Its mainly high school kids who are teaching your children how to swim. They also don't teach them the proper way to swim and hold their breath. We opted for a private company. read more

Our 9-year old daughter recently had private 1:1 lessons twice a week for 3 months and she didn't improve a stroke! She had private lessons twice a week for 3 weeks in Florida and when she came back to California, she was promoted one level up. I told the head coach above stories and he didn't say anything. No accountability?? It's best to go elsewhere for swim lessons. read more

It was a joke. the water was not the advertised temperature- so cold. My 4 year old son got almost no attention as was shivering the whole time on the water. There was zero value-it was water of time and money. Strangely, another child who takes lessons there got the same horrible rash on his skin that my son got right after his lesson. We went to the YMCA and the experience was AMAZING! The YMCA was a group class, great instructor, great water temperature, positive experience. read more

We are very happy with Santa Clara Swim School. My son is autistic and he loves to come here. Anna is an excellent swim instructor, my son had learned lot from her. Anna has the patience, knolwgle, tolerance, love to teach my son with Special needs. I apreciate it so much!!. Definitely this is a wonderful place. read more

I was so excited to enroll my daughter in her first swim lessons at 13 months old. She loves the water, baths and pools. I knew she would have a great time. Welllll, not so much. The water is COLD for little ones. Ok, for me too. If an adult is getting in the pool and thinks it is cold no doubt the little ones are going to feel it even more. In fact, she has had to leave every class early because she gets so cold she starts to turn blue and shiver in the pool. Upon their recommendation I even bought her a baby wet suit, while it helped it only buys us about more 10 more minutes before she shivers and gets blue. Other parents have voiced the same concern. Since all of the babies are so unhappy in the pool most of the time is spent floating around singing songs, which I can do w her in our HEATED pool. I went into the office to voice my concern to the lady running it and was basically told that they cannot heat just that one pool. (Which I HIGHLY doubt) and that nobody wants to swim laps in a warm pool. True, but maybe you shouldn't be offering small children swim lessons if that is the priority. Needless to say, I will not be enrolling again here and will choose to pay more and go to AVAC. Perhaps when she is a big kid we will try again here. read more

Both of my kids learned to swim at Santa Clara Swim Club. You'd think I'd be singing their praises. I'm a pretty forgiving person which is why I kept them there for so long, but after this week I'm taking them out for good and warning anyone who is thinking of investing their time and money there. 1. The quality of the instructors really vary and completely depends on your luck. For my oldest he has had four instructors and only one was good. He pretty much learned everything from her. The rest were a complete waste of time and money. Same with my younger child. His first instructor was incredible. Then he move up a level and got two different instructors - both taught him nothing. One of them was actually rough and mean. Seriously, the guy looked like he hated children. 2. When you sign up for a class, you cannot choose which instructor you want because they don't even bother listing them on the registration page anymore. You basically go in blindly and cross your fingers that you get a good one. The turnover is also really high. Having gone there for many sessions now most of the faces are still new to me because the instructors just kept leaving. 3. Their office is embarrassingly disorganized, unprofessional and constantly gives out wrong information. It's to a point now I simply will not give them my business even if they provide an excellent instructor for my children. Here is what finally broke the camel's back: After a year of absence, I decided to register for my son again. When he last took lessons they told him that he was ready for Silver, so that's what I signed him up for. On the day of the lesson I discovered that they had switched him to a lower level of Orange without ever notifying me. They claimed that he needed to be tested first before he could join the Silver level. However, by then all the Silver level classes had filled up so it didn't matter if he passed or not. I kept him in Orange. Then school started and he had a school activity that conflicted with his swimming lessons. So I called to change his lesson from T/Th to M/W. They said there wasn't any Orange level class on M/W at that same time, but there were Silver level classes. When I told them that he was in Orange, the girl on the phone said: "It's okay, Orange and Silver are pretty interchangeable, you can be in either one". So my son moved to a Silver level class on M/W. ONE WEEK LATER. I went to the class with him and discovered that they AGAIN moved him to an Orange class because "that is his level in our system". Of course I was never notified, AGAIN. So my son is confused that he is now getting a THIRD instructor within the space of two weeks. I'm pulling him out and going else where. What a joke of a swim school. read more

