We have all 3 of our kids enrolled at Bear Paddle both pre and post pandemic shut down. We have been very happy with the quality of instruction the receive and the progress them make in swim. The teachers are attentive and direct in their instruction. The staff is always welcoming, and they explain answers to your questions thoroughly. We will continue to recommend Bear Paddle

My daughter loves it! Very friendly and warming place for kids. Our instructor Lexi is awesome she is very attentive with her students. My daughter has gotten very comfortable with her. We love our experience here at bear paddle. 🤗

Great place my daughter and son goes there and they learn new skill every time. Everybody there from the front desk to the trainer specially Bella are very professional and helpful.

My sons instructor (Carolis) was awesome and he was so good with my son and all of his students. Everyone we encountered was friendly however I had two issues during our experience. The first we purchased a deal for 16 WEEKS of classes-one per week. At least 5 weeks before we should have been done we were told that while they would honor the number of classes we would have to come more frequently to get it done in about 2 weeks. This created undue stress and hardship for my family in order to receive the sessions we paid for. I expressed this on more than one occasion but the manager did nothing to honor the special they had sold. Lastly and most importantly do not let your kids go barefoot in the locker room!!! Clearly there is not a good cleaning schedule occurring here. A once a week deck brush and monthly professional cleaning is necessary! The pictures speak for themselves, all of the dark portions are removable.

My kid loves it! He learns at his own pace so, no pressure to move up a level of hes not ready. After 2 months he was swimming without floats after one year he is doing backstrokes and swimming underwater! Hes progressed faster and with more confidence than previous park district lessons. I highly recommend Bear Paddle if you want a happy and safe swim kid!

It has been some time since we sent our daughter here but we loved it. My wife and I couldnt figure out how to help our daughter get brave or get over her fear of water. We brought her here and all of a sudden she was a swimmer. As all teachers do they knew how to break through. Plus, they arent her parent so she seemly respected them more.

Both my kids learned to swim there, great instructors, non-chlorine water.

My son is been on swimming lessons a little bit more than 6 months (he was 2.5 YO) and his progress is amazing, he moved to a different level where for kids older than 3 years and his teacher is the best, she is patience and lovely and he really enjoy his class!!!

Great swim school for kids. Friendly staff and management. Pool is super nice and warm. It has been almost 2 yrs my daughter has been with bear Paddle and believe me she has gone a mile in swimming now. She started with a level 0 and now in Level 6.Staff is able to identify the area of improvements for the kids and make sure coach is concentrating on those areas. Missing lessons make up policy has been great and we never missed a paid lesson in last 2 years.I would always recommend to family and friends.

My 6 year old couldn’t even swim less than a year ago and is now in level 5 doing backstroke, butterfly and freestyle perfectly. We tried other programs (park district being one) and this is well worth it! Not to mention both of my boys love going every week!

The swim lessons are good. I would give the swim lessons 4 stars. The disappointment come with their support staff, and constant rotation of coaches. The swim coaches are constantly rotating and when there is a substitute there is no progress. We have been going to Bear Paddle for 7 months, and my daughter is on her 7th coach, not including subs. It makes the process much longer.The service staff at the front desk tends to have bad days. If they are having a bad day, they will have no problem yelling at your child for the slightest infraction. The main service person is generally pretty rude.Do not get scammed by the $10 referral for a friend. It is $10 per family. So if you recommend someone go there that has one kid you get ten dollars, or if you get a family of 4 to go there, you still get ten dollars. Better hope the people dont have the same last name as you.Saturday and Sunday is busy, and the coaches are somewhat distracted. They look bored and there can be a lot of down time. The people that move your child up are also watching a lot of kids, so it can take a really long time to progress. If you go during the week it is much better. Not as many kids and your child can fly through the steps. It is expensive, but worth it if your child learns to swim.All of that being said, the coaches are usually really good with a one on one basis. Some of the coaches really take their time and work with the kids, and cater to unique personality traits. Good luck. If you do not get a good coach, they make it really easy to switch classes.

Clean and spacious. Only concern is swimming coaches getting replaced often.

My daughter loves this place. The teacher she had was great and the front desk people are always nice. i felt so welcomed my first time there. I recommend for any child at any age.

Our son enjoys his swim classes and the facility and staff are great. The instructors are very attentive and provide a safe atmosphere where children can learn and also enjoy themselves. We’re looking forward to his continued development as a swimmer and student.

