Bear Paddle Swim School

Bear Paddle hosted a birthday party for our 8 year old son and 13 friends. They did an amazing job providing instructors to lead really fun games in the pool during pool time!!! They boys had such a blast! The instructors were all super friendly, and very patient with our group of boys. The staff had the party room set-​up before we arrived, and cleaned up after we left. We highly recommend this place for a kids party! We also attend for swim lessons and they have done such a great job teaching our son how to swim. He’s excelled and is learning different strokes and techniques, and looks forward to going every time!

Our kids love Jamie. She is the most friendly and happy swin instructor. We feel the cost is reasonable and the faculty is clean and safe. We had an issue with the parking one day but other than that we can’t recxomend her high enough. Our kids love goingntonsac here and are tired when they come home. Lol

This place is wonderful!!! My niece has been going there for two years and it makes her so happy and she is so confident thanks to her sessions! Not to mention Josh is really amazing with the kids. He is very patient and encouraging. My niece does not take easily to people but she really enjoys seeing Josh. We will continue to come here for a long time as it is always clean, reasonably priced and the staff is excellent!

Loved our original swim instructor, Trey. The real problem was that the pool temp kept getting colder over several weeks and they refused to do anything about it other than tell me it was 92. Bullcrap. I brought in my kid’s bathtub thermometer and the temp was barely 80. When I confronted them with the real temp they told me that, yes, the heater was malfunctioning, but that was just today, that the temp has never been below 92 before the last few days and they could prove it, that I should never have introduced a foreign object into their pool because it could be contaminated, and a bunch of other excuses. I’m not an idiot. I have been swimming my entire life and I know water temps because I won’t go into any water that is below 80. I’m also not gonna pay top dollar to have my intelligence insulted and given a million excuses about how I am wrong about a pool temperature until I prove it to them. The week before I brought in the thermometer my kids was shivering, had blue lips, and was holding onto me for dear life to stay warm. No, thanks. **Update** Bear Paddle contacted me a few days after I posted this review to give me a credit. While I definitely appreciate the credit and the call, it was too little too late. What we really wanted was to swim! But, alas, this was not the place for us.

The Woodridge location is just awesome! My daughter, age 9, smiles from the minute we get there til the minute we leave. The staff here is incredible! We started over spring break with a camp and started lessons at level 5 at the end of May. Hunter was just awesome! My daughter loved him, he really connected with the kids. Always made sure to say her name when she walked up. We moved to Maria’s class when Hunter went back to college and she is awesome!!! She pushed my daughter without her knowing it and that is exactly what she needed! She has the best smile and really makes the kids feel empowered to do it. We were just so close to our last patch in Level 6 and Dave and Maria suggested one on one with Evanglina to work on her rhythm in butterfly. Evangelina was amazing and with her help the light bulb clicked on and she got her patch! The staff here that we have had the pleasure of working with are just awesome. It is by far the best money I have spent. My daughter is a confident swimmer in all the strokes and I smile every time I see her swim. She will move to level 7 and cant wait to see what that brings!

Hmmm. I heard great things about this place. While the swim instructor was nice to my son and actually got him in the water… I was made to feel they didn’t want to deal with teaching him to swim because he is terrified of water. I was hoping this would have been an answer to my prayers. Nope. I was totally pushed aside when I wanted to discuss options regarding lessons. Very disappointing!

So far we’ve had nothing but great experiences. In a little over six months my daughter has gone from being very much a beginning level 1 to level 4. I love that the program is designed so kids are able to stay at a level for as long or as short as is needed and then they move to the next level at their own speed once they have passed the needed skills. There are lots of class sessions to choose from so scheduling has never been an issue for us. We’ll definitely be continuing lessons at Bear Paddle.

We have been at Bear Paddle for just about a year now and I cannot rave enough about how great this swim school really is! We have tried lessons through the park district previously and have been stuck on «level1» for 3 swimming sessions. That equals about 12 weeks, maybe more. My kids have learned more in probably 3 lessons here than they did in all of the time at the park district.
The first perk for the kids is that the water is warm. Seems like a small thing but the kids hate to have to get into cold water, especially in the winter. They also love the kiddie car wash.
The facilities are always clean and they have everything you need. One time we forgot towels and we were able to rent one for $ 1 I think it was. That is just awesome!
It does get loud, but it is a pool. Indoor pools are always loud. There are plenty of places to sit outside of the pool area where you can see your child and not be in the noise. There is a great kids tv room to occupy children that are not swimming.
I saved the instructors/​staff for last because this to me is THE MOST IMPORTANT part of this facility. The instructors are great and beyond patient (Coach Maria has been a favorite so far followed by Coach Kelly). My daughter went through a period where she didn’t even want to get in the water – pure stubbornness and they were able to handle it even when I was completely fed up! The instructor helped her and guided her as well as the deck manager. They really worked hard to help my stubborn daughter. I have seen this with other students as well of many different ages.
My son is now at a level 5 and my daughter a level 4. I feel completely comfortable with them in the water now.
As for missed lessons-​they have the bonus lessons if you have to miss due to illness. Plus the schedule is flexible. You can change it pretty much at any time. So, if Monday’s work for you this month but next month you need Saturday’s you can change that. I am not sure what others were saying in their reviews about scheduling problems!
Great place! I have recommended it to my friends who are also all very pleased. We have referred now 6 children in 3 different families and will continue to talk about how great Bear Paddle is.

