The instructor explained the steps to effective freestyle swimming. She demonstrated then had me do…read moreit. Explanations were easy to understand.

I can't say enough good things about Anna. She's one of the best swim coaches I've ever worked with…read more-- knowledgeable, passionate, flexible, confident, and just genuinely great to be around. Highly recommended!

This review is not for Big Blue but for a specific teacher. Gloria is a real life magical mermaid…read more She is an incredible teacher, advocate, and role model. I'm truly in awe of her ability to maintain enthusiasm, warmth, insight, and intention through lesson after lesson. She is working on another level. She packs so much into a 30 minute lesson - challenging her students to build skill, creating a sense of community, encouraging them to support each other. We've had a few teachers at Big Blue, all clearly well trained, and our child demonstrates more growth in one session with Gloria than a month with his other teachers. I've worked in schools and observed educators in various settings for many years. Gloria has the passion and charisma that I recognize from the best teachers I've known. Even when my child was not in her class, Gloria advocated for his learning experience, working with the staff to make sure he was in the right level for both his age and skill. Whatever you are paying her, quadruple it. We are lucky to have Gloria in our community. Generally our experiences with big blue staff have been positive. Staff are always friendly and helpful. Gloria, again, stands head and shoulders above the rest.

The management of this facility and its customer service here have really gone down hill. With as…read moremany options exist in our neighborhood, I would avoid this place. Our sons attended lessons here 2-3 years ago and we had a fine experience. Great instructor who really knew them and knew how to motivate and celebrated their successes. This summer, we enrolled our one year old daughter. The classes had a different instructor every week. Classes were often cancelled due to facility closures with little to no notice. Refunds are not given for those cancellations- they will offer to give you a credit to come at another time (even if you literally cannot make any of the available times). After months of "membership" and only attending 1 class I finally cancelled, which I had to do via text message to reach their customer service. 2 months later they are still charging me. Avoid this place.

After seven years, we recently unenrolled our children from Goldfish Wicker Park after two and a…read morehalf years of repeated frustrations with communication, instructional accountability, and prolonged stagnation in swim levels. Most recently, our daughter spent approximately 13 months in one level at a cost of nearly $1,700, only to be told she still had not mastered skills that should have been intentionally addressed throughout the year. What was most disappointing was not simply the slow progression, but the lack of proactive communication and the repeated feeling that meaningful intervention only occurred after parent escalation. This has now happened multiple times across both of our children. Rather than acknowledging the pattern or engaging thoughtfully with our concerns, management became highly defensive and focused primarily on justifying staff actions through internal notes. We fully understand that children progress differently and that safety matters. However, families also deserve transparency, progress monitoring, and a collaborative approach when concerns are raised, especially at the price point of these lessons. There are many wonderful instructors there, and our frustration is not with individual young staff members. Our concern is with leadership, accountability structures, and how concerns are handled when families advocate for their children.

I will start out by saying that my baby doesn't take lessons here. It's a little far away for me…read morewhen there are a few places closer, and it's also pretty popular and sometimes hard to get into (my friend was on the wait list for a class and had to scramble to get in) so I chose somewhere else. It's awesome that they have infant classes, and when I visited there was a children's class in full swing and looked like everyone was having a blast! But said friend let me know that they have a great selection of swim products and that is why I stopped in. Swim diapers are a thing I didn't know existed and I wanted a reusable one. They sell Green Sprouts (I think that's the brand), which one can get on Amazon but I needed one right away so I stopped in. I may have come when they were a little low on inventory so I couldn't pick up one of the super cute ones, but I got one that works great, just boring in pattern. The price was great so buying from Amazon would have just been a bit of a convenience with the home delivery. Parking lot here is huge, so you'll have no problems finding a space. (In fact, that's a major attraction for my friend.) The staff were really friendly as well, and if it was a bit closer I'd probably come here for swim lessons.

I spent a lot of time trying to find a good class for my son Braedan who is 6 and on the spectrum…read more Classes like this can be a bit of a challenge for him. He started about 4 weeks ago and he is in the Dolphin program which is individualized and has done so well. Jayla his instructor has been so patient and attentive to he needs and very quickly gained his trust. In a few weeks he's making great progress. I am very confident he will develop the skills to be a strong and safe swimmer.

We are in swim lessons for our 4 month old girls and it is going great! Easy location and access…read morewithin LA Fitness.

Update: Iryna, the owner spoke with me and explained what was going on. She went out of her way to…read moremeet with me personally at my child's class and made sure the instructor was made aware of her my child's situation. She also personally evaluated my child and even gave some pointers to my child. My daughter was able to advance to the next level and is happy with her instructors. I appreciate the owner's interest in my issue and her willingness to immediately take steps to mediate the situation. Thanks.

