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British Swim School Class Update and Grand Opening

(Photo credit: Erica B. Tappis photography)

British Swim School of Central Maryland has just opened its 12th location! I am so excited to announce this amazing location- right off the boardwalk at Rio! Gaithersburg Courtyard Marriott Rio just had its grand opening this week, and the location couldn’t be better.

I had the honor of attending the grand opening event yesterday, and just thoroughly enjoyed getting to celebrate this occasion. You can feel the passion radiating from everyone that works with the British Swim School of Central Maryland. The instructors were there representing this great school, and it felt like one big family.

Sammy the Starfish was the hit of the event, however, in my daughter’s eyes. You might recall hearing about Caroline learning how to do the “starfish”. The starfish is what BSS calls the back float that they focus on teaching in their swim lessons. It is the survival mode that they are passionate about teaching, and Caroline is well on her way to mastering this skill.

When we saw Sammy, I asked her how she does her starfish in class. She showed me and described it:  “Head back, arms out, legs out, belly up”. She kept Sammy active with a bit of a dance/jump off and a short game of tag. Sammy probably needed a nap after entertaining Caroline for so long yesterday! LOL!

She’s done the starfish now on her own for a few seconds. It really depends on the instructor that she is working with, as to how she responds and how long she holds her starfish. At some point the light bulb is just going to go on. She knows how to do it, and she is very capable- she just needs the confidence to click in. She starts to put her head down and then doesn’t hold the starfish for long. But, she’s really so close, and so capable. I am excited because I know the day is coming that she’s just going to nail this move and hold it for 20 seconds. That day is coming soon, but until then, she’s still hanging out at the Seahorse level.

She’s also rocking her new purple swim suit that happens to have a seahorse on it (yay amazon)! The children can get kind of chilly hanging out on the side of the pool waiting on their turn in the water, so I decided to buy her a suit that was a bit warmer. It just so happened, amazon had her favorite color (purple), which happens to be the color of the Seahorse swim cap! She’s all set to go now.


We currently take Caroline to the Springhill Suites location for swim class. It’s right in the Rio area, but not close enough to the boardwalk to just walk over easily with a toddler. Every day after class, however, Caroline requests a walk at Rio. It’s such a nice place, we drive over and walk around the boardwalk and even hit up Barnes and Noble….after every class.

With this new pool location, we’d be able to just step out onto the boardwalk after class. Kind of perfect! I might be changing my location soon just to have this wonderful advantage, since we head over that way after class anyway. That being said, I just love Caroline’s current instructor (Christine). I have a feeling I’ll stick with instructor over location!

The new pool is also great on the inside. It has nice roomy stalls to change in after class.  I was very impressed with this pool. As with anything new, it was bright and shiny and super appealing! LOL!


Special $15 Credit


If you live in Montgomery County or Frederick County, Maryland, and are interested in signing up for your first lesson, I am really excited to announce that you can receive a $15 credit towards your account just by mentioning my full name: Katrina Villegas! The information for our central Maryland British Swim Schools can all be found at this link. And not to worry if you live elsewhere, there are British Swim Schools ALL over the US!


Other Posts of Interest:

British Swim School- Tadpole class (level 1)

British Swim School- Swimboree  (level 2)


British Swim School- Seahorse (level 3)


British Swim School- An Interview with Caroline’s Instructor (Christine)

(Photo credit: Erica B. Tappis photography)

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