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Reviews — 8
I would advise anyone to stay away from this establishment. This review is to show Calphin’s gaps in coaching, evaluation, and operations tactics and the impact it can have on a child’s morale.
1. Coaches lacking motivation + Gaps in evaluation.
The grief started when my son enrolled in the intermediate Crawler 1 level in Spring 2023. Since then, he has failed in their evaluations with notes of needing improvements with kicking faster and improving on his backstroke.
We kept re-enrolling him in this level and went through discussions with the Director on Deck and the coaches on what is needed for him to progress to the next level.
My son kept on insisting that he had been following the coach's instructions and was confused as to why he was being held back. We started seeing a real morale impact on him in the Fall of 2023.
The coaches change every season and there was no internal communication to address the gaps for my son. We had to start from scratch with a new coach every season.
2. Lack of transparency with parents
In the Oct 2023 evaluation, again my son failed for not reaching the 3-yard line in backstroke. There was a new comment that he struggled with listening to the coach and paying attention. Considering he has been at this level for almost 8 months, this new feedback surprised us.
The week after that he was given a re-test but no communication came on the retest result.
The day before the Fall 2 season was to start, I checked with the reception on the retest result. They told us that he had PASSED.
On the day of the new season start, we got a call from Calphin saying that my son had FAILED the evaluation and he would need re-enrollment in Crawler 1 again.
My husband realized that our suspicion was true and that we were being played. Upon more questioning and asking for a refund and unenrollment, he was connected to the operations manager Jennifer. Jennifer checked with the swim staff and confirmed that my son had PASSED. Frustrated by this flip-flop, we still stood firm on our refund and our conversation with Jennifer brought to light some serious gaps within Calphin management and leadership.
3. Blame game within staff and management
Jennifer blamed one of the new staff members on the miscommunication and hoped we would let go, considering they had actually PASSED my son. Any manager worth her salt, would not throw a new employee under the bus for their mistake.
We questioned how the new staffer could make such a basic mistake if the coaches signed off on my son's success a week ago. Jennifer said that there was a miscommunication between the evaluation coach and the head coach and they had missed updating the results of the retest. (again the coaches are being blamed than the manager taking responsibility)
When we didn’t budge from the refund, Jennifer said she was trying her best to change the evaluation criteria and internal software system and she needed time to implement these changes. She insisted that we as parents should keep faith in her and keep the enrollment. This is coming from a staff member who failed a 6-year-old child for 1 yard and did not keep faith that he would cover this gap in the next level eventually with more practice.
4. Stand By Your Child: My son kept on insisting that he had been doing all of the things that the coaches asked him to do and yet we took the academy’s evaluation feedback and kept re-enrolling him in the same level. The Calphin Academy said they would re-evaluate his progress during each session (irrespective of the tests) and transition him to the next level when he is ready. There was no effort on their part to work in favor of our child. The Oct 2023 FAIL and then their flip flop on the actual test result convinced us that they were not on the child’s side but actually in the business of making as much money as possible via re-enrollments. In hindsight, we should have listened to our child and unenrolled him sooner.
1. Coaches lacking motivation + Gaps in evaluation.
The grief started when my son enrolled in the intermediate Crawler 1 level in Spring 2023. Since then, he has failed in their evaluations with notes of needing improvements with kicking faster and improving on his backstroke.
We kept re-enrolling him in this level and went through discussions with the Director on Deck and the coaches on what is needed for him to progress to the next level.
My son kept on insisting that he had been following the coach's instructions and was confused as to why he was being held back. We started seeing a real morale impact on him in the Fall of 2023.
The coaches change every season and there was no internal communication to address the gaps for my son. We had to start from scratch with a new coach every season.
2. Lack of transparency with parents
In the Oct 2023 evaluation, again my son failed for not reaching the 3-yard line in backstroke. There was a new comment that he struggled with listening to the coach and paying attention. Considering he has been at this level for almost 8 months, this new feedback surprised us.
The week after that he was given a re-test but no communication came on the retest result.
