Category: About FOSS

Signs, signs, everywhere a sign! At FOSS, we try to make our policies at the pool clear, and the signs you see posted around the school are there to remind swimmers, families and visitors of some of the basic rules we establish and enforce at the pool. As a rule, ...

Why is it so hot in the pool area? It’s one of the questions we hear often from parents and others sitting alongside our pools. The answer is somewhat more complicated than most people would expect, but the short answer is that the heat is necessary for us to deliver ...

When Jon and Susan Foss founded Foss Swim School in 1993, they started a program that was unlike any other in the U.S. at the time. In the years that followed, it was not yet clear that it would be a sustainable business as it grew to multiple locations. But ...

Our success teaching hundreds of thousands of kids to swim over the past 25 years has earned our weekly swim classes many devoted families, but did you know that there are more ways to swim with FOSS that go beyond classes? Our progress-builder camps, skill clinics, family swims, and fun ...

At Foss Swim School, we like to think of goggles as a milestone for children who have developed a comfort with water and mastered the first few skills of water acclimation. Here’s what we look for before recommending goggles for a child. If you’re not sure, ask us—our instructors can ...

“One swallow does not a summer make,” Aristotle said, reminding people that seeing one migrating bird isn’t evidence that the seasons have changed. At Foss Swim School, we take a similar view—you can’t really show mastery of any of our swim skills just by doing it once. Parents sometimes ask ...

Thank you to all our swimmers and families for celebrating our 25th anniversary with us! We’ve enjoyed hearing what Foss Swim School has meant to you, and we hope we showed you how much you mean to us every day. We especially love hearing right from our swimmers. As we ...

You see the signs whenever you come into a Foss Swim School facility—no glass. We understand some of our customers strongly prefer using glass bottles, but there’s a good reason for this policy and why we enforce it so strongly. People naturally understand the risk of broken glass, but some ...

By Jon Foss, founder, CEO and swim coach and instructor If your swimmer is complaining of an itchy or sore ear that’s a little red, feels plugged, and hurts more when you pull on the earlobe, you are likely dealing with swimmer’s ear—a subject I, unfortunately, have a lot of ...

By: Jon Foss, CEO and Lead Instructor, Foss Swim School It’s a scene you’ve probably seen at any swimming class with young children in it—a child unhappy with their lot in life and crying loudly. It’s no fault of the child or parent. Crying is a natural reaction in certain cases. ...

Summers are always busy, and that means it’s never too early to plan your summer schedule! When the kids are off from school, many parents are looking to find both fun and healthy experiences for their kids to try, but also need to manage the conflicting schedules of these higher-involvement ...

With its grand opening in the first week of January 2018, the new Foss Swim School location in Elmwood Park, IL, becomes the new standard-bearer for the school. “We try to improve on something every single time we open a location,” said Casey Fogerty, the site director of the new ...

You’ve taken the plunge and registered for your first Foss Swim School swimming lesson! That’s so exciting, but now what? Below, we break down next steps, how you should prepare and what first-time FOSS families can expect at the first lesson. General Tips for All Families The big day is ...

By Jon Foss, CEO and Lead Instructor, Foss Swim School It took me years to learn how to teach kids to swim; 50,000 lessons, actually. I am honored to be a co-founder of the school, with my wife Susan, but humbled to have been its lead instructor and program architect. ...

When you and your loved ones are confident, safe swimmers you can enjoy these moments more and worry less. That’s why you should only trust the experts to teach your family to swim safely and effectively. Here’s four reasons you and your family will fall in love with the swimming ...