*Someone* needs to do *something* about the lack of swim lessons & pool access in San Francisco

“Be the change you wish to see in the world” Damn it, Gandhi | Picture credit: DALL-E & Canva Pro

TL;DR

Join “SF Kids Swim” initiative to support public swimming pools in SF offering more family swim times

• Knowing how to swim or at least float is a life-saving skill as drowning is the #1 death cause for kids <5
• Public swimming pools in SF offer very limited access to families esp. with parents working 9–5 jobs
• There are many families that cannot afford/ have hard time registering for any of the available swim lessons (eg SF Recs & Park one) but could get the kids familiar with water during family swim times
• Even when a kid takes lessons in one of the swim schools, there’s still need to practice outside of the lesson time and visiting a pool together is a great stay-active family activity
• City (Recreation & Parks Department) is spending significant amount of resources on improving and maintaining the facilities yet they are open only 5 days a week (no Sundays, limited hours in the evenings)

And here’s my story which led to “SF Kids Swim” initiative in 4 parts:

1. The Origins → 2. The Analysis → 3. The Facts → 4. The Action

From a very bad entrepreneurial idea…

1. The Origins

Jen and I had another round of coffee in her swanky apartment complex’s common room in Mission Bay as we crossed out another idea from our “Our Business Venture” list.

Both having recently exited tech positions — her as an exec in Big Tech, me as a founder of a tech startup that didn’t work out — we had a very limited appetite for moonshot ideas.

“Let’s just do something super basic, something people are already spending money on and let’s do it just a little better than anyone else. “ I said.

“Have you seen the Crumbl story? (I haven’t). Amazing cupcakes. You gotta watch this. “

My friend Jen left her job after nearly a decade with the same employer so no wonder she was going through the “I am gonna take a French pastry chef course/ become a reclaimed furniture wood worker or open a vintage kite surf shop in Pacifica” phase. | Source: DALL-E

I, on the other hand, have learned my lesson and I won’t even touch something I don’t really like myself. Like cup cakes. They are just not my cup of …cake.

So next.

“Swim lessons for kids? “

She chirps with big eyes and the excitement of a hyped-up cartoon character.

“Don’t. Even. Get. Me. Started.” I started. And once I started I got hard to make me stop as she hit the vein of one of my deep frustrations.

Both Jen and I are moms of two kids younger than 5.

It’s incredible how hard it is to teach your kids how to swim in the City.

And let me clarify, when I say “swim”, I don’t have an ambition to raise promising athletes for the 2040 Summer Olympics. But I’d like my kids to be “water safe”, a shorthand for a kid that doesn’t get into a panic attack when thrown in a pool and that knows how to turn to their back and float on their own. Strokes and stuff would be nice but let’s start with the basics. | Source: DALL-E & Canva Pro

And mind you, I can be pretty DIY about it, if I have to.

I am willing to get wet myself, get the kid to the pool and show them what to do.

Little by little, week by week they’ll get comfortable with it. Exactly as I did, when my parents would take me to the public swimming pool almost every Sunday (in the 90s, in the post-Communist Europe).

2. The Analysis

“But hey, it IS a problem, actually a frustration we know firsthand, people ARE spending money on it already and we KNOW how to get to those people.”

We spent a few hours researching online, cracking the numbers for the initial business case and visiting the existing pool facilities around the city.

Kids swim lessons are no rocket science — a little simplified but — you only need 2 key ingredients: 1) a pool and 2) a person who knows what to do.

It turns out there’s a good reason why there are not more solutions around.

The math simply doesn’t work out.

There’s 1) not enough pools actually available (here’s a list if anyone cares) and 2) not enough people wanting to do the job (here, here and here are just a few of currently open job postings in SF).

Econ 101 and Uber surge pricing taught me one thing: if demand is higher than supply, increase the price. So basically pay more for 1) the pool rentals and more to 2) the lifeguards/ swim instructors than everyone else and you get them.

However, if the whole point of this business is to increase access to swim classes, we’d like to charge less not more than the existing options on the market.

You’d end up with lower prices and higher costs across the board — basically a margin-killing new entrant.

thank u, next — this is not a business worth building.

While Jen and I moved on to another idea on our List, the problem of lack of the lack of swim lessons & pool access remains unsolved.

…to a very reasonable public services demand

3. The Facts

Wait a minute, if there’s a problem with the solution that is

• in greater public’s interest (letter from former SF Mayor & current California Governor, and 49 kids drown in a year in California as this is the #1 death cause in the age group <5)
• very likely without a sustainable and more affordable private sector solution (see my detailed reasoning below, if you care)

Why I don’t think Jen & I should start a swim school in SF | Source: My Gmail

Isn’t this a policy textbook example for a public sector intervention?

IMHO, it is.

There are 9 public swimming pools within the borders of San Francisco, operated by the City’s Recreation and Park Department.

And don’t get me wrong, I do think these folks actually do a lot of great work. But a little change could go a long way.

They do offer swim lessons as part of their aquatics programming but the lessons fill up within seconds of publishing them (30 min swim lesson for $8 is a deal worth the hassle, give it a try and see if you are fast enough).

But hey, let’s say you’d also decided to go DIY route and teach your own kids.

Good luck finding a time that works for your family, especially if you are a working parent.

Since the pandemic, all SF public pools are closed on Sundays and Mondays and only here and there they are open in the evenings during the week. | Source: Spreadsheet here

Meanwhile the city invests significant CAPEX in improving the facilities (eg $15m for Rossi Pool renovation concluded in 2022).

Facilities that are then open only during limited hours of operations?

Come on, we can do better.

4. The Action

A few days after I turned down swim lessons as a viable small business idea, I opened a SF parks & recs newsletter and stumbled upon a flyer about an upcoming Commission meeting.

I decided to crash the meeting.

Everyone interested was given 2 minutes to present their case — here’s to my 120 seconds of fame. | Source: SFGovTV

I did get empathy and listening ears from both the Commissioners and the managers responsible for the aquatics programming.

“We don’t have a budget, we don’t have staff to extend the opening hours. But we are aware of the problem, we are looking into it yet we cannot make any promises.”

Sadly, no one has even acknowledged my follow-up email from a week ago — yet.

***

However, there was an unexpected benefit from attending the meeting:

In the hallways of the Commission Meeting I ran into another concerned parents of young kids, a few people got together initially and SF Kids Swim parent collective was created.

Join us, if you — like us — want to visit the SF public swimming pools in the hours that work for your family.

We are confident increasing access to swim lessons and pools IS possible and SF families can have another great way to spend their leisure time while teaching the kids a life-saving skill. | Source: DALL-E & Canva Pro

And I think even Gandhi would approve of it (wink wink).