Sarah Sebe didn’t set out to be an entrepreneur. She had planned to pursue a master’s in education when she decided to post a Craigslist advertisement to offer private swim lessons in Los Angeles.
“To my surprise, the response was overwhelming,” Sebe said.
Families wanted a quality swim instructor who could come to their homes and teach their children how to swim without years of lessons. Within the first year of launching Sunsational Swim School, Sebe and one other instructor taught 50 children how to swim in one summer.
Today, Sunsational Swim School is the largest mobile swim school in the U.S. with more than 2,000 certified instructors providing at-home swim lessons across more than 40 major metropolitan areas nationwide. Since its founding, more than 50,000 students have learned how to swim with Sunsational Swim School. The company has a guarantee that each child, 3 years old and older, will learn how to swim within 12 lessons.
“This is part of our commitment to providing quality instruction and ensuring children in our program are taught the skills necessary to swim safely back to the wall after a fall into the water,” Sebe said. “If a child doesn’t meet our Learn to Swim Guarantee skills, we will provide up to four additional free lessons to ensure they are equipped with these skills. Most children far exceed the basic water safety skills outlined in the Learn to Swim Guarantee after just 12 lessons.”
Sebe said the company has found success by thoroughly vetting each instructor.
“Every instructor has a one-on-one interview with a member of our in-house matching coordinators,” she said. “We evaluate instructors, not just on their swim experience, but other personality factors that, after hiring tens of thousands of instructors over the past 14 years, we have learned contribute to being a successful teacher. Each instructor also submits to a national background check.”
But, Sunsational Swim School isn’t just a business to Sebe — it’s personal to her, especially as a mother.
“As a mother of 3 young children, I am better able to see the immense benefits that we provide and the importance of water safety from a parent’s perspective,” Sebe said. “The feeling I got when my children were able to swim back to the wall for the first time after a simulated fall into the water was priceless. I want every parent that enrolls their young children in our program to experience that peace of mind knowing their child has the skills to swim back to the wall if an accidental fall were to occur.”
For more information about Sunsational Swim School, go to sunsationalswimschool.com.
____
San Diego Moms is published every Saturday. Have a story idea? Email hoaq@timesofsandiego.com and follow her on Instagram at @hoawritessd.
