Please extend a warm welcome to our newest instructor - Cecelia Cox! Cecelia is originally from Rockford, Illinois where she swam competitively in High School and taught children to swim during the summer. She has also coached Middle School basketball and volleyball, and enjoys working with kids and teaching them new skills. Cecelia has a bachelors in Hospitality and Tourism and an MBA in Project Management. She currently works at Edgewood College helping adults go back to school. When she's not working she enjoys playing with her 5 year old black lab named Bailey, hiking, golfing, spending time with family and friends and watching sports. She is a die hard Bears fan!

Little Strokes will close for lessons and swim team after 3pm on Thursday, October 31st. This closure has already been taken into account, so there is no need to schedule a makeup lesson. Enjoy Trick or Treating!

Please extend a warm welcome to Amber Tyler, our new Saturday office staff! Originally from the small rural town of Oxford, WI, Amber now calls DeForest her home. Her love for swimming began when her daughter, Danika, started her swim journey here at Little Strokes at the age of 4. After mastering all her strokes, she went on to swim competitively for local swim clubs such as DFAC and the Sun Prairie Piranhas, as well competing on the DeForest Area High School girls swim team. Amber credits the skilled instructors at Little Strokes for her daughter’s swim success over the years and for nurturing her love of swimming.

Amber is a surgical coordinator by day and recently become an ‘empty nester’. In her free time, you’ll find her crafting, baking and gardening as well as enjoying time outdoors with her husband, Eric. Amber is looking forward to meeting all the Little Strokes families and providing them with a warm welcome as someone once did for her family!

We are excited to introduce to our newest member of our cleaning staff - Sisy Thao! Mr. Hartley is stepping back on cleaning and will be focusing on maintenance and small projects, but we are thrilled to have Sisy keep our building looking great! Born and raised in Madison WI, Sisy graduated from La Follette High school. Sisy is currently enrolled in Dental Hygiene School to become a hygienist. During the day she is a dental assistant helping her patients feel great about their smiles. In her free time she loves spending time with her two boys and fiancé playing games and sports outdoors. Sisy enjoys camping, hiking, swimming, arts and crafts, reading thriller books and she is a foodie!

Refer a friend and you BOTH get $$! Share this post or tag a friend who might be interested in swim lessons at Little Strokes, and you can both get a sweet discount!

If you refer a new family to Little Strokes and they sign up for lessons, that family will get $10 off their first lesson and you will get $20 off your tuition! Clip the coupon below and share it with your friends!

Priority Registration begins on Monday, August 5th at 10:00AM. All children previously enrolled in last school year's session have been contacted regarding their spot this fall. If you would like to change spots from last year, were on a waitlist this year, or were newly enrolled this summer, you can enroll during Priority Registration on Monday, August 5th at 10:00AM.

General Public Registration begins on Monday, August 12th at 10:00AM. If you are new to Little Strokes Swim Academy or haven't swum with us in the past year or so, you can enroll during General Public Registration on Monday, August 12th at 10:00AM. Don't forget to mention your coupon below, and hand it in at the front desk! If you have any questions, please send us an email!

https://www.littlestrokes.com/discounts

Please take a moment to welcome Vivi Andersen to our instructing staff! Vivi grew up just outside of Milwaukee in the city of Wauwatosa. She grew up swimming on her local swim team and continued on into high school, where she was captain during her senior year. She is now studying French, Linguistics and Teaching to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) as an undergraduate at UW Madison. Outside of school and swim-instructing, she enjoys hiking, travelling and spending time with friends and family. She loves all things swimming and is excited to share this love with students at Little Strokes!

The following classes are available for registration at almost any class level - simply send us a message and we will create a class for you! Feel free to combine siblings of different levels together in the same class with the same instructor. We have added on more classes to Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so there are plenty of open spots for everyone!

This is first come, first serve, and these classes are currently open for registration and may fill up quickly. Please send an email to LittleStrokesSwim@gmail.com or a text to 608-819-0134 and we will help you out. Summer Session runs through August 30th and you can register at any time!

Golden Ticket Alert! The following Summer Session classes are available for registration at almost any class level for TWO INSTRUCTORS at the same time!! This is your chance to choose your class for 2 different instructors! Feel free to combine siblings of different level together in the same class with the same instructor, or put them in separate classes with separate instructors.

Thursday @ 3:00pm - Lexi and Susanna

Thursday @ 7:00pm - Lexi and Anna Scott

Friday @ 4:00pm - Lindsay and Alena

Friday @ 6:30pm - Lindsay and Alena

Sunday @ 8:30am - Abby and Rebecca

Sunday @ 10:30am - Abby and Rebecca

This is first come, first serve, and these classes are currently open for registration and may fill up quickly. Please send an email to LittleStrokesSwim@gmail.com or text 608-819-0134 and we will help you out. Summer Session runs through August 30th, and you can register at any time!

There will be no swim team, swim lessons, adult swim or private pool rentals on the 4th of July. The closure on July 4th has already been taken into account so there is no need to schedule a makeup or request a credit. Swim lessons, swim team and adult swim will resume on Friday, July 5th. Happy 4th!

What's better than an hour playing and swimming in your own private pool? Getting the following hour for half off! We are running a BOGO Deal for all 2 hour private pool rentals over Memorial Day Break (May 25-27). The first hour of your 2 hour rental is $100, the following second hour is only $50. You must book a 2 hour rental over Memorial Day Break to get this wonderful $150 deal! This offer is not good for previously booked rentals, 1 hour rentals, or rentals that occur outside of Memorial Day Break.

Rental times for Memorial Day Break include:

Saturday, May 25th

10-11am

11am-12pm

12-1pm

1-2pm

2-3pm

3-4pm

4-5pm

5-6pm

6-7pm

Sunday, May 26th

10-11am

11am-12pm

12-1pm

1-2pm

2-3pm

3-4pm

6-7pm

Monday, May 27th

10-11am

11am-12pm

12-1pm

1-2pm

2-3pm

3-4pm

4-5pm

5-6pm

6-7pm

The entire pool will be reserved for your group of 15-20 people, swimming or watching, Please send us an email to inquire about availability, or to reserve your spot!

General Public Registration for new swimmers will take place at 10am on Monday, May 13th!! Summer Session runs from June 9th through Friday, August 30th, with the following exceptions:

Due to overseas family visiting, Mr. Rafał has sporadic availability this summer. The first couple weeks he will be substituting for Ms. Anna Scott, and for the last 7 weeks he will have his own classes. Mr. Rafał's classes will begin on Sunday, July 14th. Ms. Anna Scott will be out June 10th through June 20th, and Mr. Rafał is able to substitute through June 19th. A different instructor will substitute on June 20th or we will provide makeup/credits.

Parent-Tot classes will be $20, and Age Group lessons and Swim Team will be $30.50 per class. Children in private lessons pay for all 3 class spots, or $91.50 per class. Please email us at LittleStrokesSwim@gmail.com with any questions before or during registration!

https://www.littlestrokes.com/printable-schedule

Summer Schedule & Registration

New Session Schedule, Registration Information, Rate Increase

Little Strokes Swim Academy offers two separate sessions during the year, Summer Session and School Year Session. Swimmers currently enrolled in the School Year 2023-2024 session will end their classes on Saturday, June 8th. If you are currently enrolled and would like to swim this summer, you will need to register for a class spot on May 1st, as current School Year enrollment will not carry over to the Summer Session. Summer Session will begin on Sunday, June 9th and runs through Friday, August 30th, with the following exceptions:

Due to overseas family visiting, Mr. Rafał has sporadic availability this summer. The first couple weeks he will be substituting for Ms. Anna Scott, and for the last 7 weeks he will have his own classes. Mr. Rafał's classes will begin on Sunday, July 14th. Ms. Anna Scott will be out June 10th through June 20th, and Mr. Rafał is able to substitute through June 19th. A different instructor will substitute on June 20th or we will provide makeup/credits.

Registration for current students and waitlisted students will take place on Wednesday, May 1st at 10AM. All waitlisted but not currently enrolled students wanting to register on May 1st should respond to the email inquiry (being sent this week) so that we can give permission to register before the General Public registration. General Public Registration will take place on Monday, May 13th at 10AM. Please email us at LittleStrokesSwim@gmail.com with any questions before or during registration.

For the upcoming 2024-2025 School Year session (beginning September 5th), we will carry over the 2023-2024 School Year enrollment. If you are currently enrolled in School Year lessons (ending June 8th), sometime in the summer we will contact your family to see if that spot still works for the upcoming school year, and make adjustments at that time. Please note that the 2024-2025 School year enrollment DOES NOT carry over into Summer. If you would like to swim in the summer, you will need to register for a new class.

In order to continue to provide top-notch swim lessons while keeping class sizes small, retain our extremely talented staff and keep pace with increasing costs, we will raise our rates for the 2024 Summer Session as mentioned in the last newsletter. Parent-Tot classes will be $20, and Age Group lessons and Swim Team will be $30.50 per class. Child(ren) in private lessons pay for all 3 class spots, or $91.50 per class.

CURRENT & WAITLIST REGISTRATION: Wednesday, May 1st at 10am

GENERAL PUBLIC REGISTRATION: Monday, May 13th at 10am

END OF 2023-2024 SCHOOL YEAR SESSION: Saturday, June 8th

START OF SUMMER SESSION: Sunday, June 9th

START OF SHORTENED SUMMER SESSION FOR MR. RAFAŁ: JULY 14TH

END OF SUMMER SESSION: Friday, August 30th

START OF 2023-2024 SCHOOL YEAR SESSION: Thursday, September 5th

Laney began swimming at a young age and continued her swimming career in High School for the Merrill Bluejays Swim Team. She was a captain her junior and senior year of High School, where she qualified for State in the 200 Medley Relay. Laney is lifeguard, CPR, and Water Safety Instructor certified, and has taught swim lessons since 2019.

Laney is currently attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Material Science and Engineering. When she isn’t in the pool, Laney loves to workout, go hiking, and boating. She can't wait to inspire others to love swimming as much as she does!

Susanna grew up in Bellevue, Washington where she started competitively swimming at 8 years old for Edgebrook Swim Team and later, Issaquah Swim Team. She also competed for the Issaquah High School Swim Team where she was captain her Senior year. In addition, she lifeguarded at her local YMCA throughout high school.

Susanna graduated in 2023 from Colorado State University with a B.S. in Health and Exercise Science and a minor in Business Administration. She now attends UW – Madison where she is pursuing her Doctorate of Occupational Therapy with hopes of becoming a Pediatric Occupational Therapist. In her free time, Susanna enjoys exercising, painting, cooking, being outside, and spending time with family and friends!

It is Super Refer-A-Family time! Typically, when you refer a new family to Little Strokes and they sign up for lessons, you receive $20 swim cash. For the months of February and March, if you refer a new family to our program you will receive $40 swim cash for each family referred who enrolls!! The best part is that the family you refer also receives a $10 discount on their first lessons.

What could be better? How about if we enter everyone who fills out a referral form into a drawing for a $100 gift certificate! At the end of March, we will draw one lucky winner from our list of families who either referred a family to us or were referred to us by a current swim family.

Refer a new family who enrolls in February or March:

► Your family receives $40 swim cash

► Their family receives $10 swim cash

► Both families are entered into a drawing for $100 gift certificate

Referral forms located at the front desk or online: https://www.littlestrokes.com/discounts

Looking for something to do with your infant or toddler on these chilly winter mornings? How about joining our Parent-Tot swim lessons class? There are currently openings on Tuesdays at 9am and Thursdays at 10am.

Little Strokes’ Parent-Toddler class is a wonderful way to get your child loving the water! Our Parent-Toddler classes meet once a week for 30 minutes and have a maximum of 6 Parent-Toddler groups per instructor. You must be at least 6 months old to join this class.

Your child will learn how to blow bubbles while submerging and learn to balance their body while moving through the water on their front and back. We do all of this while keeping it light by combining fun songs, jump-ins and lots of smiles.

Lexi started swimming at the age of 9 years old for the Fort Atkinson Swim Team (FAST). She continued swimming for the Fort Atkinson High School swim team, where she was on varsity all 4 years. She is currently at senior at UW-Madison, studying neurobiology. After graduation, Lexi will be attending an accelerated nursing program, the end goal to be a nurse anesthetist! For the past 5 summers, she has worked at the Fort Atkinson Aquatic Center as a lifeguard manager and swim instructor. Her favorite part of being a swim instructor is seeing the progress kids make throughout the years, especially when they hit a big milestone in their swimming. In her free time, Lexi loves being with friend and family, enjoying summer days on the lake, and spending time with her dog.

From the age of 5, swimming has been a huge part of Nicole's life. She began swimming at a YMCA program in Queen Creek, AZ where she soon found her love for swim meets and competition. She swam competitively for several different clubs over the years in Arizona and California, due to moving around in her childhood. As a 4-year member of the Varsity Swim Team at Higley High School in Arizona, she most frequently competed in the 500 freestyle and 200 IM, but always loved being a part of relay teams as well. Nicole hopes to eventually participate in a triathlon and other distance swimming events. In addition to swimming, she is an avid runner and dancer. She has always had a passion for teaching and working with children, and previously taught dance lessons for many years. She is currently studying Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and plans to continue working with children and teaching them the joys of swimming. She and her husband live in Janesville with their two dogs, Bonkley and Bosco and love the snow and seasons of Wisconsin after spending so much time in Arizona.

Just a friendly reminder that we will take a break from swim lessons and adult swim on Monday, January 15th to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. Activities will resume on Tuesday, January 16th. There is no need to schedule a makeup lesson, this break has already been taken into account.

Born and raised in Madison, Wi, Natalie has been swimming since the age of 2. As the daughter of a swim coach she has grown up on a pool deck. Natalie started lifeguarding at 15 and has since worked as both a pool and triathlon lifeguard. Currently, she works as a Firefighter/EMT and is working on her associates degree in Fire Protection.