Today we’d like to introduce you to Marissa Rios.
Marissa, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’ve always been in the water. I grew up with a pool and I was always the first one in and the last one out, bleary-eyed, sunburnt. I swam competitively and played water polo as a teenager. I became a lifeguard the summer after high school. I worked at a community pool and taught swim lessons. After this, I coached for a club swim team for about a year before being hired at the company I currently work at. That company is Floaties Swim School, a family-owned, year-round swim school with two locations in San Diego.
I worked with upper-level swimmers for the first year beginning in 2013. After realizing how much I enjoyed what I was doing, I sought training to teach the younger swimmers and eventually, the infants. I am now the Aquatics Director at Floaties Swim School, I work with kids of all ages and abilities beginning at three months old.
I never imagined myself working in aquatics, but it has brought such a sense of fulfillment to my life. Living in southern California, the chance of being near the ocean or near a pool is high so I want kids to be as safe as possible Being able to help kids learn to be safe and help themselves out in potentially dangerous situations is extremely rewarding.
Working with kids is something I have always wanted to do. They are hilarious and you never know what you are going to get with them from day to day. Another one of my favorite things about what I do is the relationships I build with the kids and families who swim with me. Many of them swim with me for multiple years and teaching them through the ups and downs is really a privilege. Coaching them through the difficult skills and frustrations and building their confidence while teaching them to have respect for the water. Finally having a breakthrough with something they have been working on for a long time is my favorite thing. Those are the moments I live for, the moments when I take a breath and feel so proud of what they have accomplished and tell myself this is why I do what I do.
I truly find joy in what I do every day and I especially love the variety. Teaching an 18 months old to pick up a toy underwater gives me the same sense of pride as when a four years old finally swims across the pool for the first time or a seven years old figures out the timing for breaststroke. I just love what I do and I am so thankful that I get to make a career out of it.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
One of the greatest challenges I face working in this field is figuring out how to get through to each of my students. Every kid is different and maybe one thing will work for one kid, but not for another kid so I have to figure out another way to explain it. Sometimes, I can spend a month explaining the same skill 17 different ways but when I think of an 18th way, it finally clicks and we have those breakthroughs. Other times, my students work so hard practicing the same skill over and over and then suddenly they can do it on their own.
When we have been working on something for a long time and the student still hasn’t figured out how to do that particular skill is when it is most difficult for me. When I feel like I am running out of new ways to try something, so I ask other instructors to take a look and see if they see something different. Sometimes I have just been staring at it for too long and I just need some fresh eyes. I feel pressure because I want my students to be successful and safe in the water and I want their parents to see progress. Those are the times when I doubt myself the most, yet they always end up being the most rewarding once we have accomplished what we were working towards.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am the Aquatics Director at family-owned swim school called Floaties Swim school. I teach kids of all ages, abilities and skill levels beginning with three months old to students working on competitive strokes preparing to join swim teams.
One of the things I am most proud of is creating an additional class level at Floaties Swim School. In 2016 I pitched the idea to run an after hours class in the empty pool for the older, more skilled swimmers. The idea was for it to be a stepping stone between swim lessons and joining a swim team. We rolled out the new program in 2017 and it has been pretty successful since then. We have up to 16 swimmers at a time doing a swim practice type of class.
I am also an infant teacher which means I teach foundational skills to little ones and their parents. Infants can do a lot more in the water than you would think. It is really incredible to see.
At Floaties, we do all of our own in house training. It takes about 4-6 weeks to fully train a new swim instructor. I oversee a team of senior instructors who carry out that training process. With the help of my training staff, I also run continuing education training meetings keep everything fresh as well open up discussions with the other instructors about difficulties they might be facing in their own teaching and how to find solutions.
What are your plans for the future?
I began here as a swim instructor then moved up to be a training instructor which meant that I was a supervisor and helped train new hires. Now, I am the Aquatics Director where I lead a team of other trainers and oversee all of the training and in water staff across two locations.
I am really looking forward to the future. I would love to continue growing with his company that has offered me so many great opportunities.
Contact Info:
- Email: marissa@floatiesswimschool.com
- Website: https://floatiesswimschool.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/floatiesswimschool/
Image Credits
Lauren Pollard
