Murray Callan Swim School

We’ve had a great experience at Murray Callan! Kaylynn and Nick have been wonderful teachers for our 4 year old and 3 year old, and I’m amazed at the progress of our kids in terms of swimming and pool safety. When we started 7 months ago they were both incredibly nervous and tense in the water, especially our 4 year old. But Kaylynn’s constant reassuring and calm demeanor and instruction has done miracles for him– he can «dive (ish)» in and swim across the pool; «fall» to the bottom and pull himself up to a side; and float on his back now! Nick is equally great with our 3 year old!
We’ve never had problems with the front desk and are typically greeted with a good morning when we come in each day. It is a commitment (time and money!) but it’s so worth it to see this progress and to know the kids have a solid foundation of being safe in the water!

We have been coming to this school for well over two years. My son since 9 months and my daughter since 3 ½ they are now almost 2 and almost 6. We absolutely love it. They have an amazing program that anyone can step into no matter what level they are at and they really take their time to build on those steps and makes sure your child understands what they are doing. All of the swim instructors are awesome! A lot of them have swim in some way incorporated with their lives or it WAS a big part of their life at one point. I can’t speak highly enough of the office staff, instructors, and the program itself. We are so lucky to have found Murray Callan Swim School and I look forward to many more years of seeing them. Is it expensive? A little yes, but its worth it knowing my kids are learning from some of the best!
Thank you guys for ALL that you do for my little ones! M&M really appreciate it!

For the past year and a half it has been such a pleasure watching Ms Sarah teach my grandson to be a water safe 4 year old. Both of his grandparents have swimming pools. He was hesitant to go in, but liked to play around the pools. Thanks to Ms Sarah and Murray Callan Swim School Matteo is now water safe and confident around all pools. He jumps in, swims under water, back floats and is now learning the freestyle with arms, kicks and breaths.
Ms Sarah is a great instructor; sensitive to her students’ needs and ability and patient with their attitude and mood. Matteo thrives on Ms Sarah’s structure and positive reinforcement. He always gets a big smile, encouraging words, hand claps or high five! We love Murray Callan Swim School and Ms Sarah.

I Love this swim school. I have been taking my son there since he was 10 months old, he’s about to be 2. He has adored all his swim teachers from his first swim teacher Jeanette to now his last swim teacher the amazing Kaylynn. We are moving out of state or else we would not stop our lessons. If you want your kids to learn to swim this is the place to go to.

Great swimming school, but absolutely THE WORST front desk!

Absolutely love taking my daughter to swim class at Murray Callan! My 2 year old daughter, Addison, has been taking swim lessons at Murray Callan for over a year and we’ve really enjoyed our experience with our swim teacher, Dayna, and the friendly front desk staff. We’ve been swimming with Dayna for almost a year now and my daughter absolutely loves her time in the water during class. Dayna is kind, friendly and patient in the water. She truly knows how to work with infants transitioning to the toddler stage in the water. My daughter looks forward to class time and as parents, nothing is more rewarding than feeling at ease when we are near water or a pool. The front desk staff, especially Miriam, have always been extremely accommodating as well with scheduling needs, as we’ve had to make a few adjustments due to naps, outside appointments, etc.

This is the best Swim school in San Diego. We have been taking our 2 children here for the last 3 years. The teachers are amazing and very patient.

Coach Dayna is THE BEST! She is understanding, patient, sweet with our 2.5 year old daughter, never misses work, clearly loves her job, and has given us the gift of having peace of mind when our baby is in the water. If you’re considering lessons, MCSS is itttt!

