Sugar Grove couple looks to bring swim school to Algonquin

Sugar Grove residents Chris and Carrie Chin have discussed opening their own swim school for the past 15 years.

Now, their dreams are coming to fruition, as the Chins have signed a franchise agreement to open a new Goldfish Swim School location in Algonquin.

Goldfish Swim School’s aim is to teach children how to be safer in and around the water, according to a news release. It offers swim lessons and water safety instruction to children aged four months to 12 years.

In 2021, Goldfish Swim School opened 11 new schools, according to the release. Today, it has more than 120 location with 130 more currently in development.

Both Chris and Carrie Chin, currently a strategic account executive and learning and development manager respectively, have about 30 years of competitive swim coach experience between them.

Their three children attended Goldfish swim schools as well, so they already have a relationship with the company, Carrie Chin told the Northwest Herald.

And with all the beaches, lakes and pools in the Chicago suburbs and surrounding area, “teaching water safety right away is very important to us,” Carrie Chin said.

Even with precautions in place, she said, tragic situations where children don’t make it after a drowning incident still happen.

“We want to be on the forefront of that and prevent those sad situations and those sad news stories that we hear about,” she said. “We want kids to be able to have to save themselves and understand and not have that moment of panic.”

Goldfish Swim School helps kids get a feel for the water when they first start classes, and eventually, they can graduate to an entry-level competitive swim group, Carrie Chin said.

“One of the specialties of Goldfish in general is that all of our instructors are specially trained for this age group,” Carrie Chin said. “So even when we have a kid that might be a little bit more fearful of the water, our instructors are trained in order to inch them along and get them more comfortable than they were originally.”

Along with water safety, children learn all of their strokes, including freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly, Carrie Chin said.

Initially, Carrie Chin said, they would like to have anywhere from 17 to 25 teachers, expanding to 35 once they get the swim school going.

Currently, the Chins are looking for a location in Algonquin for the swim school, which they want to open in the summer or fall of next year.

Algonquin Community Development Director Jason Shallcross said the Chins notified the village of their plans to open Goldfish Swim School. While nothing formally has been submitted to the village yet, Shallcross said village staff sent the couple site availability information.

“It certainly is a need, so we are we are definitely excited that they’re going to be coming to the village,” Shallcross said.