We were very lucky to join Silver class with coach Eric and passed pre-comp evaluation in just 3 weeks! We've been taking swimming classes for 3 years and tried several schools and coaches and so far Eric is simply the best! He knows how to deal with kids, and gives them instructions they can easily follow. He focuses on one mistake, fixes it and moves to another one and definitely this approach works best for kids. I'm proud of what my son has achieved. Thank you coach Eric and Santa Clara Swim School! read more

I would not take my child here ever again for any swim lessons. The group lessons are subpar. The staff are ok. The place is chaotic. And the deck manager for the day was insensitive. He wanted us to step back and allow the instructor to work on our child who was obviously not comfortable being in a new pool, new instructor and chaotic environment. We were trying to help the instructor out by talking to our child and calming him down. He's 5 years old. Did he really expect us to just leave our child crying in the pool? Sometimes it's also the manner of the person's approach and lack of apathy that's more disturbing than the situation itself. He either doesn't have a child of his own to understand or he hasn't matured yet as a person. Talk about lack of compassion or apathy. True that sometimes you just have to let your child toughen it out, depending on the situation and the outcome. In this case, it wasn't worth it. My child even said, "I really didn't know what to do cuz I can't hear the instructions he was giving me cuz it was too noisy. I was confused as to what I was supposed to do. And the water in the pool tasted yucky. I don't like that school at all." So no thank you! Not even for free! read more

I have been thinking about this for a while to take a moment and recognize and appreciate the efforts of Champion coaches Eric and Laura. I still remember how my daughters Siri and Gargi were reluctant to learn swimming or get into the waters.. probably because they were scared or not interested....but today, within the year, they are already into prep for pre-comp, Infact Siri has even moved to Pre-comp....I consider this achievement as outstanding and would not have been possible without complete dedication from coaches Laura and Eric..I thank them sincerely for their efforts... Now apart from Swimming, here are some of the things I wanted to talk about, the way I see the kids have shaped up because of these coaches....Trust me this will go a long way in their lives... They pushed the kids farther than they thought they could go. They rightly pointed out to the kids when they hesitated, when they were stubborn, that it "wasn't that they couldn't, but only that they wouldn't!" There were those moments where the kids probably thought they were being punished, but they now realize they were just being shown that they we were actually tougher than they thought....Outstanding ! The coaches taught the kids "value of hard work". No, I'm not just talking about the best times. I am talking about the self-esteem and the value of self the kids developed from working hard. The pride that they can't fake, the satisfaction they can't convince themselves of other than working for it. I can even see this reflect in their academics....Exemplary ! They cared like friends and family.... My kids considers coaches Eric and Laura as friends and family because of their friendly nature, endless patience, love and affection shown by the coaches. Anything they say are like the verses from Bible. They never gave up on the kids until they got it right. I have no words to describe their dedication and patience with the kids....Phenomenal ! More to come, always :-) Yeah, there were moments that even as a father standing outside the pool could see the kids struggle or quickly lose interest. I still remember those 2-3 months where Gargi would not get her breast stroke right and its amazing how the coaches worked with her to get it right, never saw a moment that they easily let the kids off the hook ! While it appeared it never ended, they were only showing the kids how they were getting it right and further improve. Even last before week, Laura showed me how Siri was breast stroking like a fish. In the past year or so since they started coaching the kids, I sure they will not only remember the swim strokes but also lessons in life they taught... Finally, I only hope that every kid gets the chance to have a coach like Eric and Laura: someone who exhibits endless patience, their belief in every kid to succeed, irrespective of their potential, Thank you Eric and Laura, you make the Santa Clara swim academy very proud. As a parent, Im extremely proud of what the kids have achieved over the past year or so.... I'd appreciate if you can share this feedback with the coaches. They deserve to see this testament for the niche they have carved for themselves as swim coaches. Thank you ! -Shandy read more

