I've been taking my kids to this pool for 21 years. They are 21, 10, and 6. Fifteen years ago, this…read morepool was a decent place to take lessons, but it's not anymore.
The actual pool is fine. My kids like it because it has a 3 foot deep shallow end so even when the kids are very small, they can stand with their head above the water. And there are diving boards in the deep end which is something you can't find at all of the pools. The lifeguards and swim instructors are all relatively friendly, and they don't have a million rules, so it's a fun place for free swim. However, the majority of the lifeguards are very young. I personally don't have a ton of faith in a 17-year-old being able to keep my child safe in a pool, so I watch them every second myself.
The reason for two stars is the lessons. This is our primary reason for going to the pool, and the lessons are awful. They divide the children up by age, and then divide that age group into three skill levels. If your child's skill level is outside the predicted skill level for their age group, they will never be taught where they're at. All of my children have been swimming independently by age 3-4, but there is no opportunity for independent swimming in this age group at Southwest Community Center pool. The kids are expected to stay in the shallow end, touching the wall, and they will be learning the very basics. Once the kids turn six, they are allowed to move up into a higher age range of kids who are 6 to 12, but if you have a younger children, they will take one look at them and put them in the lowest level, even if they swim better than the oldest kid in the pool. If by some chance, your six-year-old gets put into a group with 10 to 12-year-olds, they will be expected to understand instructions that are given at a 10 to 12-year-old level. There is no consideration for the differences in communication or maturity level of a six-year-old vs an older child. We have given this pool years of opportunities to improve the structure of their lessons and they have only gotten worse and worse. My personal recent experience is that I have a six-year-old who can easily pass a swim test and swim in the 12' deep end. She will spend an hour and a half before her lesson swimming in the deep end, jumping in, treading water, diving to the bottom, doing the backstroke, swimming freestyle... but as soon as free swim ends, and her lesson begins, she is put in a group of little kids who are practicing blowing bubbles and are kept on an extremely short leash with no opportunity for actual swimming. All I get from them is "Sorry, this is how we do things." They don't care. So if your child is a very early swimmer, or a very typical swimmer for their age, you might get something out of this pool for a year. But once your child starts making progress, they will be held back.
The last big strike against them is management. Like I said before, the lifeguards and the instructors are all pretty young, but friendly. However, there's always one or two people in charge who have an absolutely horrible attitude. For some reason, they seem to attract managers who are on a big power trip. There was an older woman who worked there for the last decade who was an absolute terror, and when she left, they just replaced her with a male version who is no better. I don't understand it, but nothing will ever change if they have management who doesn't care and won't listen. Their priority does not seem to be teaching kids to swim. It appears to be filling up the classes with bodies as quickly as possible, and then stringing them along for years to make as much money as possible.
