Today we’d like to introduce you to Paul Wilson.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I come from an aquatic background. My father was a swim coach at UCSB. My two older sisters also swam and played competitive water polo in town like me. I got started teaching swim lessons the summer before my freshman year of high school in 2000-2001 when I was 13. It started as a summer job to help pay for college at UC Davis where I attended and competed in 4 years of NCAA D1 water polo for the Aggies. Swim lessons then later helped to supplement my wages as an elementary school PE teacher and age group club water polo coach after I graduated from UCD. In 2024, I made the decision to focus on swim lessons and bought the Wilson Swimming company from my parents where I currently operate and teach lessons.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
One of the obstacles we face is finding qualified staffing for part time seasonal work. We train and hire a lot of collegiate and high school student athletes as instructors which inherently means limited availability due to school/sports and somewhat frequent employee turnover due to graduation and relocation. However, the biggest challenge we are currently facing is finding enough usable pool space and time. Santa Barbara is an amazing place for outdoor aquatic activities like swimming and water polo as well as surfing, sailing, kayaking, paddle boarding, etc. and the ability to swim for water safety is a necessary life skill. The demand for lessons far outreaches the pool space and availability needed to match it. We are hoping to add a second location sometime in the (somewhat) near future.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
We offer private swim lessons. No group lessons (outside of a parent + baby program called Wee Swim), that way every student gets full instructor attention. We work with a variety of ages and teach water safety before moving onto stroke technique and we also offer lessons to children with special needs or assistance.
I think what we are most proud of brand wise is our business being stable enough to now be teaching multigenerational members of the same family in the community I grew up in. We have had the same location and logo since 1996. Now I am teaching lessons to the children of my friends I grew up with and also the children of some of my first lessons when I started teaching as a teenager. If I had to say one thing that sets us apart is that we have a lot of fun implemented in the lesson. I think that having fun really eases the transition from caution to confidence in the water and fosters a love for being in the water that I hope continues long after they graduate from our program.
Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
We love to play. We have a ton of toys and fun games all designed help make swimming more fun. Sometimes the water can feel like an intimidating environment and be stressful and overwhelming for kids (and some adults). It’s especially so for those who don’t get much exposure to it. I find that playing with some fun water toys can distract from some of the stress and make the water feel more comfortable and swimming feel more achievable.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Wilsonswimming.com
- Instagram: @wilsonswimmingsb
