DolFUN SWIM Academy

Our family was with Dolfun Swim Academy (the Tualatin location, in the owner’s backyard pool) for eight years, up until 2015. This will be the first summer none of our kids are in lessons with Dolfun because they have basically outgrown this excellent program. Dolfun has been so amazing at teaching them all these years that two of them are now on competitive swim teams (ages 9 and 5). All three children started lessons as infants and learned invaluable safety and water fun skills early on. It was amazing to discover that infants can learn safety skills like rolling on their backs, hanging onto the edge of a pool, and kicking to the surface. We tried lessons at other places (Children of the Sea, Tualatin high school pool) but found Dolfun did the best job of teaching actual water skills. The other places seemed to focus more on being comfortable in the water but not actual swimming. I’m sorry to see some negative reviews, which mostly seem to be around communication not the instruction itself. We have found communication to be fine, mostly over email as I don’t know if there is an actual office. I can only speak from our experience but eight years of amazing instruction from committed swim teachers gets five stars from me. I know my children would give it the same and we are sorry to no longer be with the swim school.

So I agree with Kevin L. We have been going for 2 years. Enrolled my daughter at 4 months and now she’s over 2. Great swim instructor, Kristen– love her. But the communication with admin staff or office staff is poor. I have sent several emails asking questions and this and that and never really get an answer, just an excuse for something. So I never get a resolution. Which is very frustrating… Pool is warm, instruction is good, facilities are fine. My daughter loves the water and is getting so good at swimming and is so comfortable in the water. Every time we go swimming people ask how old she is because the cannot believe what she is doing at her age.
I don’t like it when kids drop out and they add new kids to the class, because they need to keep the classes full, which I understand, but it slows the class down and we seems to go backwards for several weeks and when you spend almost $ 90 a month you want to keep moving forward, this is one of the things I tried to address. I suggested maybe and orientation for those kids new to the program to go over the basics so the regular class does not slow down and the kids can jump right in… but no answer or response from admin staff. Just a thank you for your email.
If you want your kids to learn to swim or be comfortable in the water i would send them to DolFun, but just know the communication is not the best. Instructors are great.

My son has been taking semi-​private lessons with Dolfun Swim for 6 years and he started when he was 6 months old! The instructors do an amazing job using the innate instincts of infants to ensure they are comfortable in the water and then begin using «play» to learn to swim (think wheels and wipers on the bus).
Sam is now an independent and confident swimmer. He is working on increasing his strength with his strokes and loves his time in the pool. Thank you to Kristen and Jamal for all you’ve taught him!
The only thing that holds me back from 5 stars for Dolfun Swim is that communication with the administration staff can challenging. But once your child is enrolled, you can be confident your time in the water will be time and money well spent!

My daughter has taken swim lessons with Kristen (for most of the time) for over 4 years. She is 5 years old now. Not only is she an independent, strong swimmer, but she is water safe and can even save others (well, babies). We have done both group and private lessons and are now thrilled we spent the time and money on swim classes. Kristen has helped my daughter LOVE the water and LOVE swim lessons. Kristen is not only knowledgeable but is fun and engaging (REALLY knows how to work with kids). I wouldn’t hesitate recommending DolFUN swim for a second (and I have pretty high standards). They are amazing!

One of the things I was most looking forward to while waiting for my son was infant swim lessons. It just sounded so wonderful!
Thanks to Kristen and Diana at Dolfun — it was!
I have heard people say they didn’t sign up because there was a waiting list, but I think there is a misunderstanding… they wait for enough interested families to start a new infant class. So if you don’t sign up you wont have the chance to be one of those interested families! For us, the wait was only about 2 weeks :)
We loved how personal the service was there, we loved how they got to know our son quickly and paid attention to his specific needs.
We loved how they stepped us up to each new thing, and how there was always another idea to engage the babies as they grew and developed.
Our son enjoyed learning and playing with the other kids, and through the process he learned to be safe in the water.
We also learned a lot of new things, like how the babies have an innate reflex to hold their breath when the water hits them just right. We enjoyed working on teaching him the cues at home during bath time. We enjoyed sharing the fun with our family and friends, who were blown away by his swimming underwater videos!
Thank you so much.

