7 lessons ago he wouldn’t even dip his face in the water. This is unbelievable to me. Thank you! -Katie Coombs
Giving grandchildren swimming lessons has been one of the best gifts I have given them! They are learning many life skills, not to mention Safety and being able to avoid drowning.• Learning takes time, and not completed in one setting (something to look forward to).
• Learning from different teachers and following instructions and trusting others.
• How to share and learn from week to week!
• Introduce and work with others.
– Jim Bristol
“We love Bridgewater. I can’t believe how much progress my children have made! Bonnie has a gift for teaching. She is very thoughtful and deliberate in her approach to each one of my three children’s different personalities and abilities. Terra, the scheduler, is very prompt, organized, and wonderful to work with. I highly recommend Bridgewater!” – Megan Lingard
“My grandson Ethan started swim lessons around mid October with instructor Linda. When he first started, he was so afraid of the water without his life jacket and even with his life jacket that he would not go away from the side of the pool. Ethan is 7 years old.
Linda is an amazing instructor. I have seen Ethan swim in the deep end of the pool now, dive for pool toys, and even do somersaults in the water. In the approximately two months that he has been with Linda, he is now not afraid of the water and loves to go to the pool for swim lessons. I would highly recommend Bridgewater Swim Academy to anyone looking for swim lessons. Thank you for helping Ethan learn to swim and get over his fear of water.” – Sherry Prosser“I would like to take this opportunity to tell you how amazing Linda is as an instructor. She has worked with me through my fears and challenges in the water and I am able to swim!” – Kelley Anderson
“Hi Holly…I just wanted to take a few minutes to check in with you and let you know how delighted I am with my progress with Bonnie at Bridgewater. I have four lessons remaining in my program and already I am streamlining and today I swam two laps without stopping swimming the freestyle. I was a non swimmer, (you saw me try to swim ?) and now I have so much more confidence, thanks to Bonnie, in the water. She is just incredible, she has such patience with her pupils and her passion shows very clearly in her teaching method, what a treasure she is!” – Scottie Smith
“My son had the good fortune of working with Holly on his stroke technique starting at a very early age. Not only is Holly technically very capable, she is warm and patient with the children and finds ways to adapt to the unique personalities of each child. Holly helped my son to take his swimming to the next level and to prepare him for a competitive team. Not only did she help him hone his skills but she took a genuine interest in his development and success. I would strongly recommend Holly to any parent who wants their child to not only hone their stroke technique but to also foster a love of swimming.” – Andrea
“We started swim lessons for my son with Bonnie about 3 months ago after doing group lessons somewhere else for nearly a year. When we brought our now 7 year old son in for his first lesson, Bonnie had her work cut out for her. We explained to her the situation and what our concerns were. He loved being in the water but was deathly afraid of being in the pool where he couldn’t touch the bottom. Bonnie was amazing with him! On the first day of lessons, he nearly choked her out when she tried to get him to let go of her. She gained his trust and firmly yet kindly corrected his unsafe reactions to being in the water. By the end of the first 2 sessions, she had taught him to float, a skill that we had been working on for months! During his 6th session, my husband sent me a video of him independently jumping in the deep end, coming up to float on his back, kicking over to the side of the pool and climbing out. Are you kidding me!?!? I felt for the first time that my son could be safe around water! What a relief! I wanted to hug Bonnie!! By the end of our 8th visit, he was working on the breathing sequence for swimming free style across the length of the pool, a skill I imagined we might be working on next year! Our once floundering boy is now swimming for the full length of the pool in both freestyle and backstroke techniques!!
