What Our Swimmers Say

Our daughter's experience learning to swim with Ms. Linda Bolger has been dynamic, fun, and educational for both our daughter and us, as parents.

From the outset, Ms. Linda mandated the use of a life vest (puddle jumper) as an essential tool during swim lessons, explaining that our daughter is still developing muscle memory, and coordinating breath while learning technique. It's a lot for a child to coordinate and remember. We found that the life vest positioned our daughter correctly in the water until those pieces fell into place!

Our strong-willed daughter often wanted to reject the life vest, but Ms. Linda emphasizes safety making it easier for a child to accept. Ms. Linda showed us how to break down the strokes into steps that keep the child challenged and at a pace that keeps the excitement and enthusiasm at their personal pace! Every child learns at their speed and she did not force our daughter to do something she wasn't ready to try.

Listening for most 3-4 year olds can be a challenge. Ms. Linda has a firm, direct approach giving the child and parent a great feeling of safety in the water. She gauges the confidence level of the child and adapts the lesson to fit your child's needs!

At age 4 our daughter has a basic grasp of all strokes: front crawl, breast stroke, backstroke, and butterfly. She can tread water for two minutes on her own with hands up out of the water. Now shifting gears, Ms. Linda is moving to an emphasis of stamina encouraging our daughter to swim multiple lengths. I'm amazed at the energy of our daughter and her willingness to achieve goals set by her teacher! As parents, Linda has encouraged us to think ahead and even consider a swim team for our daughter next year.

The lessons of safety, trust, respect and confidence grow with child and teacher. It's a great dynamic to watch. Linda's experience and personality facilitate a great learning curve. We are delighted our daughter has had this positive energy and wonderful fun in the water. She has been given space to come up with her own strokes she called whirls, spins and mermaid moves, encouraging creativity and play as important components of the lessons.

Thank you for all that you have taught us, Linda!

I asked Linda about her summer activities and discovered she has enjoyed teaching others to swim for many years. We began talking about my introduction to swimming as a laughing matter for which I offered my story of trauma and fear as a result of my first swimming lesson. I had a styrofoam square strapped to my back and after being coaxed into the water, I was immediately hurled face first into the water. This incident affected my entire life regarding being in and around water 45 years later. Our conversation regarding taking swimming lessons as an adult caused immediate anxiety and sweaty palms. That being said, I'm signing up to take lessons with Linda!

As an emergency room doctor in New Jersey for over 30 years, I have seen my share of drowning incidents. Each one as tragic as the next. Most were preventable. I became aware of the FAST Swim Program when my daughter Meagan became an instructor for special needs children through a grant Linda had obtained. My wife Cyndi is a special education teacher and also assisted with the program. Linda's manual and workbook covers all the safety awareness and skills progressions necessary to instill a safe water experience. Linda's emphasis on life jacket usage for all non-swimmers is critical to the reduction of drowning incidents.

I am a mother of three (3-year-old twin boys and a 5-year-old daughter) and we have been taking lessons with Miss Bubbles/Linda since late June 2017 and the results have been incredible! The life jackets have increased their strength, confidence, and eliminated their fears in the water! We have had swim lessons in the past, but I have never seen such progress in my kids. They are now swimming, including full strokes, across our pool without jackets and putting faces in the water while blowing bubbles! I was skeptical at first of this teaching style with life jackets because it was so different than past lessons and I was worried that the kids would be dependent on them for life but was surprised that it was just the opposite effect! I highly recommend this teaching method!

I took my first swim lesson with instructor Linda Bolger in February 2018. Linda had me put on a life jacket before even entering the water. Since I was unable to touch the bottom of the pool, the life jacket allowed me to stay afloat while Linda instructed the basics such as dog paddle, breathing with face out of the water at first and then breathing with my face in the water and then basic strokes. The life jacket allowed me the freedom of learning to swim without worrying about sinking. As I felt more comfortable in the water, the life jacket was removed, and the same techniques were achieved without the help of the life jacket. At the end of the lesson, as I was tiring, Linda had me put the life jacket back on so I could get the reinforcement of swimming. Life jacket, great idea!