Farnsworth Swim School

Last wk of swim summer 2026/ Closing Thoughts
They say “it takes a village to raise a child,” and I’ve learned that it also takes a village to run a swim school!
A thank you to Vanessa Cendejas, who had an outstanding first year as our Operations Manager. Vanessa stepped into an important leadership role with professionalism, care, and a willingness to learn and grow throughout the season. She helped keep so many moving pieces organized, supported our instructors, communicated with families, and helped make sure our swimmers had the best experience possible. I’m incredibly grateful for everything she contributed to our program!
Our instructors are truly at the heart of what we do. They are the ones in the water every day building relationships with swimmers, encouraging them through challenges, celebrating their successes, and helping them develop confidence and water safety skills.
Teaching swimming requires so much more than simply knowing how to swim. It takes patience, energy, creativity, and the ability to connect with each individual swimmer. Our instructors work hard to meet swimmers where they are and help them move forward.
Sometimes progress means learning a new stroke, improving technique, or swimming farther than ever before. Other times, the biggest victory is putting a face in the water for the first time, letting go of the wall, trusting an instructor, or realizing, “I can do this!”
Running a seasonal swim school also requires a tremendous amount of teamwork behind the scenes—planning, scheduling, training, communicating, problem-solving, and adjusting when unexpected things happen. Every summer brings its own challenges and opportunities to learn, and I continue to be amazed by what can happen when people come together with a shared commitment to helping swimmers succeed.
I’m thankful for every person who contributed to our season. Our managers, instructors, pool partners, families, and, of course, our swimmers.
Farnsworth Swim School would not be what it is without all of you.
It truly takes a village, and I feel very fortunate for ours.
Thank you to our team for your hard work, dedication and commitment to making this summer amazing!

We’re officially over halfway through the season! ☀️💙

A huge thank you to all of our new and returning Farnsworth families for spending your summer with us. We truly appreciate your continued support and love being a part of your swimmers’ progress year after year. 🏊‍♀️✨

There are still a few lesson openings available before the season wraps up, so if you’ve been thinking about signing up, now’s the time! We can’t wait to make the most of the rest of this summer with you. Link in bio! 🌊☀️

Goggles are not recommended for beginners!
Are Goggles Recommended for Beginners?

We are commonly asked if goggles are recommended or required for lessons. In short, goggles are NOT recommended, especially for beginners.

At the Farnsworth Swim School, we never recommend using goggles when learning to swim, because this creates a dependency on them & can become a crutch.

It might make things easier in the short-term because many swimmers feel safer when they open their eyes, but it makes it harder in the long-term.
Our goal is water safety and empowering our swimmers to be the best swimmers possible, and learning to swim with goggles will create obstacles later on.
Being dependent on goggles when 1st learning is not setting the swimmer up for success!

By learning without goggles, this trains the swimmer to be comfortable putting their face in the water and getting water in their eyes.
Beginners must practice putting their eyes in the water and work through their discomfort in order to become water safe.

I'm so proud of Vanessa's accomplishments! I feel honored to call Vanessa my friend and my operations manager of the Farnsworth Swim School. She's been one of my Swim instructors for the last four years and I promoted her as manager at the end of last season. I want to take this moment to celebrate and honor her as a powerful woman who got into UC Berkeley! 🎉💕Vanessa is a first generation Chicana and has worked very hard with her education and everything she does! She puts her heart and whole self into all she does and truly goes the extra mile! She's been a huge contribution to my Swim school, to her students, our team, and to all of our swim families. UC Berkeley is lucky to have her! I'm so proud of you, Vanessa!! You're going to do magical and successful things in the world! 💘🙏🏼

We currently have a few openings available! Please note that time slots are subject to change, so we recommend booking as soon as possible!

Thank you once again for your continued support and registrations!! 💙💛😊
BOOK YOUR LESSON NOW: link in bio!

Additional Swim Openings/ Promotion for 1 week
Optimal Age to Start Swim Lessons
Here at Farnsworth Swim School, we recommend that children begin their swim lessons as soon as possible! We teach students as young as 12 months old, and we have found that the earlier a student begins, the less fearful and more comfortable in the water they tend to become.

When children begin lessons at a very young age, they become naturally less fearful about the water.

Toddlers tend to be more upset about being away from their parents than worrying about the water, and this type of fear is much easier to overcome.
Once they have formed a bond of trust with their instructor, they are able to have fun and learn to love the water.