More than a swim lesson: Aqua Journey Swim School in Ormond Beach focuses on water safety

The family-owned business has two pools and offers swim lessons for infants as young as 6 months old. The primary focus is survival, owner Carly Caldwell said.

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Drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1-4 in the United States.

Every year, there are over 4,000 unintentional drowning deaths, according to data by the Centers for Disease Control. The numbers of deaths spike during the summer months.

Aqua Journey Swim School in Ormond Beach takes these statistics seriously, and has made it a mission to raise awareness about water safety and the importance of swim skills in children.

"I've been around the pool since I was young," said swim school owner Carly Caldwell. "So watching kids go through that process, and the families and the relationships that are built, and watching them just learn skills that could protect them for the rest of their life, I just became really passionate about it."

The school was founded by Caldwell's mother, who began teaching in the area in 1992. Aqua Journey opened its first indoor school in 2012 and has now been at its location at 721 S. Nova Road for 10 years.

The family-owned business has two pools and offers swim lessons for infants as young as 6 months old. The primary focus is survival, Caldwell said.

"We take a little bit of a different approach than just traditional swimming lessons, and we teach them if they were to find themselves alone in any body of water, they would learn how to roll over and float independently," she said.

That's what makes their work rewarding, she added. They're able to watch children go from never having any experience around water, and perhaps being a bit fearful, to becoming excited to come to lessons and swim and float on their own. 

Talking to and hearing stories from families who have experienced incidents where their children have accidentally fallen into a body of water, or those who have lost a child to accidental drowning, helps fuel the passion for their mission. 

Employee Josh Triplett has four young daughters. All of them have gone through the Aqua Journey program. He enrolled them at 2 years old.

When he was that age, he almost drowned after jumping into the deep end of a pool. A 12-year-old girl scooped him up from the bottom and brought him to the surface. 

That's something parents never think will happen to their child, Triplett said.

"My dad would have never thought that I was going to run and jump into the pool in the deep end, thinking that he would come get me or something," Triplett said. "It can happen so fast."

Employee Kylee Tyrrell learned how to swim from Caldwell's mother. Having been born and raised in the area, she's been around water her whole life. So when her infant daughter turned 6 months old, Tyrell enrolled in swim lessons at the school.

"It's not ever easy on a parent, and especially having my infant go through the program, there's going to be hard days because they are being pushed to work and learn a whole new skill, but it's rewarding when you see it pay off," Tyrell said.

A sentiment they hear a lot is, "This won't happen to my child," Caldwell said. But the reality is it can. 

"One more child that goes through our program is that much safer, and really I feel like we're creating a safer community here with the school," Caldwell said.

Visit aquajourneyswimschool.com.

 

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