5 lessons and my once reluctant 8 year old is swimming with his head in the water and Eben on his back! His teacher, Beau, is JUST EXCELLENT. We couldn’t be happier. And he has 2 weeks of classes to go! I’m so happy we came here to get our son started.

This place has great facilities and a great approach. My 5 year old son was signed up for the 2 week swim camp and by class 4 he was swimming underwater. The locker room area and shower is well thought out and very clean. My son loved the kid car wash shower. My only frustration (and I understand it’s a building with concrete and aluminum ceilings) but it was VERY loud. It didn’t help that they kept music on and some teachers shouted. My son has sensory issues and it was difficult for him to concentrate by the middle of his class. Even I would get a headache sitting waiting for him. Maybe this is just an issue during the camps because of all the kids. Regular lessons might be different.

They are TERRIBLY unaccommodating with schedules. If your kids are sick, you have to have a doctor’s note for them to give you a credit for a class and no matter how much notice you give them, they will not alter schedules for you under any circumstances. So if you miss a class, even with plenty of notice, you have to pay for it. These classes are not cheap. The only way you can earn «bonus lessons» or credits, is to refer people to them. The lanes are very short and crowded so the kids get hit and splashed in the face a lot by other kids. The instructors are good for the most part but they don’t control the policies. Too bad.

I am updating this review because I had a great customer service experience recently. I received a phone call from Bear Paddle a few weeks ago. They knew my bonus lessons were expiring for my little girl and also knew how hard it was for our family to schedule bonus lessons (no I never brought it up to anyone that worked there) so they credited me an extra month to use them. This is an awesome thing! So fear not, maybe they will work with you on the bonus lesson thing so you can get your full money’s worth!

Great staff and extremely accommodating, even when I messed up the lesson time and they pulled in another instructor so I didn’t have to come back. My two daughters learned more in one Bear Paddle class than they did in a six-​week YMCA class. I highly recommend this school.

Pro: it’s a nice facility
Con: –they don’t teach any kind of treading water or survival floating at the beginning.
–The «lanes» are very short and don’t allow much space to practice any swim strokes. Especially with 3 – 4 kids and instructor in the area.
–my kid, although not an Olympic swimmer, got some badges but has trouble doing any of the strokes/​activities in a normal size pool.
–I think they try to keep kids on certain levels so you’ll buy more lessons. I was told a multitude of reasons why he/​she wasn’t being moved up by the person in charge. I’d ask the instructor if these items were fixed and was told they are fine, but there would always be a new reason.
I’m under no impression that my kid would come out of this place and be an excellent swimmer. But I had hoped that 3 months of lessons would allow basic function in a normal pool. I suppose if I wanted to find a 6’x10’ pool, with a platform in the middle, I’d probably see some splashing and «swimming».
Bear Paddle packs them in, charges you a bundle, and doesn’t teach them basic skills like treading water or floating. I could’ve gotten a book at the library and taught my kid in a pool less crowded.

Great instructors for the most part however the front desk staff can improve on their communications skills. They seem very put upon when calling and not very customer service oriented. Phone skills need to be reviewed. When walking in the doors they lack a welcoming environment. Also the fact that the class schedules can only be adjust 2weeks out can be a challenge. Good thing we go for the instructors they make it all worth it.

Great program for our 1 year old baby to start out with. Daniella was an excellent instructor. We purchased a Groupon for 8 total sessions at 50% normal rate for the month. I’ll definitely purchase again if I see it. My son loved the familiar routine each week and did put some of his newly learned water skills to practice. We still sing some of the swim songs he learned and look forward to lots of pool time this summer. Cannot say enough good things about the program they offer. The only negative is that the full rate is pricey!

My 18 month old son seems to enjoy it. He’s been to four 30 minute classes, and he’s comfortable with being underwater. His instructor is great. The facilities are clean and well maintained. Just wish they had more changing ing rooms with diaper stations. Two doesn’t make sense for the amount of kids that are there. We came through a groupon deal which was basically half price for 8 sessions. Still considering wether to continue when that’s over since regular rates are a bit pricey.