My kids tried two other popular swim school establishments before coming here…read more Needless to say, they (ages from 9-13) liked this place the best..the staff is very nice and truly focus on teaching swimming skills. Ive noticed significant improvement in their swimming abilities in 2 months that they've been coming here than in 1 yr they were at the other place.

Isabella was so patient with both of our boys. They absolutely loved her and gained a ton of…read moreconfidence in the water!

Gina B. is an excellent swim instructor! She is warm, patient, kind, and made our infant feel…read morecomfortable during her very first swim lessons. She was always punctual and came prepared with toys and equipment that made each lesson engaging and fun. Her sweet personality and calm energy immediately put both baby and parents at ease. You can truly tell she loves working with children, and we're so grateful for such a positive first swimming experience. Highly recommend!

My daughter needed to gain confidence swimming without a life jacket and we tried this facility out…read moreof convience. The swimming pool area and floatees are clean and don't reek of chlorine. Shower divider is made of glass overlooking the indoor pool. Restrooms, locker room area, and changing area separates from the swimming pool area. Depending on the age and swimming level of your child under 12 years old, monthly cost is either $90 or $120+. The professional staff, esp the lifegaurd, focus on both fun and safety. Always can make up a class missed within that week without a penalty. We especially love the daily family swim, which is included in the membership. Family swim another activity for my daughter and I to bond and away from hot temperatures. My daughter's swimming coach encouarges each lesson to build on present skills that makes her come every week. Based on one of the employees, that their program os so effective that each level of advancement is on an average of 3 months.

We had a really good experience at Goldfish Swim School in Roscoe Village and would give it a solid…read more4/5 overall. The facility was clean and appeared well maintained, which is especially important to me when it comes to a place with a pool and lots of children. The staff was also very friendly and welcoming. Everyone we interacted with was pleasant and helpful, and the overall environment felt very kid-friendly. Parking was another big plus. We didn't have any issues finding a spot, which makes getting kids in and out for swim lessons so much easier. My biggest complaint was the temperature inside. I completely understand keeping the pool area warm for the kids while they're swimming, but the heat seemed to carry over into the eating/viewing area as well. It was extremely warm and uncomfortable while sitting there almost like being outside on a hot pool day. A little more air circulation or a cooler temperature in the areas where parents and families are waiting would make a huge difference. Aside from the heat, we had a positive experience. The facility was clean, the staff was friendly, parking was convenient, and it seemed like a nice environment for children to learn and become more comfortable in the water. Overall, a solid 4/5. I would definitely recommend Goldfish Swim School in Roscoe Village, but hopefully they can make the waiting/eating areas a little more comfortable for parents and families! ‍

Locker room is very dirty . Way past needing a clean coat of paint too. Entrance, waiting area and…read morelocker room look run down and poorly maintained. Student lessons are done at the far opposite end of the pool where there's no way anyone can observe them. Drink vending machine was out of most items, including water, and soda purchased was HOT as if machine was heating contents instead of refrigerating. Staff was clueless. All adds up to poor management oversight.

My children have had a great experience with swim lessons at Superior Training. We had tried a…read morepark district years ago with my first, but we quickly realized how poor the level of interaction was with the instructors and the lack of progress being made.  We switched to Superior and have had a great experience since then (in fact, we just enrolled our third child). The ratio of instructor to child is excellent, allowing swimmers to become comfortable in the water and learn skills at a faster rate. I highly recommend Superior Training!

They swim only like 5 yards for little kids, don't challenge them…read more They made the biggest progress when I took them for swim myself. Money wasting experience.

Updating my review because I need to give some love to our amazing teacher Crystal!! We took the…read morefall & winter season off from lessons since we would be out of town quite a bit and end up missing classes anyways. We started up with lessons again in the spring and needless to say we regressed quite a bit. Luckily for us, our new teacher has been so supportive and encouraging to our 2 year old. Our first lesson back was pretty rough with lots of tears, but Crystal encouraged us to keep at it and not give up. Over the last four weeks, our son has become so much more comfortable in the water. Crystal has cheered him on the whole time and always moved at a pace he is comfortable with, while slowly encouraging him to try new things. She has been so patient and encouraging, and he has grown to love swim again!! Thanks you Crystal for getting us comfortable in the water again!

I fell in love with this gym during a recent Chicago visit (I am from LA), and almost can't believe…read moreI stumbled upon it. It was like walking back into the 90's, true authentic old school gym. I loved it so much I bought a t-shirt!

Awesome spot to get in a lift. It's usually not super crowded, especially compared to other gyms…read more Typically waiting for a machine isn't necessary and in the it is actually taken, others should be available to use. The membership is one of the cheapest in the area too. Only complaint was with the treadmills. Seemed like the treadmill belts were also broken and couldn't jog past 5.5 speed.