We are so fortunate to have this swim facility in our neighborhood. My son has been swimming with Sarah since he was 2 ½ and has progressed amazingly in his skills, confidence, and competence under her calm, loving, and talented tutelage. She is one of the in-​demand instructors as she has such a knack with the little ones. they all adore her! She focuses on development of good stroke form & measured breaths, setting a solid foundation for a lifetime of aptitude in the water. Thank you for the opportunity to comment :)

It is such a pleasure to see my little 10 month old learn such an important skill as swimming. He has been attending classes twice a week for several months now, and it is my favorite time of the week. He seems so much calmer now, because he is able to get energy out in the water, and he naps so well on his swim class days. Everyone who attends is friendly, and there are babies a few months younger and older in the water while my little one is in class. His instructor is a gentle and caring young man named Zach. My boy absolutely loves and trusts him. He has a warm and humble spirit, and I think the babies really resonate with that. I have watched the other instructors and they all seem to be gentle and caring as well. The environment is enclosed by there is ventilation from the outside, so it is warm enough for the students (90 degree water I believe) but it is not stuffy. Rainy days aren’t an issue either because it is enclosed. I am excited to continue to bring my son here for as long as he wants!

Murray Callan is a perfect example of a business that, because it has been around for a long time, thinks it can get away with sub-​par treatment of its customers and employees. As a customer, the school is minimally flexible when it comes to missed lessons (you can only miss one lesson per series and after that you lose out on money paid for missed lessons. If you have a vacation scheduled or long term injury/​illness they can and will give away your spot and you are not guaranteed the same time/​instructor when you return). The rat race to get payment and deposit down when a spot finally opens up is ridiculous and they only take cash or check.
More importantly, the treatment of their employees is concerning to the point where we no longer felt comfortable supporting this business. A popular and beloved instructor was fired for standing up for herself against the indifferent and caustic management. It is clear that the owner/​manager is too comfortable and resting on the school’s laurels and sees no reason to change given the supposed reputation and «wait list.»
Although the actual swim instruction is great and we felt that our daughter learned valuable skills, you can find that elsewhere in the county at businesses that are far more accommodating and pleasant in all capacities, so much so that we’ve followed our adored instructor to her new place of employment.

I’m giving two stars because when I went in and observed lessons the kids seemed to be doing great and the teachers seemed very attentive.
However, as far as the front desk people it was not such a nice experience. No one greeted me when I walked in, I stood at the counter for a while before finally saying «excuse me» to the three gals working. I explained that I wanted to register my little one for swim lessons. They told me to go watch (I did) then I filled out a registration card. After being there now for about 30 min I say I’d like lessons on Mon/​Wed. The girl just looks at me and says oh I think that class is full. I say ok, how about a different time. She shuffles over to a clip board, then looks at me and says yeah that’s full too. So I say, uh, how about a different day. How about ANY day? At this point she kinda seemed annoyed, but flipped through and blankly tells me «yeah, everything is full for infants». I kinda wish they had told me this when I came in… So they offer to put me on the wait list. I agree, and they say I can just pay when a spot opens up. I ask how long you’re generally on the wait list and she says «oh it just depends.» Ok great… She goes on to say that if a family goes on vacation for a couple weeks a spot could open sooner and I would get that spot and the other family would then have to wait to resume. Whaaaa? That seems shitty.
So I left sort of frustrated and disappointed that they really didn’t seem to care about customer service.
2 days later I get a call in the late afternoon, saying a spot is open and I just need to come in to pay. I’m excited and say awesome, I’ll come in tomorrow first thing in the morning, I’m headed to work now so can’t make it in right this min.
The girl proceeds to tell me she’s gonna keep calling the next person on the list, or if someone off the street comes in as it’s basically now a race for whoever can get there first with money.
I don’t expect them to give me a week, but 12 hours would be nice! I also don’t understand the point of a wait list if someone off the street randomly comes in and can take your spot if you’re not able to drop everything that min to come pay.
It seems to me if you are lucky enough to get past the crappy customer service it’s probably a decent place to get swim lessons. However, I think I’ll be looking for somewhere else that actually cares about my business.