My son and daughter have come here for 6 months now. We have noticed that some instructors are different than others, but it's a personality thing. We haven't had any issues really. But I did want to mention how great it has been working with Pamela in the office. We have been a problem family from the beginning. Schedule changes, kids wanting a different time, etc. They have been very accommodating and they communicate very well. Thank you! read more

I love this swim school. My Granddaughter learned how to swim here. She is enrolled in the Special abilities program and loves her 1:1 private swim lessons . Pamela Bailey, the Manager is kind and the best swim instructor. She is patient and will work with you on scheduling your swim lessons We also want to Thank Dylan who is currently involved with the Special abilities program. Thank you Pamela and Dylan. read more

It was our first day at this school today and we have had a rather disappointing experience. Here are the three reasons: 1. The instructor was unable to spend any time with my daughter ============================================= My daughter has been swimming for 2.5 years. This school came recommended and we were looking forward to it. We had followed all the instructions on their website about choosing the right level for my daughter. She was in the Blue Starfish level. Kids in this level are supposed to be able to swim about 12 ft on their own. There was another child in the class who it seemed like was in the water for the first time in her life. This child was bawling the entire time and kept clinging to the instructor the entire time. I felt really sorry for the child and for instructor. The instructor tried her best but it was just not possible for her to spend time with any of the other three kids due to someone who clearly should not have been allowed in the non-baby class to begin with. 2. The deck supervisor failed to take action despite repeated requests ================================================== We raised the matter multiple times to the deck supervisor who was "in charge". He admitted there was some mistake since it was clear that the child was not meant to be in that class and kept saying he was going to fix it but did nothing the entire class. The class was over and yet he had done nothing except for staring at the clip board in his hand. He kept hiding the clip board so much so that it was not clear what was on the clip board that he did not want us to see. My husband finally called him out on his lack of action and transparency. 3. The manager failed to provide customer service =================================== Here's where it gets from bad to worse. We call the office on the way back. I explain to the manager that this class was a complete disaster and our daughter had learned nothing. I did not want the instructor to get into trouble unnecessarily so I clarify that the instructor was not able to do much despite her best intentions. I am expecting the manager to apologize for the rough experience we have had and try to make it good. Instead, she not only refuses to give us a refund but says that she is even going to charge me for the class next week even when I said I wanted to dis-enroll! She insists that we come back to class the next week, I say I do not have any desire to do so. She says that we will not be getting a refund for the bad class nor will she be able to give me any of the unused weeks back. She also says that "it's not her fault" that the other parents registered their children for the wrong level and that she will be adding another instructor in the water. I ask her why the deck supervisor did not do this today when we raised the issue to him multiple times. She says "I did not know about it". It is unacceptable for a someone at a management level to deflect blame and have complete lack of accountability. Here's another example: Prior to us having this bad experience my husband is there asking the same "manager" about private lessons. She answers his questions in a rather dismissive manner and continues to type on her computer. After this happens three times in a row, he finally says to her "Do you prefer that I make an appointment with you when you free up? You seem to be really busy on your computer and it seems like I'm interrupting you." At this point she finally gets it that she is treating the person in front of her poorly and shuts the computer and gives him her full attention. Bottomline: The place is dis-organized, chaotic and poorly run. Their staff and management need to be trained in basic customer service. They need to treat people better when they have already had a terrible experience at their school. read more

This review is about Coach Eric, who is literary the best coach I've seen during my 5 years of swimming experience with my son. My son is 6.5 y o. A super active, very spirited personality. We've been taking just private classes previously, because coaches could not handle him otherwise, so I was not expecting this, when coach Eric actually got him to swim in a group of three and in two month my son made more progress than within the last two years: learned to swim freestyle and now is getting ready for his first competition. My son loves swim classes and is very excited!!! Coach Eric is awesome! read more

