King’s Swim Academy

Great experience here at King’s Swim Academy, San Mateo! I didn’t receive professional training while growing up so my swimming technique was very flawed and I wanted to swim with better technique and hence more confidence. I tried a couple of other places before King’s and the results were not good at all. Then this year, I made a decision to give King’s a try as it is only a few blocks from my house and I am so glad I decided to do that.
My instructor is Duc and he is simply fabulous. It’s been less than a month of weekly group lessons and I have already come a long way. I will recommend King’s and specifically Duc to anyone who wants to improve /​learn swimming.

Ask for David DeGuzman, Melissa and Eric Lobotos for teachers. They are the nicest people there.

The teachers at KSA San Carlos are great — encouraging, good with kids, and methodical. The only reason for not giving it 5 stars is a) due to the limited availability of private/​semi-​private lessons and b) size of the lanes for group lessons is tight for 4 kids, when they get bigger. When my kids were 2 – 3 years old, it seemed to work, but now that they are almost 7 and 8, they seem to be running into everything — other kids, lane dividers.

Jennifer is an awesome instructor! She pays attention to details and very supportive and patient. With her expertise, I feel like I’ll be a swimmer sooner than I expected!

We love kings swim!
My son has been taking lessons here for over a year. The instructors are great, especially teacher Mollie!

We’re moving out of state and we’ll miss KSA! We will miss all of the great swim instructors, especially Coach Mollie, and the special role Kings Swim Academy has played in teaching our daughters the importance of water safety while having fun! We have incorporated the songs from swim lessons into bath time — which often times is mistaken for a mini-​swim lesson itself! We use the term «elbow-​elbow-​knee-​knee» for any climbing activity — not just getting out of the pool! Shiloh and the office team are on top of scheduling make-​up classes, following up on email inquiries, managing convenient online payments, and keeping the holiday décor up-​to-​date! I think the one bit of advice I would pass along is maintain communication with the coaches and staff — they’re there to help and want to correct any glitches that might come up. I would definitely recommend KSA to my family and friends!

It’s awesome place to teach your child how to swim from the early age. Stephanie is such a joy and been loved by the kids and my girl love her so much and feel so safe with her to learn and she can’t wait for Tuesday to come so she will be her!!!
Big thanks from us to you and your team.
Julia Farajin Daddy

My 5 year old son has flourished here! He went from a timid child who was fearful of water to doing «cannonballs» in less than 4 months. :-) Not to mention all the different strokes he’s mastered.
The staff is kind and professional. We love it here!

We recently had our kid’s birthday party at King’s Swim Academy. By far this turned out to be the best birthday party we have had (8^th one). We had the whole pool for our guest during the entire time. The staff as very help. In the play area there was plenty of space for all the kids to sit down and have their food and cake after the party. One of the Dad got late coming to pick up his kid after the party, but the King’s Swim Academy staff was very patient and waited with us till the Dad arrived. Overall a great experience.

See my San Mateo facility review also…
Why does this place have so many stars!
To be fair, I have been only to one swim school — Kings (both locations), so once I go to the other places I might change my mind!
I think it might be because they allow make-​up classes (others really do not?). We have been taking the Parent and me classes for many months and I see small progress. If a child is perpetually enrolled, they make money — what is the incentive to have them learn swimming!
Rescheduling make-​up classes is not easy. They are closed on Sundays. If both parents are working long hours when do you schedule the make-​up classes?
Facilities are much better than San Mateo though there is that pervasive damp smell — can’t be helped I suppose! Plentiful parking, very nice play area, expensive store — $ 20 towels! Swim lessons start after 3 – 5 mins of floating which is faster than the San Mateo facility! The meaningless Hokey-​pokey song happens here too but some teachers modify to have actual swimming skills included in the song.

