Children’s Swimming School With Warm Water to Open

A hands-on swimming school where children won’t get too cold is coming to Reston. Goldfish Swim School will open on Nov. 1 with a 25-yard pool filled with 90 degree water, co-owner Gina Bewersdorf said Monday morning.

“The kids never get chilly,” she said. “It’s like nice bathwater.”

With a space about half the length of an Olympic-size pool being dug now at 12340 Pinecrest Rd., Goldfish will serve kids from 4 months old to 12 years old. Supervision will consist of instructors, lifeguards and deck supervisors. Whereas many swim lessons include as many as eight children per class, Goldfish’s classes will have just four kids.

“That’s a really big deal,” said Bewersdorf, a radiologist who will run the business with her husband, lawyer Ryan Bewersdorf.

In addition to focusing on students’ safety and comfort, the curriculum aims to teach kids at their own pace.

“Here, you don’t move [to the next class] because the class has ended, you move up because you’re ready,” Bewersdorf said.

The Reston school will be the first Virginia location of Goldfish, which opened in the Detroit area in 2006 and has 15 outposts nationally.

Swimming classes are open for registration online and by calling (703) 348-3261. A drop-in lesson costs $23.75. One lesson per week in a group of four children costs $95 per month, and private lessons cost $220 per month.