Our daughter has been taking lessons since she was 10 weeks old, she is 2 and a half now. We recently went to the coast where we spent nearly every day on the water. While we were swimming, another parent approached me and asked how long she had been swimming. He was really impressed that she was clearly not fearful of the water but also very much respected it which she demonstrated by responding to our instructions, not going to off-​limits places etc. At two and a half she has many basic water safety skills which make our job of keeping her safe so very much easier. Jamal, Debbie, Diana (and others I am missing) thank you all for your help! We are absolutely part of the dolphin «pod».

Terrible experience. We were able to get in touch and get signed up for a semi-​private lesson with my two daughters. I went online to pay a few weeks later (before the first lesson) and there was nothing in my online account. After leaving several messages, I got a call back telling me that the class had been postponed. Never bothered to call and tell me. So we were rescheduled to start a few weeks later. We showed up at the pool for class, only to be told that the class had been postponed again, now several months. Again, no one thought to let us know though they insisted they sent an email about this change (they did not). I wouldn’t even give them one star for their poor communication and lack of consideration.

I can’t review or rate the actual lessons, because I was never able to attend or even sign up.
Getting ahold of a human is near impossible. After 3 ½ weeks of calling & emailing DolFun I finally got a snarky voicemail back implying that I was bugging them by calling & emailing so much. I called 3 times in 3 weeks, and e mailed 2 times. She asked «what exactly I wanted» and reminded me that I had «called numerous times». Well, I wanted to pay you over 100 $ for a swim class and get some information.
A friend tried to give them some feedback on their facebook page, only to have it deleted & the owner respond with a personal message trying to deal with it «privately». This is not good customer service, and obviously they don’t want any bad reviews floating around.
I will be going with Children of the Sea instead.
I was hoping to give DolFun a try, but they are way to hard to get ahold of & for that price I expect top notch customer service.

I obtained a deal from either Groupon, Living Social or Sharing Spree (cant’ recall) for swim lessons through Dolfun. It was a good deal and a way to get my 4 month old in the water. When we arrived at the Tigard location, I fell in love with how warm the room was and then in love with the water temp! It was perfect for my little one and as most moms know that’s what happens with babies so we were excited. We loved swim teacher Diana who took the time to provide detailed instruction on how to hold your baby underwater, above water, and during every single activity taught in the 30 min class. My daughter excelled and was not only swimming underwater but was jumping in from the outter edge of the pool, floating on her back with only my hands supporting her neck and then swimming on her tummy with only my arm on her chest!!! My husband and I were pleasantly surprised with how wonderful our experience was with Dolfun and were so happy that she was doing so well.
Fast forward to our current situation:
We are now currently registered with Children of the Sea for the following reasons:
#1 — Placed my daughter in the already set up pack n play at Dolfun so I could change. When I walked past her she stood up to hold on to the sides and it collapsed. Luckily, I was close enough to catch her before her head on the concrete!
#2 — On a couple of occasions, the instructor did not arrive early enough to warm up the pool water/​room and our babies were cold during the entire session. For babies, this is really bad in my opinion and not acceptable for the extra we pay for this benefit. (compared to most community pools etc)
#3 — They added a new swim instructor that went through the motions and didn’t really work with each individual child and provide the level of instruction that Diana had.
#4 — The changing tables along the sides of the pool have plastic changing pads (unsecured) so you can change your child before or after class. However, these pads look as though they have NEVER been cleaned.
After 2 sessions at Children of the Sea… here’s what we don’t like:
#1 — They don’t have adequate changing stations, just a very slippery countertop with only enough space for 4 – 5 kids max.
#2 — Storage bins where you are supposed to place your belongings during class are small and barely fit my street clothes, towels and babies clothes.
#3 — There are only 2 shower heads in the womens locker room and 2 in the family locker room. Considering they run 2 classes of 6 kids at the same time, there isn’t enough shower heads.
#4 — There are no pack n plays to hold you infant/​toddler while you change. You have to set them on top of the counter and hope they aren’t squirrely!!! UGH.
#5 — I don’t feel as though my daughter is excelling as quickly as she did with Dolfun based on the instruction that is given. There’s no 1 on 1 attention given and no attention to detail with each child unless you ask the instructor. Like my husband says, it feels like a little baby swim factory. «Push them in and out»
We have decided that we will probably go back to Dolfun do the following:
#1 — make sure we get a class with Diana
#2 — try not to sign up for a class first thing in the morning
#3 — know the changing pads are icky and take something to wipe them up before setting baby down
#4 — check & secure the pack n play before setting her in there
The one on one attention at Dolfun is unbeatable and you will not be dissapointed! I promise!!!

