Aqua Pros Swim School

Worst desk staff ever, and very poor customer service. Their website promised so much. Their promise was to group children by ability. This promise was not kept. I have seen more than one instructor get mad and yell at the children under their tutelage. ²⁄₃ of every ½ hour lesson is spent hanging onto the edge, waiting for instruction. They seem to change their policies with no notice and they seem to have issues scheduling lessons.

I am writing this review for teacher Miguel. He is just awesome! My son loves him! Boris was not very confident in the water, but Miguel just found the right way to relax him and now he can not wait every week to see his teacher! Thank you Miguel! I am very happy that there are teachers like you out there who enthuse the little ones and who are making it with love and patience!

They’ve been pretty good about keeping water above 90 degrees, but few times now it’s been below 80’s which is cold! The instructors are awesome though.

Been taking my typical daughter and ASD son here for the past few years on a weekly basis. Ms. Melissa and Ms. Alina are FANTASTIC teachers! Really, can’t say enough about their dedication and commitment to teach. Our son gets so much sensory input and both kids enjoy their teachers and the lessons!
Pool is warm and looks clean enough for me, for being so populated and neither kid has EVER gotten sick either! For parents complaining about nudity-​sheesh! I still have to take my son to the ladies room bc of his disability.
Only things I wish would be better parking and if someone would answer the phones, but we’ve been so impressed with the instructors and our kids’ progress, that they still deserve 5 stars:)

We have been attending weekly since my son (now almost 8) was 19 months old. Ha had great instructors during his time here. My daughter has been attending since she was 12 months and will be five in a few weeks. In four years she has only had 3 instructors! Recently her swimming has taken off. I wouldn’t classify either of my children as a swim instructors dream, as they have both gone through periods where they refused to even get in the pool at around 2.5, but each instructor was able to work them through it rather quickly.
My only complaint and it’s a biggie, is parking. In recent months we have had to park far away, almost at the next light and we are often either just making it to class or a few minutes late. The parking lot is a nightmare and few families follow the rules. There is a lot of double parking that goes on and blatant disregard for those of us who follow the rules. I wish the staff would go back to being out there to retrieve the children if parents can’t park. It would alleviate the lateness. Thank you!

My daughter got some great swim lessons out of that place but the reason we ended up switching out is the shower situation. My daughter was 7 at the time and other parents with kids the same age as her, would shower their kids FULLY NUDE in front of everyone. If they’re 2 years old then ok, but when they’re 6 or 7 they’re starting to be aware of their privates, and it made my daughter very uncomfortable that every time she was getting out of the pool there was at least one penis a few feet away from her. I brought this up to the head of the school a couple times and she was unwilling to do anything about it. Not even post a sign to ask parents to shower their kids in the locker room showers.

Switched to aqua pros swimming lessons due to ease of keeping the same time/​day. Good teachers but facility is a bit dated/​cramped. Still just fine & very convenient to keep your kid in same day/​time each month.
I used to go to Toby Wells YMCA in Clairemont which is a great facility but requires me to sign up for the same lessons every month & it’s 1^st come 1^st serve. I’m too busy to wait for the Y to open up the next month’s classes & hope it doesn’t fill up.

Teachers are awesome, scheduling and payment is reasonable and easy. My only complaint is that the showers to rinse the kids off need some tlc!

I just want to say (a year later) that I am still so pleased with Aqua Pros!!! My 5-​year-​old is swimming the full length of the pool, diving down to the bottom of the 9-​ft pool retrieving diving sticks, snorkeling and his confidence has grown so much. Our 2.5-yr-old is making huge gains as well and I anticipate he’ll be swimming within the next year. We have had several different instructors, all of whom have been wonderful! I also love their make-​up policy because with little ones and illnesses we’ve missed our fair share of lessons, but for $ 5 we can make it up (which in my opinion is so much better than just losing that lesson). I have recommended several friends to Aqua Pros and all have been happy there as well!

