Taking the Plunge
SafeSplash gives East Tennessee’s youth a lifelong love for the water
By Micha Haas | Photography by Nathan Sparks
For some, swimming is a passion. That’s certainly the case for Davis Tarwater, who capped his 20-year-long competitive swimming career with Olympic gold in London. But whether it’s a passion for you or not, it’s important that you and your family have the tools you need to survive and thrive in the water, and giving you those tools has been Tarwater’s goal since the first day he opened the doors to Knoxville’s SafeSplash Swim School.
“We want to provide a fun and nurturing environment for kids to develop a love for the water while also learning important safety skills.” says Tarwater.
Tarwater started off his business in a borrowed hotel pool, but these days he and his team operate four locations, with their flagship location in Cedar Bluff. SafeSplash boasts a number of different programs for swimmers of all ages, but whether you or your kid are looking to join a class or spring for one-on-one lessons, you can be sure you’re in good hands.
“We work really hard to make sure our instructors are the best in the business,” says Cedar Bluff location manager Emily Morgan. “Each receives very extensive training before they get their own block of classes.”
SafeSplash is what the team calls a “swimmer-initiated submersion program”, meaning that they don’t force kids under the water if they don’t feel comfortable or ready. It means that each swimmer can go at their own pace. This is helped by small class sizes (with most classes having a 3-to-1 student/instructor ratio), making sure each student gets the personal attention they need to have a safe and constructive swimming journey.
“All kids develop at different speeds. The most important thing is consistency, that week-to-week exposure,” says Tarwater. “We know that not every person that comes through our doors wants to be a competitive swimmer, but everyone should be able to enjoy the water.”
Tarwater explains his classes as being like a rolling monthly membership. “We enroll kids and they come the same day and time every week,” says Tarwater. “When the student has achieved their objective, you put in a drop date and you’re done. We try to make it really easy, with as few strings attached as possible.”
The S.A.F.E.R. Swimmer Promise
This January, in the spirit of making safe swimming accessible to all in Knoxville, SafeSplash is debuting a new program called the S.A.F.E.R. Swimmer Promise, offered for kids as young as four. The idea behind the program is to ensure the student has all the skills they need to survive the water over the course of a year, with an evaluation at the end to test their water-readiness. The eponymous promise is that if a year isn’t enough for the student to acquire the needed skills, then all the lessons the student needs going forward to pass the evaluation are free.
For All Ages and All Levels
But SafeSplash isn’t just for kids and beginning swimmers.
“While we’re not a fitness concept, we are an instructional business for swimmers of all levels,” says Tarwater. “We have video offerings for triathletes and competitive swimmers, and our endless pools, which create a current you can swim against.”
Want to know what SafeSplash can do for you? Give them a call at 865-263-1800 or check them out online at safesplash.com.
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