24 February 2024
TOPEKA (KSNT) – One Topeka woman has a goal of training everyone in Shawnee County to swim.
Flying Fish Swim and Scuba is a Topeka-based business that teaches people how to scuba dive.
Its mission is health, education and adventure through water. This week, Flying Fish is doing just that by kicking off its swim school.
“We really want to see change in Topeka that more people are enjoying the water and that we’re making sure that they are safe in doing so,” Tracy Jepson, co-founder of Flying Fish Swim and Scuba, said.
Thursday, Feb. 22 was the first day of the kids’ classes in downtown Topeka. But the unique thing about Flying Fish is it offers swim classes for all ages, abilities and skill levels.
“It is all of the early education in swimming and then for adults it’s anyone who maybe they want to get better at certain swim skills,” Jepson said. “Or, just not even comfortable with the water and are starting from scratch.”
Kyra Stromgren started with Flying Fish Swim and Scuba as a diver but wanted to become an instructor to teach children and their parents safe swimming practices.
“Even if they just learn baby steps at a time, I think it’s great,” Stromgren said. “And that’s the whole purpose of this school is to just keep them going and going and learning more skills.”
The mom of one of the swimmers found these classes- and knew her kids would learn safe techniques after signing up.
“We’ve had a near drowning incident recently,” Anna Brown, the mom of one of the swimmers said, “and so, I believe it’s really important for kiddos to know how to be safe in the water and for parents to feel confident with their kids in the water.”
Each class is progression-based, which makes it easy for swimmers to join at any point. You can start taking swim classes at any time, just click here for more information on signing up.
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