Foss Swim School will be ringing in the new year with its sixth Chicagoland location. Opening in January, Foss Swim School will be located at 1820 N. Harlem Ave., Elmwood Park.
The school will open on Jan. 2 and will offer swimming lessons for kids and adults. Site director Casey Fogerty said there will be a grand opening week from Jan. 2 to Jan. 12.
According to Foss Swim School CEO Jon Foss, the new facility will house a 2,100-square-foot pool with state-of-the art equipment.
“There will be three very long lanes to learn the competitive strokes, and smaller areas for babies,” he said.
He said there will be private changing areas, “so each family will have somewhere to change.”
Foss Swim School will be offering classes for different age groups including 3- to 4-year-olds, 5- and 6-year-olds and 7- to 10-year-olds. There also will be classes for babies. There also will be classes for children older than 10, as well as adults.
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Foss explained there is several classes for adults, as well. There will be classes available to overcome fears regarding to water, adults handling themselves in the water, freestyle classes and learning swim strokes.
Fogerty explained that children aren’t necessarily placed in classes based on their age. They are also placed on their skill set.
“We place children together who have similar learning levels,” he said.
Foss has been traveling to Chicago to train swim instructors.
“Jon has been training the instructors personally and making sure they receive a Ph.D. level of training,” Fogerty said. “They are being taught how children learn and the psychology and physiology of learning how to swim.”
Foss said the school will open in the Elmwood Park area because the company thought it would be a great location.
“We marked about 15 locations when we came to Chicago of places we wanted to go,” he said. “We wanted Lincoln Park, Highland Park, Libertyville and Oak Park.”
Foss said they wanted to build a pool that would serve the Oak Park, River Forest, the west side of Chicago and Elmwood Park.
To celebrate the opening of the new Foss Swim School, there will be free family fun swim sessions on Jan. 12, from 5 to 7 p.m.
“The free swim will allow families to see the new state-of-the-art equipment,” Fogerty said. “It will be a fun time for people to come in and enjoy the new pool.”
Also, Fogerty said from Dec. 15 through Jan. 15, Foss Swim School will be collecting books for Bernie’s Book Bank.
For information, visit fossswimschool.com. To register for the free swim evening on Jan. 12, call 708-695-8100.
Maryann Pisano is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.