KIM CULVER

My Swim Story:

I grew up spending a lot of time at beaches and pools and always loved being in the water.I was a strong swimmer at a young age and on the swim team as a pre-teen. I wanted my children to have confidence and skills to be safe in the water and to enjoy swimming like I did. I knew Michael Petrella prior to him becoming a Certified Instructor and our daughters, then ages 1 1/2 and 4, were some of his first students. I was amazed at what they learned! My younger daughter was floating after a few days of lessons and my oldest went from hating getting her face wet in the bath to swimming across the pool in a few weeks. The girls grew to love swimming and seeing their confidence soar as their skills increased was incredible. I remember telling Michael I was glad that my kids now liked playing in the water. He said “more importantly, they now know how to respect the water and be safe!” In 2015 our youngest daughter was born, and by 8 months of age she was in lessons. We are so grateful that she started at such a young age! She is an extremely active child and has no fear. At 2 1/2 years old she was learning to snorkel and could swim across the pool several times, floating for as long as she wanted. Taking her on vacation to a water resort that year was so fun to see the amazed reactions of others when they saw her jump in the deep end without floaties! In 2016, Michael approached me to be his scheduler for his Michigan team of instructors. Two years later I joined him and a team of instructors in California to do their scheduling and have since added a couple more independent instructors. I am blessed to work with instructors from coast to coast and several places in between!