Today we’d like to introduce you to Tammy Ebert. She and her team share their story with us below:
Tammy & her husband Wayne bought the Swim Possible 4 years ago when there were 2 coaches and a small handful of swimmers. Now we’ve expanded to 5 pools, 6 coaches and have over 80 students we are thrilled to be able to serve. Some of our students have been with us since the beginning and watching them grow in skills and confidence has been the best part – aside from knowing we’re now able to provide more water safety to swimmers across the metro.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Running any small business can have its ups and downs. For Swim Possible knowing that we are making a difference is what makes it all worthwhile. Like most small businesses we were hit by COVID in 2020. Due to the closures of all of the facilities and that what we do is very hands-on we did have to close our program for several months. We took advantage of that time to develop new safety protocols to keep our swimming family safe knowing that many of them could be immunocompromised. We also worked on our training program making a huge overhaul to provide a more solid foundation for our coaches to work with our kids. It was the perfect time to work on our registration system and moved from a manual system using a spreadsheet to an online registration system. We purchased our own equipment for each of the coaches along with all the necessary PPE that would be needed when we could get back in the water. We changed our transition time for the kids getting out of the water by adding 5 minutes between lessons to provide extra safety precautions but it also allowed us to take time to connect further with our kids and families. We are so glad to be back in the water and to see our students again. Our swimmers really become like family to us seeing them each week. The joy each of us feel when one of our kids conquers a fear or a new skill makes our hearts sing. The pride that they exhibit and the happiness that their families get to experience makes what we do very worthwhile.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
SwimPossible provides safe, calming, and fun lessons that are customized for students who need a 1:1 personalized approach, adapted to their needs for learning how to swim. Our method incorporates current swim techniques and elements of water therapy taught by a family of experienced instructors to help students quiet their minds and feel how their bodies move in the water. SwimPossible does not focus on diagnoses or labels. We teach swimming to students of all ages who are not served successfully by traditional lessons, including those with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Anxiety, ADHD, Down’s Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, and other sensory and physical/motor learning differences.
We want everyone of all ages and learning needs to know they are capable of being not only safe in the pool, but also confident and find joy in the water. We focus on 1:1 lessons but also are looking to offer 2:1 lessons, lessons for parents, as well as a special olympics team – the SwimPossible Challengers.
What’s next?
We are very excited for the future and would love to serve our families in more locations as we are able to grow our team across the metro area – and long term we would love to reach out further to more rural Minnesota communities where we know sometimes service options can be so limited. We are in the process of trying to hire more coaches before the spring session so we can get them trained up and ready to go. Along with the search for more areas we can rent water time that is appropriate for our needs. We are definitely in growth mode but at our core, we plan to keep our same values and goal of keeping swimmers safe.
Pricing:
- 1:1 30 minute swims – $75
- Discounts for families or extended swimming
Contact Info:
- Website: swimpossible.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FTWSP
Image Credits
Rachel Koch (Director, SwimPossible)
