As originally published by Texas Border Business newsprint edition January 2018
In an effort to reduce and prevent drownings, Aqua-Tots Swim Schools, provide families with life-saving swimming instruction. Swimming lessons can appear to be a fun physical activity for children and adults, but Aqua-Tots is more than just a regular swimming school.
“Aqua-Tots is a swim school for kids, but we have classes all the way up to adults. We start from 4 months of age, onward,” Daniella Jimenez, North McAllen general manager, said. “We have eight levels, and the first two are for babies and onward depending on the skill of the student.”
The swimming school has been in business for the past five years in the Rio Grande Valley. They have various locations in the area. The Aqua-Tots franchise started in Arizona in 1991 and is now worldwide.
“Aqua-Tots opened here in McAllen in 2012, the north McAllen location was the first location in the Valley,” said Jimenez. “We have five locations here in the Valley, two in McAllen, one in Brownsville, Laredo, and Corpus Christi.”
The goal and the objective of Aqua-Tots is to help the community by preventing drownings. Our children are the highest at-risk group; this is the reason why they focus on teaching from a young age.
“We focus a lot on kids, starting with very young babies all the way to adults. We also have the SNAP program that helps kids with disabilities, but our main focus is to teach children how to be safe around the water,” said Jimenez. “Safety first, fun second! That’s our slogan.”
The story of this company started in Scottsdale, Arizona, where Ron and Jane Sciarro started their own learn-to-swim business. After a couple of years, they designed and developed a comprehensive training curriculum that meets the needs of their clients: the children and the parents.
“Ron and Jane Sciarro are the founders of the company. They started in a small pool, and eventually, they had their own Aqua-Tots. Now there are Aqua-Tots all around the world, with the same purpose: teaching children how to swim and prevent drownings,” said Jimenez.
Swimming is one of the most popular exercises in the US, it has many benefits for the human body, and all ages can practice it. It’s a fun activity that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike.
“Swimming is an enjoyable activity, but it can also be dangerous,” said Jimenez. “There have been a lot of accidents, so our primary focus is safety around the water.”
Aqua-Tots provides a service to the community by teaching children and adults how to be safe around water. Their client’s satisfaction is their motivation to keep growing and reaching out to the community. However, there is also a need to exercise care that each child is always supervised while swimming as any body of water has obvious risks including, and not limited to drowning.
“I love working for Aqua-Tots, we have solid values and beliefs; it’s a fantastic company,” said Daniella Jimenez. “We focus a lot on individuals, not only profits, but we focus on our clients, making them happy.”