My daughter attends 1:1 swim lessons for children with special needs. We live in Santa Clara and, before these became available at Santa Clara Swim School, we had to drive her all the way to Palo Alto to get her good lessons that we could afford. My daughter is a very slow learner but has made great progress. The coaches are patient and attentive, office staff courteous and responsive. read more

We loved everything about Santa Clara Swim School. Fantastic instructors, friendly staff, I love that the little guys have their own pool, very professional. Most of all, both of my daughters are not only swimming but love to swim (they are 3yrs and 5yrs old). They are very excited whenever it's a swim lesson day. The instructors gave them confidence and made it fun. We are definitely going to keep enrolling. read more

What is a mess! There were teen instructors and 4 kids (5-7). For the entire 30min, they swam for 10-20 meters. The two teen instructor was training the other one. Really can't figure out anyone has any plan of teaching. The water is cold. read more

I have to agree with another parent VP who said that they should look at the quality of their staff! The teacher dunked my daughter into the water on her first lesson even though she had never had a swimming lesson prior. The first time this happened we just assumed that is how kids are taught, but when we asked the teacher again to "go slowly," she still dunked my kids head underwater! My child was so traumatized that she still remembers after 2 years later! The director's reaction to this was that it's the standard they do for kids and my kid would get over it! I would never go back. read more

This place is not recommended for private or semi-private classes. Either teacher quality is poor, or they just don't want to entertain private lessons. We had 4-5 teachers in a short period & the last one barely made eye contact with the students. I've heard group lessons are ok. read more

This is absolutely the best swim school we have experienced for our daughter that has special needs. She has gone to two other swim schools and Santa Clara is the only one that took time to get to know my daughter and help her build up confidence to feel safe enough to swim. She is now a confident swimmer in the water because of her instructor, Pamela. Pamela is not only an outstanding teacher but also a great coordinator for this program. She is very professional and easy to work with. My daughter absolutely loves her. We are very pleased and have told many of our friends that have children with special needs about this program. We will be continuing swim lessons here. read more

We have been with SCSC for a long time! My son went to the swim school & swam at the under 10 competitive level for a year. This review however is for my daughter's Special Needs class. There aren't many swim schools in the Bay Area that are inclusive. We are glad we are with SCSC. They have a "Special Needs" program that is 1:1 and my daughter just loves her coach. The coach is trained to work with SN kids and is very good with them. My daughter now knows all the "strokes" and is quite water safe! Thank you SCSC! read more

My daughter took 1:1 swimming lessons for a month with Veronika Spalekova. During that month, she improved in her swimming skills and she mooved up to the next level. Veronika is a good coach, she gives her all during a lesson. My daughter got good workout with this coach. read more

I feel that learning to swim is a safety issue and not a just-for-fun activity. I love that the swim teachers do not get flustered by crying children. If they did then my daughter would never have learned how to swim. Now that she can swim she has a great time in the pool and I feel more relaxed about her safety. The teachers are obviously trained quite well and have a really great method for teaching swim. I would recommend this program to anyone. read more

My two kids learned to swim at the santa clara swim school, I like the teaching style, they do a great job making the kids get the right skill before moving to the next level, the only thing I found not great was the pool temperature, it was kind of cold. read more

I enrolled my 3 kids in 4 sessions of swim camp at the International Swim Center after doing extensive research (I literally priced out the different options to the minute of instruction). I went with the Santa Clara Swim School not only because they were the most affordable, but because they offered an hour of pool time. I'm so glad I did because within two weeks of camp my two oldest (ages 7 & 6) were pretty much water safe - they no longer wear swim vests. They haven't gotten to the level where they swim using their arms yet but they can make it across a pool kicking. My 3 year old still needs a vest but this is more her age than anything else. And as for not using arms yet, it's clear that the instructors are legit in teaching the kids to swim the right way (you can see why Olympians come out of the swim club). There is a clear progression of skills, one on one instruction time, and frequent assessing of swim levels. I'm a teacher, so instruction is in my wheel house, and this is impressive! Thank you Santa Clara Swim School! read more