We have been bringing our daughter here for exactly 1 year now. During the summer break last year, we decided to shop around for swim lessons.I came here and Claire greeted me the moment I open the door, they showed me around and gave a brochure. I called them up the following day to schedule for swim assessment, Coach Ian help us and was very friendly (I heard he moved to another Bear Paddle location, we miss him!)I think most of the teachers are high school or maybe college student, not entirely sure but I like that they are not terrifying and they are very friendly with the kids. My daughter had Coach Marc, Kieran, Megan (there are 2 Megan in their facility and both was able to teach my daughter), I am missing another person. They have helped her move to each level. To my daughter getting into the pool is playtime and at the same she is learning new skills.The lessons that they offer are all basic, I think for older kids they offer like team training. If my daughter wanted to join competitions when she is older I will probably find another location, for now our goal is that she learn the basics. Those goals are being met at Bear Paddle.They recently change the set-up of their lessons: camps, clinics & sessions. I am not too happy as I was hoping my daughter will be able to do summer camp again this year. They have all summer camps in the morning and it didnt give us enough flexibility. I was force to enroll her in a clinic, (twice/week lessons). When she did the summer camps last year, she was able to move up really quick and she was able to memorize the form, kicks, etc. I understand their explanation on why they are doing the change but I think it only benefits the staff in terms of scheduling.Another improvement that they can probably do:(1) grouping the kids by their age & swim level (sometimes I dont understand why my 6 year old is swimming with a teenager already, the kid jumps into the pool and 1 stroke the kid is already at the end of the pool)(2) maybe add more showers and changing rooms. I dont know the other days but in the afternoon there are kids who all finished at the same time and the parents are like scrambling to reserve a shower or changing room.Other than that, I love this facility. My daughter has learn how to swim, she is no longer afraid to jump into the pool (thanks coach Kieran) and she met new friends too!

They really teach stroke technique here...the teachers are amazing. We had struggled to find a place for swim lessons our kids liked and would progress at - Bear Paddle is the one that has worked so well for our family!

Bear Paddle is the best swim school ever! The teachers are awesome and are great with kids. My child went from being fearful of getting splashed in the face to kicking and scooping and blowing bubbles. He is comfortable being fully submerged under the water. Bear Paddle has also taught my son very important safety skills like the importance of keeping his mouth closed and making puffy cheeks and pulling himself out of the pool! I could not be prouder!

We have been going here for two years and it is one of my sons happiest places. He loves learning and having fun at the facility. It is clean and well maintained as well!

They are awesome. Gave my son and daughter the attention they needed.

Amazing experience here! Both of my kids have progressed further here in 3 weeks than 3 months at their previous swim lessons! The class sizes are perfect size, lots of direct teacher to kid learning, and wonderful amounts of encouragement!

Great school. Great teachers. My two year old daughter loves going here.

I would give this place zero stars if possible. The customer service here is the worst of any place I’ve encountered. After 6 months of lessons, I changed bank cards & received threatening voice messages daily because I hadn’t updated my card yet. GOLDFISH IS MUCH BETTER.

My son loves Bear Paddle, the instructors are dedicated and great with the kids. Also Tonee C. Always makes sure to go out of her way to say hi, grab the door or anything else to make the experience wonderful!

What a great place! Megan S. runs the school like a clockwork. She is extremely professional, carying, and friendly! Finally found a perfect place for my sons swim lessons.

Great instructors and facility. My child loves going every week!

My kids have made incredible progress in a relatively short time. The instructors are very good at generating results, and the kids all seems to really like them.

Staff is excellent. My kid has learned so much and enjoys going.

We have been going here for Last 2 months and my daughter like the place and teacher over there. The place is neat ,clean and nicely maintainedHelpful?

The coaches are great! My kids love to go!

2 years of continous lessons can bring a child from not wanting to get in the water to a level 6 swimmer learning competitive strokes!!! All of this occured through the instruction of generous coaches!! Thank you, Karolis, Kelvin, Mona, Tonei, Carly, Megan and many others! The Aurora Illinois facility has a great number of awesome coaches! You all rock!

I can definitely recommend to all parents. Clean facilities and friendly staff.

The kid is 🏊! How great is that?

I cant give 5 stars because employee did not want me any more pictures than 2 I did add here and more pictures would have given people little bit more info.

Great teaching instructor

Great teachers