Like a previous reviewer, I could not get a hold of anyone for months at Dolfun, and I was desperately trying to sign my daughter up for a class before our LivingSocial deal expired. In the meantime, my voucher expired and THEN they decided to return my emails (how convenient for them). Now they’re refusing to refund my money! BEWARE! Scammers!

Oh how I wish I could give a negative star here. Terrible, terrible, terrible experience with the Dolfun Swim Academy. First, it took three months to talk to anyone. No one returned my emails or calls, but after weeks and weeks someone finally answered the phone. I explained our situation and how my daughter was terrified of putting her head under the water and we needed to do private lessons to help her get over her fear. Great. First and only lesson was 28 minutes of spectacular swim instruction followed by the instructor dunking my seven year-​old daughter under water (yes, on purpose). My daughter then became hysterical, as one would expect, and the instructor refused to let her out of the water as she sobbed and screamed. It was beyond awful. Needless to say my daughter will go nowhere near a swim class now and still talks about how she could never again trust someone not to do that. It’s tough when someone physically traumatizes your child and there is no recourse to take. Since this happened I have called and emailed at least 4 times to request my money back and still have had no response. Clearly this instructor has no skill or clue on how to work with children who are afraid of the pool.

What a great place. We’ve been coming for over a year and a half and my daughter loves it! Diana and Angie are great instructors and really help eliminate any fears parents would have with their baby underwater! Can’t wait to start our youngest in a few weeks

My son started with them at 4 months old, he’s now almost 3 ½ yrs. I can’t say enough about this wonderful program. Every week he amazes me with new skills. His independence and confidence in the water is fantastic.
Miss Diana is great. She is patient with the kids, but firm. We’ve had other teachers in the past who were equally great. All are very knowledgeable about child development.
It is more expensive than your community center pool, but worth every penny. This is much more than a mommy & me type swim lesson. Plus, the pool is nice and warm here… I always leave the community center pool with blue lips and shivering little boys.

Today was our first class at DolFun. I’ll admit I was a bit nervous. I didn’t know what to expect. The instructor was friendly, informative and incredibly helpful. The 3 other moms were nice. The water is nice and warm. There are plenty of changing stations. My little 6 month old boy did great. We loved it!!!

So … being a new mommy … every decision, every choice, every THING is well– over-​researched. We decided a few months ago to put the little dude in swim classes … but where? who? I mean … he could DROWN! OK I’m being overly dramatic … but seriously … he could.
The other thing about being a new mommy is that we truly value and trust the opinions of our mommy friends! So — when one of them recommended Dolfun — we jumped on it!
And I have to say — THANK YOU HILARY! Miss Debbie is amazing. She is extremely knowledgeable about all things swim — and (as Christine mentioned) is also knowledgeable about babies. To feel comfortable and confident in a new environment with baby … amazing.
I recommend her to any and everyone I know who has a baby … and yes … we drive a half hour each way to get there … and it’s worth every second!

I’ve been happy with my experience at DolFun swim academy. I’ve been with them for almost a year, as I enrolled my son when he was just 6 months old. He is very comfortable in the water now as was proven on a recent vacation to Hawaii, so I know they’ve done something right. Debbie is the owner and she is a wealth of information — not just in terms of swimming but child development. The only other teacher we’ve come to love recently left to be with her family full-​time. My son didn’t take well to the instructor Diana’s classes, and i felt ignored by her, but I know some people like her approach.
Overall, I highly recommend this for children — we have a community pool right near our house yet we drive 30 min each way to be in this class once a week — its worth it!