My son is on the spectrum but very high functioning almost like you can’t tell. We have been coming here since just before thanksgiving. He has learned a lot and still has so much more to learn to become a good swimmer. I would totally recommend this facility to other parents. They are kind and patient and my son loves coming. The only thing I don’t like is they don’t answer there phone do you have to either leave a message or email to contact them. They do respond pretty promptly but still wish they would have an office where they could answer the phone. The only reason I am not continuing services as I finally moved back to north county and it’s time to find something in my area :)

This review is based on our experience with the baby class. Overall, we really enjoyed our lessons at Aqua Pros. My daughter swam here between April and August of 2012. She started when she was 10 months old, with no prior experience in the water. There were some tears during the first three or four lessons. By the end of the second month, however, she was completely comfortable being submerged. We had teacher Nilsa, who was great. She was very patient with my daughter and never rushed to submerge her.
We have since moved to Northern California, and I couldn’t tell you how much we miss Aqua Pros. There are just too many things I took for granted. For example, none of the half of dozen of schools I called here allow make up sessions, and I used to complain about having to pay $ 5 to make up a lesson at Aqua Pros! Also, the baby classes here in the Bay Area have an average student to teacher ratio of 6:1, versus the 3:1 at Aqua Pros. Another thing we really miss is the warm up area in the pool at Aqua Pros, which is available for use any time they are open. At my daughter’s current school, we have to wait on deck until class time. Imagine telling a toddler to wait when there are other kids swimming in the pool!
In terms of cons, there is usually a line for the shower after our lessons, and the locker room is rather bare bone. But these are just minor inconveniences to me. In my opinion, what made Aqua Pros great is its wonderful teachers and staff, as well as their family friendly policy, which I didn’t fully appreciate when we had the fortune to swim there.

My 4 ½ year old son became afraid of taking baths because he didn’t want to get his face wet, so we signed him up for swim lessons at AquaPros. The instructors were so gentle, yet encouraging, at getting my son comfortable in the water and getting his face and head wet. I used the play area with my 2 year old while my older son took the classes, which was a great perk. I can’t wait to sign up for lessons again in the near future.

Love AquaPros. My daughter is turning 5 next month and has been swimming at aqua pros since she was 2 months old. She is comfortable around the water, can swim very well and enjoys being in the water. My son is 15 months old and started when he was 2 months also. He is doing great in the classes and is confortable in the water as well.
The instructors are all very friendly and knowledgable. The facilities are nice. The pool is very good. Can get crowded when there is a free swim that is planned after the lessons (they should have all those people wait until that time), but other than that my family loves aqua pros.

My daughter has been a happy swimmer at Aqua Pros for a year now. She loves it and looks forward to her lessons. She has had two different teachers: Ashley and Tara– both are great with her! The water is always a nice warm temperature. The place is relatively clean (the locker rooms could be cleaner). They have little goodies around the holidays, for mother’s day I got some scented bath salts. The staff are friendly and helpful! I plan to enroll my two year old just as soon as he gets over the crapping in the bathtub phase that he is in. Soon I hope. I have the cleanest bathtub on the block.

We have been going to Aquapros since my daughter (now 15 months) was 3 ½ months old. I read all these reviews. First off, the pool is a saline pool. It’s salty to the taste. I don’t find it dirty at all and you can’t expect it to be sparkling like a chlorine pool since it is saltwater. Our instructor, Seazon, is amazing with our daughter and the other little ones in our class.
I do agree with the front staff comments though. They don’t seem to care about their jobs. And if you’re on the «wait list» for a Sat class, just keep asking. They don’t follow it, I know from experience after someone on the list got a Sat class before me even though they signed up two weeks AFTER I did.

I like aquapros, my son has been going here since he was almost 6 months old. We just do the playgroup classes. There are some negatives. The school doesn’t have a phone line that gets answered. you have to leave a message and they call you back. The under water photos are done a max of once a year, and haven’t been done since we’ve been there– which really stinks as my baby is getting older, and the pictures would have been really cool when he was tiny. They don’t even know the next time they will get done, as the owner is the one that does them, and she’s really busy? The class is the same thing from week to week. I believe this is generally the same in the full price classes too. It’s more something fun for my baby to do every week then actual lessons. They do the same series of songs and games for 30 minutes each class. It can get pretty crowded in the play group classes.
Other than that stuff, aquapros is great! I also extensively looked into Noonan and Callan. All schools in the SD area had some serious negatives. Aquapros does a free intro swim lesson, so it’s easy to check it out first.
I guess I only gave 3 stars, and not 4 because of the pictures– that makes me grumpy.

