The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

The Water's Fine: After just four lessons at Water Babies Swim School, owned by Glen resident Gina Ambrose (right), 17-month-old Madison Schmidt can hold her breathe underwater, swim short distances and climb out of the pool unassisted.

Water Babies gets infants, parents into the swim with summer lessons

School's owner took the plunge, swam first strokes at 14 months

By Christine Frey

Seventeen-month-old Madison Schmidt gleefully plops herself into the pool and swims toward her mother. As she surfaces from the water--eyes bulging and semi-bald head dripping--her mother coos with encouragement and takes her into her wet arms. Moments later, Madison is back at the pool's edge, ready to jump in once again.

"She seems to take right to it," her father, Lee Schmidt, laughs as Madison splashes back into the water.

After only four lessons at Campbell's Water Babies Swim School, Madison can hold her breathe underwater, swim short distances and climb out of the pool unassisted. Her amazing progress can be credited to her instructor and the school owner, Gina Ambrose.

Ambrose, a Willow Glen resident, not only teaches at the year-round school, but was also its "first water baby." Her mother, Gretchen Mack, founded the school in 1951, when Ambrose was 14 months old. However, Water Babies was not born overnight.

Mack originally owned a preschool that had an old, mud-filled swimming pool on the property. Fearing her students would fall into the pool and injure themselves, she filled it with water and taught the children to swim. When school was out for the summer, Mack held swimming lessons in her own pool and eventually decided to create her own swimming school.

Ambrose has been teaching at the school for 32 years. During the summer, she spends eight to 10 hours a day in the pool, seeing over 75 students. However, Ambrose says she doesn't mind the long hours in the sun. "I love what I do so much, and I enjoy the children. It almost goes by too fast some days," she says, sitting in her air-conditioned office after Madison's lesson.

Madison and her mother, Karen Schmidt, attend one of Ambrose's three-week group sessions for children under age 4. Each session is limited to three students. During the 20-minute lessons, each child receives individual attention from Ambrose and practices his or her swimming skills with the parent who participates in the classes.

Thursday's lesson seemed to be as much fun for Karen as it was for her daughter. "It's exciting to watch her learn," she says afterward.

Learning to swim at a young age is important for the children's development, Ambrose says. Not only does it fortify the parent/child bond and improve social skills, but it also strengthens the children's bodies. She cites one case in which an infant student began to walk at the age of six months.

However, the most significant aspect of the lessons is their potential to save lives. Every summer, Ambrose hears stories of how her teachings have prevented children from drowning.

Ambrose is now trying to spread the word about infant swimming lessons. About three weeks ago, she and her mother published Water Babies: How to Teach Your Baby to Swim , which outlines the nine-lesson plan Ambrose uses with her youngest students.

Although Ambrose specializes with young children, her school teaches all ages, including adults. Children over age 4 can take private lessons with any of the school's 12 instructors.

During the summer months, about 250 children swim in her pool each day. The school is so popular that the waiting list for the next session is a page and a half long. However Ambrose does not want to open another school and risk sacrificing quality for quantity. Connie Mallory, the school manager, quotes Ambrose's motto, "I don't want to be the biggest. I just want to be the best."

For more information on Water Babies Swim School, call 377-4626.

[ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ]