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Love to Swim
Adaptive Swim Lessons for All Abilities
We are Love To Swim
The Full Story About
The Williams family
A Life-Changing Discovery
5 years ago, when Covid began my life changed drastically. Not because of Covid but because I noticed a change in my sweet child Asher. He was just barely 2 and began to show regression in various stages of his adolescence. That summer we finally figured out what was happening with the help of loving community we are surrounded by. He was diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder. As I dove into the unknowns I came across so many parents with similar fears, frustrations and hopes and dreams. Thankfully drowning was not one I had to fear any longer because I taught my son Infant survival skills when he learned to walk! It dawned on me how many parents did not have the luxury I did or the peace of mind.
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A Passion for Teaching and a Growing Mission
I had already been teaching swimming lessons in my backyard when Asher was born, and had begun to establish a following within the disability & special needs community, In my heart I had felt a deep sense of wanting to do more than just teach lessons, I felt that I needed to do more to really focus on the awareness of Drowning and how to prevent it. It brings me great joy to be working with kids that are faced with different challenges and some that have debilitating fears and need extra guidance with positive reinforced support.. I felt the tug where I truly love working with children with disabilities. My clientele began to grow rapidly just by word of mouth and within 3 years I was in need of some assistance. When Asher was diagnosed with Autism it truly inspired me to go further and try harder to help more. Specifically the community that we love so hard, the people who tend to sometimes get lost or left behind. The not so greatest abilities in or around water and access to coaches who understand how to communicate and what these children want & need.
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Expanding the Vision with a Team
That summer I hired my first co-coach Ms. Cassie and also began working with the San Diego Regional Center as a vendor on their list of referrals. I knew in my heart when I started this business 7 years ago I was going to someday open my own public indoor swim school that would be accessible to anyone but was created for a specific purpose for specific people. In fact the year I started teaching swimming I created a vision board and on it I made a list of things including owning a swim school. Every year I felt the urge to expand but knew it my heart it wasn't time yet and to trust my gut and God. This last year i saw the explosive growth this summer and decided it was time to go big bringing in 6 coaches as a trial to see if my home pool could handle the quantity. We had the best time, we also learned that this pool was not big enough for the caseload and still had a wait-list. After summer was over I took a huge leap of faith and decided it was time to go bigger! By starting a nonprofit we will have the ability to apply for grands and government funding as well as private donations and that will help reach hundreds if not thousands more children in our local community and make it fun and affordable so no one would ever be turned away. The greatest joy and pride I have is the fact it is specialized for special needs first and foremost. We accept all and look forward to helping everyone reach their full potential. We see the abilities in capabilities not to just be seen as a person having a disability.
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The Need for a Bigger Impact
The statistics for drowning are already astronomically high. In 2020, 339 children younger than age 15 fatally drowned, but in 2021, that figure rose by 12% with 380 children fatally drowning. Children five years old and younger are especially vulnerable – this age group represents 75% of child drowning deaths and 77% of nonfatal injuries.
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Drowning Risks for Children with Autism
Children with an ASD are 160 times more likely to drown than their neurotypical peers. 50% of children with autism wander – nearly all gravitate towards water. 70-80% of childhood drowning occurs in the backyard swimming pool. These findings are sobering and underscore why fatal child drownings are a public health crisis.
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Making Swim Lessons Accessible for All
The good news is these tragedies are preventable. This is why I have started this nonprofit so that no matter the financial circumstance the family has it will not be the reason these children do not get the exceptional help that they deserve.