When my autistic daughter almost drowned last fall, I signed her up for the scholarship that the Autism Society offers through Aqua Pros. It took about 6 months to get her in and I knew she would be a challenge to get her to work with a trainer. She was very anxious about water and is always resistant to new people and situations. But I was super impressed with how the trainer, Mr. Drew, handled her and how he gained her trust over the 3 months. Pretty soon the problem was that she didn’t want to get out of the pool!
The scholarship the Autism Society offers through Aqua Pros is an awesome opportunity for special needs families. There is no way I could afford one on one sessions for my daughter for 3 months, and the continuity of having sessions twice a week is great. During sessions you pretty much just sit and watch the kids (which is entertainment in itself) so I got to observe the different classes they have. All the trainers are very good with the kids and I especially liked the infant classes. I saw a review about how the babies are dipped too much and some kid crying a lot, but I sat there twice a week for 3 months and I saw nothing but smiles and giggles.
I think what Aqua Pros and the Autism Society are doing is wonderful and me and my family is very thankful that my Charlotte got the chance attend.

Both of my children have been attending Aqua Pros for three months now in their special Autism program. Our instructor Kerri is very nice and very good with both children. I don’t notice any odd smell in the facility and I would suggest the issue people have with the water is that this is a saline pool so different than what is used to, this is also the reason for the ‘slimy’ feel of the water.
For their first session there was a behavior specialist who came out and worked with the instructor. She hasn’t been back but I think that’s because it’s not been needed. My 6 year old daughter, who has autism, is swimming very well and is now very comfortable in the water. My 4 year old son, who also has autism, is getting more and more comfortable and working with getting the water on his head/​face.
I highly recommend this program for special needs families. There is quite a long wait for the special program. Even if you are just considering it please contact the Autism Society San Diego and get on the list b/​c it will be several months.
My only complaint (and it’s not a REAL complaint) is that I wish my kids had their lessons at the same time, as it is one after the other I have to try and keep one child busy while the other is having lessons and it’s not that easy.
My only other issue is with some of the other parents. When I go to change my 4 year old son in the ladies locker room (and I have my 6 year old DAUGHTER with me too at the time), I get dirty looks and the other moms hold towels up in front of their little 3 year old girls… give me a break.

ok. so far I’m a fan… but we are only two classes into it so I will definitely update it again later on after my daughter has been attending longer. My daughter is 16 months old. We came for the free intro class about a month ago to check it out. My husband is taking the class with her and I came to watch. Overall it was a good experiences at the preview, so we obviously wanted to sign up.
The wait? — omg. took about a month to finally score a Saturday mid-​morning class. whoot. It just worked out better for our schedule so it was worth the wait.
I think $ 60 a month is reasonable and pretty much compareable to elsewhere in SD anyhow, so no biggie. The instructor for both the preview and her permanent class now were both nice and informative.
We leaned more towards Aqua pros, because we really wanted her to learn in a saline pool. I didn’t particularly find any odd smell in the facility as others have posted… smelled like a normal enclosed pool environment to me! there’s definitely a lot of people there though! many different classes going on at once and they run every half hour, so its just busy busy. Lots of seating in the parent viewing area though.
There are three showerheads off to the side for people to rinse off… and various changing tables around the facility edges to change your little one. I like that the water is kepted warm… but my daughter is still shivering once she gets out… especially now that we are entering the fall season. A 30 minute class is just about right.
Will update…

We love this school!
Swim school is expensive no matter where you do it. The best part? We can take the kids for a swim anytime during the week. Yes, sure, you’re stuck in the parts of the pool where lessons aren’t being held, but it’s really nice to be able to spend more time with them in the water, helping the kids practice their lessons between the actual lessons. I find that my kids learn far faster here because of my being able to take them to the pool between lessons.
We’ve found that we really like the teachers here — they push the kids but make the lessons fun, too. They don’t focus on «water safe» as much as other places, too, which, in my opinion is GOOD. I want my children to learn how to SWIM, not doggie paddle, etc. It takes longer, but once we’re done, they’re going to be far better off. Plus, I don’t think any kid under 10 is «water safe» no matter what.