Lori’s H2O Skills, a new swim school coming to Crestview this summer, is here to help teach these life skills to all ages.
Opening June 2 at 577 Brookmeade Drive in Crestview, Lori’s H2O Skills is a professional learn to swim program for children ages 3 months through adults.
By day, the highly maintained pool is used by Crestview Physical Therapy, and from 4 to 8 p.m. weekdays, this two-lane pool will be used for private one-on-one lessons with the Lori’s H2O Skills team. Swim lessons will also be offered from 8 a.m. to noon on Saturday and 12 to 3 p.m. on Friday.
The experienced team shares a passion and love for teaching and safety. Grace Rosenbaum will be the operating manager of the new location in Crestview and will do most of the teaching. Amy Conover is the general manager and will split her time between Crestview and Ohio. Lori Weber and Kyle Weber are co-owners of Lori’s H2O Skills and founded the swimming curriculum they use, which came from Lori’s time spent with the YMCA, American Red Cross and Aquatic Achievers in Australia.
“I brought back knowledge from all of those programs and turned it into Lori’s H2O Skills,” Lori shared. “We started in Milford, Ohio. “It was always a dream of mine to have a swim school to save children in and around the water.”
Lori fell in love with swimming as a little girl in Milford, OH. She swam competitively growing up and went on to swim for the University of Kentucky. She continued to swim as an adult and in 2015, she started Lori’s H2O Skills to spread her love for safe swimming.
Now celebrating 10 years of business and service, Lori’s H2O Skills is opening their second location in Crestview, FL.
“My mother and sister live down here and my sister is purchasing Crestview Physical Therapy,” Kyle said. “They don’t use the pool during the evening hours, so when the opportunity arose, we were excited to expand our swim school and serve the Crestview community.”
Swim lessons range as young as 3 months and as old as senior adults. They also teach individuals with special abilities and ensure everyone is comfortable in the water.
“We only teach one-on-one swim lessons so our students can learn how to swim in the most efficient and effective way,” Lori said. “Our program is based on children learning to flip and float and get themselves to safety and learning proper swimming skills.”
Classes are set up once per week for 15 minutes.
“I did a study for children and researched the best way for them to listen and learn with their short attention span,” Lori said.
The conclusion was that children stay engaged for about five to seven minutes. Based on these findings, lessons are capped at 15 minutes to optimize efficiency and retention.
Lori has always been passionate about swim.
“I just love it,” she said. “I think about swimming and the water all the time.”
The slogan of Lori’s H2O Skills is “Saving Lives One Child at a Time.”
“My passion is teaching people how to swim so it can save their lives,” Lori said. “We want a child to flip and float and stay above water and have enough seconds for a person or friend to help save them. Just seconds can save lives.”
Obviously, swimming in a pool is very different than swimming in the Gulf, but the staff understands the different techniques needed in saltwater and around the ocean to combat big waves and rip tides.
The indoor 40-foot by 12-foot pool takes weather out of the occasion and allows Lori’s H2O Skills to offer swim lessons year-round. The pool is no deeper than 5 feet.
For more information about one-on-one lessons and pricing, check out their website: www.h2oskillsflorida.com.
“We just want to keep people safe around pools and the ocean,” Lori said. “We are the place to come for anything water related – that is our love and passion. Safety, safety, safety – that is what we care about.”
Lori’s H2O Skills
577 Brookmeade Drive Crestview, FL
www.h2oskillsflorida.com
850-333-7014