Imagine Swimming

Specialties

Imagine Swimming, for children ages 6-​months to 12-​years, was founded in 2002 by former world-​class swimmers Casey Barrett and Lars Merseburg. Originally operated out of the Hunter College pool on 69^th Street and Park Avenue, the school has grown to thirteen New York locations — extending from TriBeCa to the Upper East Side, Brooklyn to Chelsea. Imagine is now New York City’s largest learn-​to-​swim school, with its very own Flagship facility in TriBeCa. Currently, the school welcomes over 3,500 students each week to its pools. Widely recognized in the swimming community as one of the world’s top aquatic educations, Imagine has become a destination for international swimmers eager to pass along their skills as elite instructors.

History

Established in 2002.

Winter, 2002. On a beach in Costa Rica and a cubicle in Manhattan, Imagine was born. Two friends needed a change. One moved to a tropical country to surf and to think. One stewed behind a desk, plotting his escape. Both had been world-​class swimmers. The water was their life, the site of their greatest triumphs and deepest lessons. If only they could find a way to make it their career.

Then one day an email arrived in the tropics. The subject read: «Important Stateside Concern». It described an idea for a school, a swimming program that passed along the skills and thrills of the water. The reader thought of the name instantly — «Imagine».

Seven years later, that idea is more than a reality. With pools across Manhattan and much more on the way, Imagine Swimming has evolved into an institution of aquatic culture. While the founders, Casey Barrett and Lars Merseburg, continue to search for new ways to celebrate their sport…

Meet the Business Owner

Casey B.

Business Owner

Along with Lars Merseburg, Casey is the co-​founder of Imagine Swimming. He is a leading voice of the sport both in the water and in the national media. Casey has won three Emmy awards and one Peabody award for his work writing and producing the Olympics on NBC in Sydney, Athens, and Beijing; he has worked or competed at every Summer Games since 1996. His competitive swimming career took him from the renowned North Baltimore Aquatic Club to the Bolles School, in Jacksonville, Florida. Casey was a member of the 1996 Canadian Olympic Team in Atlanta, where he placed 11^th in the 200 butterfly, and was an All-​American at the University of Southern California and Southern Methodist University. He learned to swim when he was four-​years-​old on Dorval Island, just outside of Montréal. His daughter, Eva Grace, is now learning to swim in slightly warmer waters at the TriBeCa Flagship!