Bear Paddle Swim School - Louisville

This place badly needs maintenance and updating. Every week we visit they have multiple showers and changing stalls that are broken. It's often the family stalls, which makes it challenging when bringing a 13 month child. For months one of their swimsuit dryers has been broken. The place is dirty and signage is faded. The group lessons are the same every single week. We definitely don't feel like we are getting our money's worth from the experience. I don't think our son is any closer to learning how to swim than when he started. There are much older kids in our group lesson doing the same routine week after week. All the instructors seem to be very young - most are enthusiastic and helpful, but some lack personality and a drive to teach the children. You can only schedule a week at a time, which presents many issues as you can imagine. They're frequently booked solid; makeup lessons are a joke. Once you join, you also have to give a month's notice to cancel. This place is just terrible. Do not recommend whatsoever.

This is a great place that teaches young children how to swim. I have taken my youngest daughter here for the past month and they have done really well with her. They are working really well with her and other children that I see. The facility is newer and nice on the inside. The staff are friendly and helpful. I highly recommend.

My son started taking lessons here when he turned 3 years old. The swimming instructors are very patient and have creative ways to keep children engaged and focused. My son loves coming here and I am looking forward to seeing his progress!

Ever since reading how drowning is responsible for more deaths among children ages 1-4 than any other cause except for congenital anomalies, I've been looking for places to bring my infant son to get comfortable with being in water and eventually learn how to swim. At Bear Paddle Swim School, you can get a class for free, so my son and I checked it out over the weekend. And I'm smitten. Bear Paddle features a 90-degree salt water pool, and all of the facilities appeared to be very clean. A large dressing area leads to the pool area. This dressing area has bathrooms, changing rooms, showers, lockers and even a swimsuit dryer so that you don't have to carry wet swim clothes home with you. The corner dressing rooms also have baby changing tables -- another plus.And if you want something more private, there are changing areas for that as well. A bench runs around the perimeter of the pool, which was full of parents and siblings waiting for classes to conclude. And in the pool, there are lanes and areas cordoned off so there can be multiple classes going on at once. When it was our turn for the class, I got in the bath-warm water and carried my son into the water. The teacher had us put the babies on their stomachs to get them to kick their legs and move with their arms. There was also an emphasis on dunking parts of their faces into the water, which I thought would bring on tears but didn't. Many of the exercises were mixed with baby songs, which also made them fun. The class went fast, and I can see how even babies will be able to learn the basics of kicking and paddling in the water. I'm waiting until after the new year but will be buying my son a class package -- so that we can enjoy an activity together and so he can hopefully learn skills that could save him if he ever were to fall into water.

Great place for young children to get instructional swimming lessons. Lessons are offered throughout the year, and they're taking extra precautions during the Covid-19 period. The water contains a little more chlorine than usual due to Covid, and the pills also heated at 90 degrees.

I recently had both of my boys enrolled in Bear Paddle. One is still enrolled and the other just a toddler and will be taking a break from the program for now, but will get signed back up in the near future. I really enjoy the Bear Paddle process of learning how to swim. My oldest son did not have the confidence and definitely did not want to get his head under the water but NOW he definitely has the confidence. He has recently moved up a level and I can see his confidence growing each time he goes to his lesson. We went to the beach earlier this month and he was out there in the ocean and really trying to put those skills in use. I was so proud of him!I like the fact that the class size is smaller giving the students the one on one attention they need. I also like the fact that if I have any questions or concerns, I can immediately talk to the pool deck manager and they can get my questions answered right away.

Bear paddle swim is an awesome place for your children to learn safety in the water! We had one incident, where this instructor couldn't handle my high energy, strong-willed 4 year old and quite teaching her. The head instructor quickly rectified the problem and now she has the best instructor, Ms.Becky. She so awesome and patient with the children and makes the lessons fun! I am still giving them 5 The place is very organized and run professionally! Stephanie May

We came to Bear Paddle using a free pass one of my friends gave us. Our son was only 6 months when we took him. He loved every second of it! Our instructors were so nice and they were very patient with our group. The only reason we didn't sign up that day, is that our son is too young to retain the instructions. As he gets older we will definitely sign him up for lessons. The greeter at the desk was so friendly when we walked him. He directed us the the locker/changing room and told us our instructor would call when it was our turn. We had just come from our workout class so I changed and changed our son in one of the rooms with a changing table. The locker room was very large, clean and accommodating. We put our coats and bags in a locker and then we got ready for the fun part! The pool was packed with kids of all ages having a great time. When we first got in, Wesley (my son) was in heaven! He loves the water and he loved getting to kick and splash. We were in a group for 6-36 months, so some of the kids in our group of 5 were able to do the exercises better. All kids that age must have a parent accompany them. When they gave us the floating device Wesley was too little to hold it and kick behind it, but once he got figured out how to hang on it he had fun. Most of the exercises we did involved singing a song to go with the action. He loved Humpty Dumpty the most. The kids all sat on the edge and when he "had a great fall" the parents gently dipped their faces into the water. At first he was a little shocked, but then he laughed and wanted to do it over and over!Bear Paddle would be a great place for a birthday party as they have a party room off from the pool. I loved getting to acclimate him to the water and can't wait to have him take lessons when he is older!

These guys are the best if you are looking into having your kid or kids take swim lessons my daughter is a year old and absolutely loves it awesome staff our coach is coach Hannah is great teaching kids and has a lot of patience

My grandson is 4 years old and has been around water either the River, Lake, or Swimming Pool since before he was 1. He was still swimming with a puddle Jumper and on March 1st, 2022 was his first lesson. We were 6 weeks into it and he had done the same thing for 6 lessons with no advancement... After complaining to management we continued and weeks went by NO advancement. Last week was week 13 (NO advancement) I called and spoke with the manager, Jacob. His explanation was weak at best but he offered to personally get in the water and evaluate my grandson. When we got there it was the same lesson AGAIN.... Jacob had gone home ill and nobody contacted us about the change. We withdrew today and have spent right at $500 and my grandson does as much in his nightly bath, He has not advanced at all. Better yet before we got home we received an email that we could withdraw but still had to pay 4 weeks of lessons at $35 each...They require a 30 day notice. I asked to speak to a supervisor over Jacobs level and was told SORRY we don't give that out... I left my number but don't expect a call or ANY form of understanding. I would NEVER recommend this as a SCHOOL they don't do instruction. It is a good place to let your child get in water but it would be a negative 10 in TEACHING.