We can’t say enough good things about Bonnie!! She had so much confidence in him right from the beginning! She clearly has tons of experience teaching swimming and is a skilled swimmer herself. She gave him clear instructions and lots of examples. She made challenging things fun for him, so he was learning skills while he thought he was playing a game! She has brought him so far in such a short amount of time!! Of course we signed him up for a second and third session with Bonnie. Then we started our 3 year old daughter with lessons with her. We love teacher Bonnie and think she works miracles!”– Bill & Patty Orr
“I have been to many, many different swim programs with our older 4 children. My first goal with any swimming program was to have my children water safe, quickly. Holly had our baby swimming within months, not years. He was swimming across the pool when he was 2 years old, literally amazing our friends. The difference is the individual attention he received- one on one instruction with teachers who are skilled at teaching was the key. There were no ribbons or silly terms used- it was straight swimming and water safety from the first lesson. The pool was not crowded, there were no large groups and our son was able to focus on his lessons with an instructor who was equally focused on his progress. He developed a bond with his instructor because of the continuity of the program. As he has progressed (now at age 5) he is developing his stroke, having fun and loves swimming. Holly is passionate about teaching the sport and her passion infused the technique and the attitudes of all the instructors. We continue to be highly impressed with the skills our son has learned. Additionally, many years ago, Holly played a key role in teaching two of our older children to swim- again in a fun, efficient and effective manner. Within four lessons our daughter went from doggy paddling to being completely water safe. My children loved their lessons with Holly!” – Kris
“We feel so blessed that our paths crossed with Holly Sprague. She is an incredible swim coach that provided our kids with wonderful individualized swim lessons this summer. Each swim meet our son swam faster and more precise thanks to Holly’s individualized instruction and techniques. Holly is positive, enthusiastic, patient, professional and motivating to kids. She is passionate about what she does. Holly provides a happy, supportive and fun learning environment! Very impressive!! 5 stars!!!” –Michelle Christy
“Holly has an amazing ability to connect with children. She commands attention and expects a lot from her students. I watched several practices and never for a moment doubted that her first concern was the children and their safety. But she also meant business and she had a way of getting more out of the our kids than I think even they expected. She instilled confidence in our kids, confidence that came I believe from feeling secure in the water with Holly there, and maintaining that confidence after the lesson ended. — I learned to swim only when I got to college. I didn’t want my kids to have the same fear of water and inability to swim with friends in lakes, the ocean, etc.. In a very short amount of time, I saw my kids happily and safely in the deeper end of the pool. Hard to describe why that made me so happy, but what Holly gave them was independence and confidence. A great gift!” –Ted
“My two daughters have both learned to swim with Bonnie. Bonnie is an excellent teacher. Her demeanor is calm and relaxed. She earns children’s trust and makes them feel comfortable in the water. Everything she does builds on itself with the kids. I highly recommend Bonnie for anyone looking for someone to get their children comfortable in the water as well as learning strokes they will use for a lifetime.”–Kelly Roper
“Bonnie taught all four of my children to swim. Her gentle spirit, kindness, and true enthusiasm for the sport of swimming shines through as she teaches. My children looked forward to their lessons with Bonnie, even my most reluctant swimmer, and I now have four water safe children. As a parent, this is a wonderful milestone to have achieved!”–Jill White
“I am a 70 yr. old female and began taking swim lessons with Bonnie
last summer and then a few lessons this summer.
Bonnie is an AWESOME swim instructor. In my life I have taken
swim lessons from the time I was 12 years of age up until now.
I have always been afraid of the water, but would always continue
to pursue trying to get over that fear. Bonnie has helped me do that.
She has been extremely patient with me and all my fears and attempts
at learning to swim. This is the most I have ever learned and that is
because of Bonnie’s expertise as an Instructor and also her patience.
I live one hour out of Reno. It gets pretty tricky trying to get in Bonnie’s
summer schedule. She has worked with me in so many ways trying to fit
me into her schedule.”
“She has shared with me the opening of the new pool and I’m looking
forward to trying to come and have Bonnie continue to teach me to
swim well.”–Patricia Meyers
I have known Bonnie Gallagher for about 25 years. Initially, she was a parent and substitute teacher where I was hired to teach the fourth grade. Dependable and efficient are descriptors that come to my mind. Due to such qualities, Bonnie was both a day to day sub, as well as long term sub when teachers needed her. She was able to separate her role as parent and employee.
A few years later, when I needed a swim teacher for my twins, Bonnie was the first on my list. My children loved going to Bonnie’s for their lessons, where she taught with her daughter, Heather. I loved that Bonnie ran a very timely program. The children received either teacher’s undivided, one-on-one attention for short periods of time. I preferred this to longer lessons with many children. Although my daughter successfully continued to swim on a swim team and loved the water, my son didn’t enjoy swimming as much. Now at the age of 24, he scuba dives as a marine biologist, and we joke the only reason he can do this is because of Bonnie and Heather.
When my now 11 year old niece was ready for swimming lessons, I told my sister there is no other place to take her but to Bonnie’s. Clara loves to swim and loved swimming with Bonnie.
I truly believe Bonnie can teach anyone to swim. She is patient, kind, and funny. –Jackie Borsum