Swim To Eddie
About eddie
I was born in Chicago and remember as a kid not being able to swim. We had a community pool down the street and memories of holding on to the side while my older siblings and friends swam in the deep end made me feel very left out. At the age of 8, my parents finally got me a group swimming lesson which taught me very little. I somehow learned to swim on my own despite nearly drowning a couple times in the process. At age eleven my family moved out to Sunny California and we bought a house with a pool. I was determined to be the best swimmer I could be. I did daily laps and practiced every technique I could observe. In high school I wanted to join the swim team, but my school did not have a pool. I then started training in martial arts. I learned a variety of styles while earning a 2nd Degree black belt in Hap Ki Do. I trained for over 20 years and was an assistant instructor for most of that time. Two months before I was to test for my 3rd degree belt, my life changed with the birth of our first daughter. I made the decision to focus on being the best father I could be and took some time off of my training.
Another passion of mine is music. I play bass guitar in a classic rock cover band. My lead guitarist Bill had learned recently to teach kids to swim and invited my daughter for her first lesson at only 20 months old. While attending the lessons, I was blown away by his natural and effective technique to teach kids to swim. In just a few days my little precious baby was swimming across the pool. The next summer I tried to schedule another lesson, but Bill was too booked to have any availability to fit my schedule. So for the rest of that summer I continued teaching my daughter the way Bill had taught her. And just like that, a new passion of mine was born.Bill had noticed and mentioned I have a natural ability and connection with kids and invited me to learn more of his swim method.My years of teaching martial arts gave me extra experience in patience, understanding and a great sense of discipline needed to be a successful teacher with kids. And now to share this knowledge of teaching kids to swim gives me the greatest joy of knowing that it may just save a few lives in the future.This will be my Fourth season teaching swimming.Besides my new swimming career, I also own and operate a small Awards and Engraving shop in Sherman Oaks and have been doing that for over 29 years. And my hobbies go well past martial arts, music and swimming. I also enjoy boating, wakeboarding, snowboarding, beach volleyball, basketball, mountain biking, go karting and Ballroom Dancing. I even taught Salsa Dancing for a few years. And last but not least, mine and my wife's newest hobby of Escape rooms. If you haven't tried this, ask me about it, it is 60 minutes of adrenaline pumping, mind stimulating fun!My wife Jessica and I have three kids. Two girls who are turning 5 and 7 this summer, and a baby boy who turns 1 in May. Our girls are amazing swimmers and I can’t wait to teach my boy soon.
