DACA Swim School — Local services in San Jose

I have mixed opinions about DACA. My 7 year old son was excited to participate. We practiced in our HOA pool until he could do basic freestyle and backstroke comfortably although his form was terrible. My son was very motivated, we went to the assessment and they recommended him for the begginer pre-competetive classes. We stuck with it for two months.

Long story short, it was too intimidating for my 7 year old. His coach was not very encouraging and being in a huge noisy cold pool complex was hard. DACA seems like a swimmer factory. Most coaches (including my son's) stand at the end of the pool, briefly explain a drill, and send the students off down the lane. The the coach tells the students all of the ways they messed up and explain what they need to do better. If your child is older (maybe 12+) and motivated, then they could probably benefit and get really good. Watching some of the other skill levels, I could see some really good swimming and instruction overall.

The problem is that for little kids, very new to swimming, they don't understand why they are doing drills or what the objectives are to certain form and technique. In my experience with swimming and other sports teams, the number one trait of a successful coach is positive reinforcement. E.g. Good - "That was great how you kept your head looking straight down at the bottom of the pool during your stroke. Keeping your head down will help you go faster and you won't wear out your neck. Keep your head lower when you breath like this." vs. Bad - "Don't bring your head so high out of the water when you breath. Do it again." I think that getting in the water with the kids at this age so they can model technique and learn to feel the proper stroke is critical as well. This is something the coach rarely did.

There was one coach I observed with a group of 12 year olds that was doing awesome. There was another coach I saw with 10 year olds that was just terrible (A big fat guy that just yelled at the kids and complained). I'm not sure how they assign instructors to the classes, but it seems hit and miss. Also class sizes ranged from 3 kids to 15 kids per instructor (bigger classes for the more experienced?).

I had no issues working with the administration. They were able to coordinate payment through a home school charter without issues. I think the pricing is fair since two 30 min classes per...

Registered for their Splash classes and later for their adult swim lessons(April and May 2013). Some instructors were good and some are not. I felt the instructors who are good for teaching kids need not necessarily be good with adults. Probably because, adults come with a lot of fears, predispositions and a much much slower learning pace than kids. The ability to relate to the adult's difficulties and be able to communicate in ways that would yield in the right body movements in water is possible only for a more experienced instructor. Adults do not have the same flexibility as kids. I encountered one very good instructor and one not good instructor, so I guess its best to enroll for splash classes and determine which instructor suits best before committing to a month long time slot with an unknown instructor for an adult class. I say this because their class change policies and cancellation policies are quite unfriendly. They theoretically say you can call 24 hours in advance to cancel a class, but they do not honor when we want to exercise. There are no make up classes. Does not help for most adults. I understand that they do not want people to unduly take advantage of rescheduling classes, but even for a sincere learner their policies are truly deterring continuity or value for money. I agree with others about the change facilities. I've seen an almost torn and falling apart shower curtain for a two months before they replaced it in the ladies change facility. They have just one shower in the change facility. For the traffic they have, they will need at least one more. The current shower has a rusty bench, and not that clean floors(may be difficult to maintain in such...

I came down here from Redding, CA to swim for DACA. After hearing so many good things about the team, from the quality character of the staff and swimmers to the swimming expertise relayed to me in the pool by Coach Pete and Coach Gordy. Before I had come down here, I had been having a tough time staying in the pool and my hunger for swimming was quickly dying out. I had come down to get rejuvenated and be a contributing member of this team (and a proud one at that). By the end of the summer, my expectations had been far exceeded. I went home and wore my cap with pride. It's been a few months since then, and I still miss it. It takes a special group of people to have me miss waking up at 5:50 AM six days a week in the summertime, or miss being told to kick even farther or faster than I thought I could. My teammates were also awesome. I was so thankful to be surrounded by such a stellar group of people. In addition to putting in work at the pool, I made some great friends. For the quality of coaching I had, the price was very reasonable. I am so grateful for everything DACA has...