortable. For the Water Bugs class, one parent goes in with the baby and the instructor leads in various techniques and activities. It was fun and informative, and I can see how it helps babies learn to enjoy the water and even start some basic safety skills. The instructor was so kind and so was the sweet lady at the front desk, who helped show us around. We'll definitely be coming back!

Clean facility with toasty warm water and warm changing rooms. Evolution is a great place to bring…read morebabies as young as 6 months old to get them comfy in the water. Love that babies under 9 months get free lessons ! Our absolute favorite coach is Coach Alex ! He is so engaging and tailors the class toward your kid's needs. He makes swimming fun with singing songs and great toys! Can't wait to join the swim team when our toddler is old enough to!

Amazing spot to kill time as my wife shopped hard on Mother's Day. Myself and my kids were the only…read moreones here so I chased them hard. They had a blast. This may be the only indoor playground I've attended that doesn't require store purchased socks. Due to this, it is $20 bucks per kid for an hour but it's worth it. Maybe 4 huge blow up playgrounds, a ball pit and a build area with legos and fluffer thingies. Really nice spot. Everything is clean. Get in, have fun, get out with smiles and sweat.

The kids love it here. They have so much fun for 1 hr $20 per kid. They also have foam blocks and…read morepool foams to play. They have a obstacle jumper too. Clean. They have seat to sit, the only downside there isnt alot of seats. And no bathrooms inside. But you can seat in the foam mats. (Clean) very clean, since there is no shoe's allowed.

My child has been part of the Nadadores swim team for a number of years now and I myself have been…read morepart of the Masters program on and off for the same number of years and even before we started my child on the junior team. The experience up until about a year ago had been generally good but given some recent experiences and some of the other comments posted here, I felt compelled to also share so folks interested in joining know what they are singing up for. Volunteering - I don't have a general issue with the idea of volunteering. My issue is with how it's all managed and what is expected because in many cases, it isn't clear and the staff provides little help. Parent volunteers for example have to organize timing events during away meets (BTW - mandatory timing at away events is required above and beyond the hours that all families are also required to already give) and there are no tools or any digital way of managing so it's a literal mess at every meet. If you don't at least check in, even if there are 2-3X the number of parents actually needed, you will get charged - even if you wouldn't have had to time to begin with. I also have an issue with what's expected while timing as the officials are constantly pushing on the timers to manage the swimmers, which is not our jobs as volunteer timers. I can't recall a single scenario where at least one coach from the staff was behind the timers with their teams assisting and managing. I had a scenario at a meet back in December last year where I asked a group of older kids to stop cursing during a meet and on my way out one of their parents confronted me about yelling at their kid. Not cool to put us in a position to have to police other peoples kids. I have raised this numerous times with nothing done about it and you can't just skip timing at away meets or you will get charged. Mandatory Donations - This used to be an annual thing that has now turned into a twice a year thing. I assume this is because there are "seasons" and maybe not everyone swims year-round but for those that do, you are required to donate something like $400 twice a year now. Here's the thing about donating though - when it's mandatory it's no longer called a donation. It's a way to either keep the monthly dues lower on paper than they really are or it's a way to take in revenue with additional tax advantages. Either way, it's a forced $800 a year extra in money you have to come up with and the incentive plans they used to have for the swimmers to raise money continues to be limited in what type of "donation" is counted towards this goal. Parking - There is simply not enough parking for as many swimmers that come in and out every day and especially not when they are hosting an event. As others have commented, forced volunteering puts people in the middle of policing things like the parking lot which isn't fair to those volunteers on really busy meet days. For some reason they also like to maintain regular practice schedules for the non competing teams while hosting major events which is just insanity. We no longer go anywhere near the facility during hosted events as it's not worth the headache. Pool Temp - There has been a lot of talk about the city no longer paying for the heating of the pool so its now being maintained at 73 degrees per USA Swimming regs. This is not what they advertise and certainly not what it has been for the past 5 years. This has become a common complaint now, especially for the more junior swimmers. Practice Schedules - Due to the number of swimmers and teams, the practice schedules are all over the place on a daily basis. Two nights at X time to Y time, one night at X time to Y time, two other nights at some other start and end time. It also changes by season so it becomes an exercise every few months to have to reset our family schedule around swim schedules which we have now stopped doing. We just don't swim as much now as we used to if swimming doesn't fit our schedule - which adds to the annoyance of paying much more now than we used to as we cant really get our moneys worth without having to adjust our schedules all the time. I'm sure there is some attempt at being equitable so that no one team/age group is stuck too early or too late, but this may also be a sign that there are simply too many swimmers - running practices 5 nights a week isn't needed for everyone BTW. Coaching - Some else posted previously about their experience, confidence issues, etc. and I can say for certainty that mine feels the same. 0 confidence right now in the ability to move forward. This is a team that now favors the top 1%. It was a wonderful place for a number of years and even the thought of leaving brings some heartache as the Nadadores has been part of our family on and off for 2 generations now, but this is not the place it used to be. I can only hope that the leadership and board take some time to better understand how many folks really feel and take some action.

