The grand opening of our new Foss Swim School in Rock Hill, MO has special meaning to us and to this community. We love all our new locations, of course, but in this case it’s also a kind of rebirth: The Rock Hill school is in the same neighborhood and employs many of the teachers who previously worked at Little Fishes, a swim school with a long tradition in the St. Louis suburbs that was damaged beyond repair in the floods of the summer of 2022.
Little Fishes had been operating as a subsidiary of FOSS since its acquisition several years ago, and plans for a new, modern swim school in Rock Hill were already in place before the floods, part of our desire to give our students and families the best possible experience. The flooding disrupted the lives of our teachers, students, and employees, and made the opening of Rock Hill a priority for FOSS so we could get back to what we love: helping kids develop as swimmers and as stronger, more confident people!
And now the big day is here! The Rock Hill Foss Swim School opened for classes Jan. 29, and we’re excited to again be surrounded by the laughter and energy of swim classes.
Here’s a quick list of our five favorite things about our new location, which we hope will be your favorite things too:
One of our largest, most modern schools
One of the largest swim schools FOSS has built, the Rock Hill pool has 20 stations for swimming. The many stations means the pool can create spaces of many different lengths and configuration for different classes. People who came from Little Fishes say that the overall feel is much larger, more open, and more modern.
Familiar faces from Little Fishes, plus some new friends
Many of the staff from Little Fishes, including office staff, have taken new positions at the Rock Hill FOSS. So we invite all of our the families who were at the old location to stop by and say hi! The large number of experienced, local instructors will make this a comfortable place to learn to swim. In addition, we have hired many enthusiastic instructors of a range of ages, several of whom have experience teaching swimming, experience in child development, or training to work with kids with disabilities.
A great location for busy families
Located at the intersection of Manchester and McKnight in Rock Hill, the new Foss Swim School is about five minutes from the old Little Fishes site, and is easily accessible from the major roads, making it a great option for families in the surrounding communities as well. The neighborhood boasts a wide range of restaurants and shopping, plus City Hall is nearby, letting busy parents handle multiple stops in one trip.
A focus on convenience
The new Rock Hill facility is designed to be quick and convenient for our families. Not only is its location easy to find and parking plentiful, this facility has a very large wrap-around viewing area that faces the pool on two sides – meaning more air-conditioned seating with a clear view of the swimmers. The changing room has more private bathrooms than our old location, and the layout of the facility will help people quickly and easily get where they are going.
A pool designed to be a classroom
The heart of any Foss Swim School is its pool, and it includes design features we have refined over the years. The U-shaped pool allows for lots of segmentation for different levels. The layout of the pool deck allows for lots of poolside seating — we like parents to be close at hand during class to hear what’s happening and be able to engage with teachers after class.
We hope all our Little Fishes friends who are in the area will stop by and check us out, or let friends and family who are looking for a great place to swim know about this new location. We are hosting as many free preview lessons as possible in the coming weeks to give people a chance to see and experience this great new facility for themselves!
We are happy to be back and look forward to continuing as a part of the Rock Hill community for years to come!