All the teachers here are wonderful! Zach is a great coach, he loves what he does, he always answers any questions, and he is very good at what he does! :)

Fantastic swim school in a great location. I am always able to find close parking. Clean and we’ll maintained. Friendly staff. The pool size is great for my kids. Inside so kids can take classes year around which is perfect especially when weather is not the best. My kids really learned alot from the instructor.

We will not be going back. Like many of the reviewers, we found some of the teachers to be very good with kids, like Zach.
Unfortunately, when we returned the following year, my daughter was in a class with another instructor with much older children and spent more than 80% of the class sitting on the side. I think the time would’ve been better spent with us swimming with her on our own.
The management and front staff were completely unpleasant in every encounter.
Like other families, the two days a week was just too restrictive for us, and their makeup policy was very difficult. We basically lost our money on several lessons. If you don’t plan on going on vacation or having your kids be sick ever, go for it.
Finally, on our last day, there was a poop incident. I understand small children poop in the pool. But in this case the poop was on the deck, near the showers. A not very bright staff member used a hose to try to spray it down the drain. Lady, a solid does not go down a grate easily. She ended up spreading poop all over the deck, including on shoes and a baby’s stroller. So unsanitary. Seriously?!
Not worth the time and money.

Do you live in San Diego? Then you should know how to swim. It is extremely important and a matter of life or death. Murray Callan Swim School is the perfect place to bring your infant or toddler to swim class. I’m a mother of two boys and I swim a mile in open water once a week. My husband thought I should be able to teach the boys how to swim. We have a small pool at our condo, but neither of my children liked putting their face in the water. Even though I’m an avid swimmer that doesn’t make me a good swim teacher for my children. Taking them to a swim school that has a method that is specific to teaching babies and toddlers to swim was the next natural step. I took my older son here for a series of lessons when he was a year and a half and I was happy that he can swim across a small pool. I just started my four year old at Murray Callan and the first day he did not want to put his face in the water. The second class, he was just fine going underwater while the instructor held him.
There are multiple instructors in the pool at the same time. They have from one to three children and each child gets alone time with the instructor in turns. They have small toys for the kids to play with while they wait for their next turn and that is fine. I’ve watched several of the instructors and they have amazing patience and are very gentle with the children. They also get results.
We live about a mile away from the school so we ride a bike to Murray Callan every Tuesday and Thursday. If you are driving, the school is located in a residential area so be sure to read the signs for street sweeping so you don’t end up getting a ticket if you park there.

Zack is the best. At two and a half my grand baby can swim! The class structure is conducive for her age and she has learned so much

Zach is a terrific instructor, and more than that, he is simply a good soul.
We started at 8 months old, we are now at 13 months and are very pleased with the program and the results.
We go for a half hour twice a week, the pace works great for us.

Zach is a great instructor, I don’t think we would have stuck around around as long as we did if it weren’t for him. The makeup/​scheduling policies are incredibly inflexible and the owner/​management are rude and unaccommodating. I deleted my previous review after being told that a refund check was being sent to me but upon receiving that check I also received this letter from the owner:
Mrs. Nevius,
you will find enclosed a refund check for 2 unused lessons and 1 unused makeup. I sincerely hope in the future that you carefully read a policy letter before enrolling your child in other activities, as to avoid any further problems. If you disagree with said policies you should not enroll your child, much less blog the business after the fact.
Clearly Murray Callan Swim School does not value their customers and eventually they will not have any. We will be taking our business elsewhere and advising others in our community to do the same.

Super Excited, were now going into two months of lessons and my baby girls are so much more comfortable in the water. It took a couple lessons but I m so excited that we could take that fear of water away. My girls are now learning to swim, dive and go down to the bottom of the pool to reach for their toys. I was a little hesitate in the beginning of doing the two lessons per week but it has been worth every penny and time.
My girls love this swim school and I m so happy to see the progression! I would recommend Murray Callen swim school to any parent whose looking to get results. My girls love their instructor Jeannette, whose been amazing!