I think overall this was a good experience most of the time but there are elements which bring it…read moredown to a 2 or 3 star that I hope you'll consider and I do hope they revise on the business side in the future. Like the other review said, there is an issue with community and team here and it's difficult to fix unless you coach the coaches on pedagogy. The positives: Our daughter enjoyed her time at the school and the team. She competed. She improved her time. She got good exercise. She made friends. This part is a 4 star experience with only a notch taken out for some of the turnover and inconsistency along the way as well as some of the reactions to injuries (see below) and communication. Communication could be better and it's not uncommon to feel left out even if you just want to know the people on a safety level and get to know one another. I am confident the coach would not know me if we met at a grocery store and when I was a coach and responsible for young people, I made it a point to learn every name of the child and the parent and their faces. Build the community. The cons (business side): The pricing model has a volunteer component for service hours and they penalize charge you if you don't complete them. Here is where it gets dicey. Some jobs are easier than others. Some jobs can be "bought" by simply dropping off Gatorade and items in exchange for hours. All job assignments are done in an archaic way of free for all spreadsheets and even that is overseen by a senior volunteer where issues arise as you can imagine. You rarely feel this is a fair system and it is in need of attention and could be solved with some efficiency improvements and tech solutions. There are many database systems that allocate these things in a fair manner and they are worth the cost premium since we all are already paying. Consider revising what jobs are "worth" and "no shows" and late arrivals create some interesting results. It was common for many families to recruit grandparents and other family members to fill in. Out of the purpose of the greater good of the team, our family did extra hours in good faith many quarters even filling in for no shows and doing a double shift. No big deal, right? But when it came time to ask for a little grace and courtesy the other way, there is a surprisingly strict enforcement of a policy to keep a few extra meaningless dollars instead of putting people before policy. When our daughter got injured (twice, once a concussion by another swimmer where my daughter said swimmers were grouped too too tightly by the coaches), we had to pry for details because one coach would say the other coaches saw it and then that coach would point the finger back. It was a very awkward situation where safety was our primary concern and our daughter lacked the memory having been hit in the head. Not to mention not feeling comfortable continuing and having to vocally advocate for herself and remembered not all kids have that capacity. When the second incident happened, it was harder to determine what happened. We were advised she had to go on medical leave. We notified the team and they we were advised that our account would receive a credit. But then that credit was used to charge us for volunteer hours while our account was suspended and our daughter was on medical leave. Think about how terrible a policy that is? I don't care what an agreement says, that is a really poor policy that deserves revision. If you have a medical suspension by doctors orders from injuries that occur as a result of being on the swim team, show some decency and don't nickel and dime the families in the name of policy. That's bad business and questionable ethics. They eventually provided 50% back and billed the remaining 50% to our suspended account. Again, for hours we didn't complete while our daughter was on medical leave. When we had produced over 40 extra hours of service during our time there filling in for others? Bad form and it tells me that a review is needed to help them see the light on their practices. I truly hope they change this policy for the future Nadadores. It is the right thing to do. This is a solid 2 or 3 star type review when it should be 4/4.5. How to improve: 1. Revise ticky tack volunteer hours penalties and polices. 2. Communicate and build rapport with parents beyond the swimmers. Make it a family and community, not just a business. 3. Be flexible. Life and people over policy. I have no ill will or bad terms. Does it leave a slight bad taste? Yes. But I cherish the experiences and memories. I appreciate so many of the individuals that are amazing at what they do and care deeply about their work even when they disagree with the business side. Our exit should have been handled better and I hope one day they consider making things right.

Michelle at Little Swimmers in Laguna Niguel came highly recommended by a high school mom whose…read morevarsity swimmer she taught nearly 20 years ago. She has been working with my son, now 5, for the past two years. He has some sensory needs and she's consistently patient, caring, and understanding and moves at the pace that's right for him. She balances genuine care with a strong focus on safety and helps him build a real love for the water. I would highly recommend her to anyone looking for private swim lessons for their child.

Coach Michelle is the best thing that has happened to my child. She is largely found by word of…read moremouth and we have now run into countless families that have worked with her over the past 20 years (with nothing but amazing things to say). When my son started with her we had tried several group classes and he hated water and wouldn't even get his head wet. She warned that he would cry the first couple classes (both before booking and as the session started) but that it would get better. He screamed so bad the first class, I thought she was going to ask us not to come back. She reassured us that it was normal and sure enough by class 3, maybe 4, he was obsessed. Classes are 15 minutes/ twice a week. it's just long enough to keep their attention and learn something. Although if Michelle's next client is late or she has a free few minutes she'll extend the session, if the child is having a good time- this is truly her passion and not her job and it shows. We've been going for over 9 months and I have tried to move him to a group class setting just for maintenance because he can swim now but he won't leave coach michelle and honestly I can't blame him. Coach Michelle is kind and gentle. She explains absolutely everything to the kids so they know what is happening and they aren't scared. She's patient, kind, and understanding. She has built a personal relationship with my son and talks about life outside class and he talks about what he is going to tell her at his next class. We're beyond swim class at this point and i'm not sure how we'll ever leave her. luckily I have a 1 year old we'll be starting soon.