Love Shiloh and her team.
We purchased an Amazon Local package to try things out for my 4 year old son. Shiloh was extremely accommodating despite a very crazy summer schedule.
We were very lucky to get teacher Ron with whom my son connected immediately. My son cried the first 2 – 3 classes and Ron was extremely attentive and made it fun. After a few months, my son now loves swimming classes and is comfortable doing things that I never thought he would try.
We are usually absent about once a month, and have never had any problems rescheduling. Love the make-​up class policy and staff’s flexibility to make things right.

Again, the amazing friendly office staff (Christina) at KSA made it possible for us to try out San Mateo location just to see if it will work for us better. This way I wouldn’t lose my current spot at San Carlos but that will give me a chance to explore the SM location. Thank you Christina for your great help and patience.

My compliments to King’s Swim Academy for vastly improving my 10 year old’s swimming form in 6 lessons.
The instructor was very attentive and did a great job of making the lessons very engaging for my son. He really liked it and wants to continue.

Our family has been with King’s Swim Academy for over 5 years. My oldest daughter started at KSA when she was a preschooler and after completing all 4 levels, has now joined a swim team. My younger daughter just started taking lessons last year and she looks forward to her swim lessons every week.
Over these last five years, I have to say that I have been pleased with the quality of the teachers. Whether we were changing instructors for scheduling reasons or for moving up to the next level, every teacher has been professional, nurturing and knowledgeable. The Smiths do an amazing job recruiting and retaining talented instructors and as a result, the school has grown over the years. Yet, even with the growth, the owners have kept that personal touch so you don’t feel like just a number. It is not uncommon to see Jeff at the school giving kids hi-​5s, encouraging the staff and greeting parents.
The San Carlos location has a great waiting area for parents and caregivers. There is a play area with books and toys for the kids waiting for lessons or siblings, a sitting area if you want to wait in a quieter area, a viewing area to watch lessons, and even some tables in case you need to get some work done (WiFi is available).
There are also different options for changing and cleaning up after lessons. There is a shower room, but they are not individual shower stalls. I actually like this because it helps move things along faster since people don’t take as long in the shower this way.
There is space and cubbies if you just want to get ready here, but if you prefer a more private area to dress your child (or yourself), there are private dressing stalls in the Parent/​Child changing areas.
We love King’s Swim Academy and will continue to recommend this wonderful school with confidence!

Cute little place. I wanted to take my 5 year old daughter to swim lessons near where i work. It is a well oiled machine. They have bleachers parents can sit at that is not in the pool area. Of course, I choose not to sit there but to sit on a chair right where the action is at so i can watch everything my daughter is doing. They also have a play area for young children right along side the bleacher viewing area. My daughter’s teacher is Kristen and she is very nice. I like her and so does my daughter. She stays on track with the teaching and every week I see progress. Convenience was more important than price at the time so i don’t know if their rates are competitive or not. They do have a lot of options for lessons. They have 2 dressing rooms and a bathroom outside the swim area near the bleachers when you walk in. They also have a fathers and separate mothers dressing area parents can take their children 6 and under. They have a men and woman’s bathroom in the back on the other side of the pool. I don’t know about the men but the woman’s bathroom has one toilet and a shower area like a high school locker room with 4 shower heads. There is also a dressing area for after a shower and 2 sinks. I am pleased with the whole set up and i like the fact there is an employee standing on the outside of the pool at the beckoning call of any of the instructors even if it is to allow a child to blow their nose, handing them a kleenex and holding a trash can they can throw the tissue into.

Updating Unilocal Review as i heard back from the Owner and got Refund.
My son have attended the class only 3 times so far here.
Pros:
* Very nice seating area for parents
* Owner is very responsive and cares about her business, responds quickly to make customers happy
Cons:
* When my son cries the instructor is not taking any effort to help calm him down, she just moves to other kids.
* She doesn’t even try to get friendly with him.
* Furthermore in our last class the instructor suggested us after 15 minutes that its probably better to take my son out of the pool because the water in the pool is colder (rather than getting the temperature in the pool right for the babies)
** A.K.A Water is not heated to right comfortable Right temperature?
* My son was sick twice, so we were not able to go for 2 classes, they still wont give credit of extra class. Instead they are fine bringing sick kids to pool.
Hope these things will change as owners is aware for others. We dont plan to take our son back to Kings

