Snohomish Aquatic Center — Local services in Snohomish

My toddler almost DROWNED three times and nobody cared. The safety issue is huge here and dangerous. This will be a long review.

First off, the swim lessons are a joke! We arrived and the front desk was hard to understand and spoke so fast like they were tired of the question. The whole place was disorganized and we were told different things by 4 different people. Once we found the seahorse/sea turtle class, we asked the “instructor” if it was the right class, and he was absolutely rude and never introduced himself.

This was my son’s first time in the pool and the instructor never made him feel comfortable. My son was in the water, slipped on the step in the water before it went to the deeper side and the instructor’s back was turned and far away with two other toddlers and didn’t notice my son went under the water. The instructions are for parents to not hover near the pool so we were sitting and we noticed and had to run to pull our son out of the water. The instructor had then turned around and saw this had happened and didn’t even go swim TOWARDS OUR SON. He literally WATCHED us have to grab our son and never apologized for being so far away from our son or show any concern or that that incident had happened and that he never tried to rescue our son. When we pulled him out, he was coughing for a long time and the instructor didn’t show any care. Absolutely zero concern. The second time our son almost drowned our son got himself to the edge and we helped him get out of the pool. The third time, he slipped again while the instructor was trying to get our son to come in and he fell to the bottom and the instructor pulled him out. The instructor never once smiled, was rude and acted like he absolutely hated his job and hated kids.

There was zero instruction at all. The instructor just swam around watching the kids play and never taught them anything except how to kick their legs??? 30 minutes of him not watching our son and we had to do his job for him, afraid our son would almost drown again because the instructor was always neglecting him.

Another parent and I complained to the front desk, because she also felt horrified that my son almost drowned and also felt that there was zero instruction, a waste of money and a huge safety issue. First off, there was no manager?? The front desk said there was a “lead” in the back and they never came up to talk to us. No one was concerned and barely gave a crap that our child could’ve died. I got refunded fully and cancelled any future classes. The front desk did say there were “problems in the past” with said instructor. The front desk didn’t even know who the instructors were or if we could switch instructors because the instructors are so frequently changing, and is so disorganized.

Overall, this place was terrible and I would absolutely NOT take your child there for their safety, plus unprofessional and rude staff. Read the past reviews because they are true. Everything is a disorganized mess and I hope they get it together for the safety...

Swim classes here are laughable. To create a preschool swim class and tell the parents they are not allowed to assist their kid in any way, shape, or form. What do you expect from 3 - 4 year old children? We got there, and my son was eager to get in the water. I jumped in with him, and he was so happy. We started to explore the shallow end. Just to be told, "Get out of the water, you can't be in the water." They then tried to guide my son in without me, and he now says,"I don't want to swim." Thanks for completely changing my kids' perception on swimming. The fact you tell your employees the answer to why I can't assist my son in the pool is "there's a class for that." Yeah, but why can't I help him get in and participate? "They have a parents tot class for that." Okay.... thanks for clearing that up, ha! They had one answer for us when we said he won't get in by himself. That answer was "then cancel the classes." We were lost when we walked in the door. They didn't tell us where to go, what to do, who to see. We had to ask multiple employees just to be passed on to the next one. Your bare minimum effort as a staff should be recognized. I'm certain this is not the first issue with this class. Whoever made the rule parents can't get in with their kids should rename the class to "independent pre schoolers, or kids only swimmers." Being it the obvious answer for the kids who don't want to get in by themselves, this rule is a joke. I'm glad the staff is so eager to tell us goodbye. They give off a feeling of "it doesn't matter to me whether you stay or go, we have waiting lists." Not a single sorry, 0 compassion even from the manager. Just making it seen we find the exit door. This kind of mindset because you're the only show in town will only...

This aquatic center is my favorite thing about living in Snohomish! The saline system is so much easier on my skin than chlorine. I'm in the lap pool 3-5 times per week. The masters club is super welcoming. Coach Tonya is an incredible teacher and has helped me improve my stroke a ton! Meanwhile, on the rec pool side, we tried group swim lessons for the kids and weren't impressed, so we decided to do open swim once a week as a family and teach the kids ourselves. Saturdays and Sundays are too crowded, but Friday nights are great. The beach entry and all the fun water toys were great confidence-builders at first, especially for my oldest, who was nervous about putting his face in the water. After just a couple months, he learned how to keep the water out of his nose, and now he happily submerges, dives to pick toys up off the bottom of the pool, chases us through the lazy river, et cetera. Meanwhile my preschooler doesn't remember a time before the Snohomish Aquatic Center and is completely fearless. As long as both kids keep moving, the rec pool is warm enough for us to swim for an hour before they get cold. We've never had a safety, security, or hygiene concern about the facility. Lifeguards are on their A-game. In fact, we've witnessed multiple practice rescues, which shows that they're getting good training. And the front desk staff are courteous, quick, and helpful-- if you're a regular, they'll know you by name. THANK YOU, Snohomish...