Emler Swim School

Emler Swim School

Written by Darcie Duttweiler Thursday, 26 June 2008

At the age of 13, Jan Emler discovered that she could get paid for teaching swim lessons, thus making money combining her great loves of children and the water.

Then the YMCA paid her a whopping 50 cents an hour, and now Emler owns five year-round swim facilities in the Dallas-Ft. Worth and Austin metro areas. “It’s so much fun to serve people and teach kids to swim,” Emler said.

Emler’s mother cautioned her against a career in aquatic education, saying that it was a “teenager’s job,” so Emler received her Speech Pathology degree from SMU and a Master’s degree in Communication Disorders at Vanderbilt University while still teaching swim lessons during the summer.

After marrying her husband Dave and returning to Texas in 1975, Emler began her short-lived career as a speech therapist in the Arlington ISD and a long-term career as a summertime swim instructor for the Emler Swim School.

That first summer, Emler taught 12 kids in a backyard pool in Arlington, and, for 17 years, the school was a seasonal business while Emler had summers off from the school district. In 1992, the Emlers invested their three children’s college fund to build the first indoor, permanent aquatic facility in Arlington. “The risk paid off, and we made all our money back in that first year,” Emler said.

With their unique teaching methods, the Emler Swim Schools now enroll 20,000 kids a year, but it’s not all about swimming. “Our instructors have to fall in love with the children in front of them,” Emler said. “If the child loves you back, he or she will trust you to teach them how to swim.”

With only four kids to instructors, Emler Swim Schools place importance on child safety. They have a glass wall that separates the viewing room from the pool so that wayward siblings do not make their way into the pool unattended. The school also has a “Clothesline Day,” where the kids keep their clothes on over their swimsuit in order to learn how to swim with the burden of billowing clothes.

Emler Swim Schools have proof that their methods work. Along the wall in their viewing room, they proudly display “One Brave Day” certificates that detail how students of their programs were able to save themselves during an emergency because of their training.

Glenna Sager, the site director of the Anderson Mill location, explained that instructors give kids “a purpose in all the activities they do,” such as having themed days where the kids must go search for buried treasure, or rewarding them with M&M’s for a job well done.

“We hand out chocolate because candy has a greater power over children than the fear of the water,” Emler said.

This method was witnessed during a recent visit, when the aquatic director was giving a private lesson to a little girl who had water anxiety and she smiled for the first time in the water.

“Kids are on the cusp of discovery of this wonderful element that we can float on,” Emler said. “It’s as close to flying as we’re going to get.”

Why M&M’s?

Emler Swim School uses the candy-coated chocolate as a method of positive reinforcement for rewarding the kids for doing something correctly, but they’ve tried other snacks in the past. Peanuts, raisins and Skittles required extra chewing time, which made children not ready to take their next turn. Reese’s Pieces melted at a lower temperature and were squished when the kids went to grab them. M&M’s are the perfect treat to a day of swimming.

 

Emler Swim School 10700 Anderson Mill Road, Suite # 207 342-SWIM (7946) www.iswimemler.com