South Jersey Aquatic Club (SJAC) - Swim School, Masters, and Competitive swimming

★Kimberly Bailey

Terrible experience here and after reading reviews it seems that this is a common thing with SJAC. We arrived 10 minutes early for my child’s evaluation appointment, the girl at the front desk checked us in and told us to have a seat on the bench and Alec would come get us when he was ready. Our appt time came and went and at 15 minutes after our scheduled time I went back to the front desk to check and see what was going on. The girl seemed confused and then just simply said “we need to reschedule you.” She never gave an explanation. She went to talk to the coach that was supposed to see us and came back reiterating that we needed to be rescheduled. I kept asking what had happened and she never explained, never apologized. It was the craziest thing. So we left and my 3 year old sobbed the entire car ride home after watching the kids play in the pool for 30 minutes as he waited his turn. I understand mistakes happen but this was just terrible customer service all around.

★★★Aletheia

A pretty good school to send your older kids to learn swimming, but it’s likely not a place where you should send your very young child for their beginners course, as the place is crowded and can be very overwhelming for some young kids. Parking, especially on Sundays, is close to impossible as it’s right next to a church and cars are sometimes lined for hundreds of yards on the road.

★★★★★Kristen S.

We've done water babies classes, small group lessons, private lessons. The facility is great and we have had very positive experiences with Mr. Ryan, Mr. Ezrah, Coach Vivian, and Coach Kat. Highly recommend.

★Mr StaySafe

We arrived at 11:30 sharp for lessons and checked in. He told us he didn’t know which instructor we were assigned and which lane we were in so just sit tight and someone will call her name. He admitted all he did was check people in and knew nothing else. We sat directly next to the front desk at the stools closest to the pool for 15 minutes without hearing her name called. I figured “maybe they are running behind” I asked again and this time the front desk guy states she should have been with Gianna Papa. I thought to myself “Why was this information not provided originally???” He pointed out Gianna and I walked over to ask if she had called the 11:30 appointments yet. By this time it was approximately 11:50/11:55. Gianna said she called my daughter’s name “twice” and no one answered so she just moved on to her other 2 students. She blamed us saying “ the other girls heard their names called “ meaning we weren’t paying attention. Gianna then called Alek Combs over who continued to blame us stating “Gianna called her name” and “why did we wait so long to ask about our lessons if we were just sitting here?” Gianna and Alek lacked professionalism and blamed us. They took zero responsibility for running their shifts and their lack of accountability for their students. I have no faith in their abilities as instructors/coaches/ temporary guardians of my daughter while she would be under supervision in the pool. As me and Alek continued back and forth, Gianna stood there and watched. She was NOT watching the two other girls who were under her care. Because of this, their father got upset by the situation as well, which he rightfully should have. But instead of directing his frustration towards Gianna and Alek he decided to direct to me which escalated the situation further. I chose to be the only responsible individual and I removed Alek from Gianna and the pool to speak with him and access the management email address. Alek was tone deaf to the entire situation not realizing he had been blaming me and a 5 year old girl standing there waiting to swim. Alek offered to give her lessons in 30 mins to then make up for everything but as we sat they’re waiting for that additional time he realized he had another appointment cancelled on us and wasted our time even further. End summary: We showed up on time, sat around for and hour, got blamed for not speaking up or listening, my daughter cried and I almost had an altercation with another parent. We wouldn’t consider returning based on the fact that the instructors feel that they addressed it properly. We don’t feel confident their attitude would change. There is no clear document given to a new student stating what is needed and how the classes work. No one told anyone, my wife or mother, that an instructor would be shouting from across a noisy pool at a 5 year old little girl. Wouldn’t you think it would be beneficial to make sure all children heard their name by WALKING up to the front desk to make sure.This wasn’t a class of 30 kids… it was 3 kids total. Not hard to make sure everyone was there. Ridiculous. The sheer attitude and response from the instructors is deplorable and in front of small children of all things. This isn’t how you treat customers. Gianna and Alek were responsible for my daughters sadness and my frustration. We will expect a full refund.

★★★★★Beverley Zuccarello

I have been to multiple swim schools and by far SJAC stands out amongst the rest. The instructors have a knack for not only helping child learners, but adult learners as well, to get comfortable in the water and to understand water safety techniques to help you with staying alive. Both myself and my 4 year old son use this school. My son has had less than a year of lessons given the Covid 19 situation, starting at age 3 and at age 4.5, he is now able to do a lot on his own. For me, I learned at a young age to swim but never kept up with it so lost skills then became afraid of deep water. My instructor gave me the confidence to get back in to the deep end with improving my stroke and breathing techniques.