My daughter attends swimming lessons here with Teacher Diana. Teacher Diana helped my daughter progress from being fearful of the water, not wanting to get her head wet or go underwater to being super excited about swimming lessons. My daughter now can hold her breath and swim 10 – 15 feet and loves the water.
Teacher Diana is really gentle and kind with the children, especially the fearful kids. She also encourages each child to swim to the best of their abilities and will push them to try more. She is a really excellent teacher, and seems to really understand children. She also teaches adult lessons which I might look into for myself.
Overall, the facility is clean and well staffed. We did have some issues over a year ago when we joined with high teacher turnover, but transferring into a class with a stable teacher has really helped with that.
My one complaint is regarding the wait list process for signing up for a new class. You can be added to the wait list, but they will not place you into the class when a spot opens up. You will need to keep checking in every day to see if a spot has opened up and then can sign up regardless of where you are on the wait list.

My 2 kids took lessons at Kings for 3 years. There is a huge waiting/​viewing room for the parents which is awesome. It’s behind a glass wall, so not too distracting for the kids in the water. The changing room has plenty of space and parking is easy.
For the last year, it has gotten quite crowded in the pool. They seem to want to fill every class to capacity with last minute sales. For the level 3 and 4 classes, 4 students and a teacher in 1 lane is a VERY tight fit.
My kids have had a mix of teachers, but they always asked for Teacher Whitney. When they ask, they get it! I’ve learned that kids learn best when they get a teacher they can really connect with and one that knows just how much to challenge them to move them forward. My youngest started at 4 years old in level 1a, while my oldest finished level 4 when he was 9 years old. Whitney was great for all those ages. She is encouraging yet firm with her instructions. She is also fun and you can hear both my kids laughing when they are with her. We’ve taken group and private lessons with her and she is worth every dollar!
If you can find a teacher that you like here, definitely follow through the levels with that teacher. When you get one that just doesn’t fit or makes your child frustrated or hate swim lessons, it’s time to change teachers. They make all the difference.

Our family started going to King’s Swim Academy when it was in San Mateo when it was known as Taft. We came back to different ownership, but unexpectedly had a great experience with the new staff.
When they switched ownership at the San Mateo pool, we decided to try out the San Carlos pool. We are so happy with the switch. Ample parking. Near shops if you can race there and back in time. There’s plenty of space for siblings to do homework, adults to lounge on couches and a play area for young children.
The office is very helpful! The staff and owners genuinely care for the kids and share their love for swimming.
Our oldest kid went to Taft Swim before it was King’s. Now our next two are swimming at the same pool their sister did.
My nephew Hayden has been on a swim scholarship and we believe swimming has helped him with his motor skills and development.
Thank you to the staff and teachers at King’s!

I think this is a great center for kids swimming lessons. It’s in an enclosed building with lots of parking behind REI (you can see the entrance facing the 101 freeway). The pool is heated and the water doesn’t seem to negatively affect my toddler. They have a large shower room and changing area which is nice; allows for easy cleaning and dressing without getting cold. I also like that they have a waiting room (with free wi-​fi) that faces the pool area so you can sit away from the action yet still have a good view (my son tries to come out of the pool if he sees me, so this allows me to effectively hide out of his sight but I still get to watch). The waiting room also has a kids play area which is awesome for keeping my son entertained before and after the lesson.
The teachers seem good with the kids, although we’re only in the Parent and Me class so I’m not sure exactly how much my son is getting out of it at this stage. I’m happy so far and will definitely stay here for future swim lessons.
Tip: weekend classes fill up quick, and will often show up as full on their online website registration. But call the office and ask them to wait list for a specific class. I had checked the site for weeks waiting for an opening to come up, but after I finally emailed the owner, she put me in a class immediately since she knew of the openings ahead of time!