I’m amazed at the progress Beatrice made in her lessons with John – amazed and extremely grateful.  I was beginning to despair that she would never learn to swim, given that she is 7 years old, almost 8, and was well behind her peers.  Lessons she took elsewhere were unsuccessful and actually did more harm than good, making her even more fearful of learning to swim.  When Beatrice began her lessons with John, she was barely able to put her face in the water, and she was terrified at the thought of stretching out her body in the pool, even while holding on to the edge and in water shallow enough for her to stand up.  She ended her series of lessons able to swim short distances above and below water; she also had begun working on the basics of front crawl stroke and backstroke.  Even more gratifying to me, she now loves the water and is motivated to improve her swimming; she is asking when she can have more lessons with John.  John is a knowledgeable, kind, and patient swim instructor.  He also knows when to push a little, gently, so that his student makes progress. I highly recommend him.