The day before the Fall 2 season was to start, I checked with the reception on the retest result. They told us that he had PASSED.
On the day of the new season start, we got a call from Calphin saying that my son had FAILED the evaluation and he would need re-enrollment in Crawler 1 again.
My husband realized that our suspicion was true and that we were being played. Upon more questioning and asking for a refund and unenrollment, he was connected to the operations manager Jennifer. Jennifer checked with the swim staff and confirmed that my son had PASSED. Frustrated by this flip-flop, we still stood firm on our refund and our conversation with Jennifer brought to light some serious gaps within Calphin management and leadership.
3. Blame game within staff and management
Jennifer blamed one of the new staff members on the miscommunication and hoped we would let go, considering they had actually PASSED my son. Any manager worth her salt, would not throw a new employee under the bus for their mistake.
We questioned how the new staffer could make such a basic mistake if the coaches signed off on my son's success a week ago. Jennifer said that there was a miscommunication between the evaluation coach and the head coach and they had missed updating the results of the retest. (again the coaches are being blamed than the manager taking responsibility)
When we didn’t budge from the refund, Jennifer said she was trying her best to change the evaluation criteria and internal software system and she needed time to implement these changes. She insisted that we as parents should keep faith in her and keep the enrollment. This is coming from a staff member who failed a 6-year-old child for 1 yard and did not keep faith that he would cover this gap in the next level eventually with more practice.
4. Stand By Your Child: My son kept on insisting that he had been doing all of the things that the coaches asked him to do and yet we took the academy’s evaluation feedback and kept re-enrolling him in the same level. The Calphin Academy said they would re-evaluate his progress during each session (irrespective of the tests) and transition him to the next level when he is ready. There was no effort on their part to work in favor of our child. The Oct 2023 FAIL and then their flip flop on the actual test result convinced us that they were not on the child’s side but actually in the business of making as much money as possible via re-enrollments. In hindsight, we should have listened to our child and unenrolled him sooner.
On the day of Calphin Swimming's 20th year anniversary one must praise the professionalism of Calphin Swimming's teaching team and the systematic game-learning program that Calphin Swimming has planned for the children! Whether you just want to learn to swim to gain survival skills, or you want to learn to swim to develop your child's resilience, self-management and physical strength, Calphin Swimming is the best choice. Luckily my 7 year old became a Calphin Swimming student in the fall of 2022 and went through a structured program to learn 4 strokes in 10 months of team lessons. This fall, passed the test to make the CDST swim team. The original intention of just learning to swim and learn to protect themselves has been sublimated by the quality teaching of Calphin Swimming. The professional teaching of the coaches has allowed the children to discover their own interests, which is more meaningful than learning 4 strokes. We hope that Calphin Swimming will be more and more successful and will always accompany the children's growth!
My kid started swimming at 5-yr old at Calphin. The facilities of Calphin are top- notch, providing a safe and conducive environment for swimmers of all levels. Coach Lei truly stands out in coaching. His expertise and dedication are evident in every session. His approach is not only professional and experienced but also infused with a level of patience that encourages swimmers to surpass their own expectations.
Seems good with their coach. The facility looks average.
Absolutely HORRIBLE. Like the other reviews, all they want to do is just to steal money from your wallet. The owner & managers are extremely rude. Once we entered the swim school and saw a parent fighting with the owner. The "swim coaches" are inexperienced. Some are actually very mean, and my daughter didn't even want to go to the classes. A few coaches though are very nice. Some young coaches don't really do their job and just talk to the lifeguards while in the water, TEACHING A CLASS. Classes are also expensive. HATE HATE HATE THIS PLACE. LISTEN TO THE OTHER 1 STAR REVIEWS AND DO NOT COME HERE !!!!
My son goes there, place is nice and people are good too, little too crowded at the peak hours around 4. Good parking. Over all it is a good for what it is for.
Very bad experience with refunds. They unnecessary took 380$ from my card by mistake and taking more than 2 weeks to process the refund. They continue to delay the refund by another 3 business days which is really very bad after having waited for more than 2 weeks.
