Our new building/pool is located at 1917 N Merrifield Ave, Mishawaka, IN 46545, only about 5 minutes south of the Hyatt Place. The parking lot will possibly get busy especially in the afternoon/evening so please be patient with each other as we all navigate this new set up.
Please visit this link for a video on how it will look when you arrive.
Watch this story from ABC 57 where Ms. Marci shares how
Little Fins teaches kids life-saving skills in the water
Each child receives 1-on-1 attention
from our team of instructors
Noticeable progress in as little
as a few sessions
All lessons take place at 1917 N Merrifield Ave, Mishawaka, IN
See for yourself! Parents are welcome and encouraged to watch a lesson before registering. Contact Marci to set up your visit!
Registration now includes a Little Fins Bag, a Little Fins hooded towel, and a copy of "Ethan Saves Himself" (a $45 value)
- For all new Little Fins students
- 20 sessions, typically Monday-Thursday for 5 weeks
-Each lesson is one-on-one with a certified instructor, and lasts for approximately 15 minutes
- Students graduate upon successful completion of the Clothes Check Out
- Tuition is $500 with a one-time registration fee of $75
- Discounted rate for additional siblings (when they begin the same day) is $465
- For students who have completed Basic Training but have not been in the water with Little Fins for approximately 3-5 months
- 12 sessions, typically Monday-Thursday for 3 weeks, or until instructor feels confident in the child's skills
- Each lesson is one-on-one with a certified instructor, and lasts for approximately 15 minutes
- Must be completed prior to moving to Maintenance Lessons
- Tuition is $300
- For students who have completed Basic Training & Refresher lessons
- Build on and improve skills learned in Basic Training
- Each lesson is one-on-one with a certified instructor, and lasts for approximately 15 minutes
- 1-2 times per week is recommended
- 20 Pack of Maintenance Lessons: $320
- 10 Pack of Maintenance Lessons: $180
- Single Maintenance Lessons: $23
Parents of children less than 1 year of age, please contact Marci
at info@littlefinsswim.com before scheduling your lesson.
Ms. Marci is the founder of Little Fins Swim School. A competitive swimmer for 9 years, Marci started lifeguarding at age 16 and continued doing that after moving to Orlando, Florida.
In 2007 she was offered a position with the Florida Department of Health-Osceola County to be their first Drowning Prevention Coordinator. Her job was to inform and educate the residents and visitors of Osceola County about keeping their children safe in and around bodies of water, including bath tubs and buckets. Unfortunately, budget cuts eliminated the position in 2009, but that did not dampen her passion.
Ms. Marci learned about Infant Aquatics and decided she would not truly be happy until she was teaching children how to be safe in and around the water full time. She attended the PediaSwim Academy at Southwest Aquatics with Joy McGinty in October 2010. Ms. Marci has also been a CPR & First Aid Instructor for the American Heart Association since 2007. She thoroughly enjoys what she does each and every day and she looks forward to swimming with your child soon!
Ms. Marci lives in South Bend with her husband Matt, sons Levi & Chase and daughter, Maggie.
I’m Sierra VanDeKeere and I have daughter, Meilani, we live in Osceola, IN. I trained in in Florida at SouthWest Aquatics and became certified in the PediaSwim Program in June 2020. I am up to date with adult, child and infant CPR and AED certification.
I started giving Survival Lessons with Little Fins on July 13th, 2020.
I have always been passionate about child safety in all aspects. I enrolled my daughter at 18 months for the classes with Little Fins because we have a pool at our house and when I was a teenager my next door neighbor drowned in a pond while their family was on vacation. Drowning has always been a big part of childhood safety and a huge worry of mine.
I became passionate about Survival Swimming while watching the entire process and was so impressed with the patience from the instructor and the progress my daughter made so quickly. It amazed me! After doing more research and speaking with other instructors, I finally realized this was something I was truly becoming passionate about. After planning for a year, I quit my job of nine years and arranged our schedule before heading to Florida for training.
It has been the best decision of my life. I love truly making a difference in the community while helping keep our kids safer as well as help teach about the different layers of protection in addition to swim lessons to keep our children safer.
A few other things about me: I Love Notre Dame! My daughter and I love to hang out and take care of my grandmother. We also enjoy going bowling, going to the movies, fishing, and just getting out of the house!
A native of Clarkston, Michigan, Rhianna has been a competitive swimmer for 13 years and is a rising junior on the swim team at the University of Notre Dame. Currently, she majors in Psychology and Education, and plans to work towards a Masters degree in Education upon graduation from Notre Dame. In her free time, she loves playing the ukulele, baking, and reading.
My family moved into a house with a pool and although the pool is fenced it still made me nervous as a parent with 3 young children. The first summer here my two older boys wore life jackets and the baby was in an inner tube flotation raft. My husband and I were a nervous wreck the entire time we swam.
That winter we put all the boys in swim lessons (not with Little Fins) after months of once a week classes the following summer came around and again, everyone was in life jackets only a little less fearless this time, which frankly, was worse.
I heard of Little Fins and started my youngest while his brothers were at school. I was surprised at how much he learned in such a short amount of time! They taught him to float when he needed to breathe and how to swim to safety. Life saving skills!
I saw that the littlest brother was quickly becoming a better swimmer than his older brothers and made the switch to Little Fins for them too. After a few short lessons they all learned to swim, float, swim!
Now, even though they take what is technically a “Maintenance Lesson” once a week throughout the year, they’re still learning and mastering new skills and they are all water safe, strong, independent, swimmers.
Swimming with my boys is far less stressful knowing the Little Fins instructors have taught them a solid foundation of knowing to float when they’re tired and need to breathe, how to swim to their destination, and how to safely play in water.
I cannot recommend them enough!
I cannot say enough about Little Fins Swim School. I have two children. With my first, I looked into Little Fins and thought it was too expensive, so we went elsewhere and paid their rates for about 3 years before he was finally able to somewhat hold his own in the water. With my second (3 years old at the time), I realized, while the cost was the more upfront, it would be less overall, so we gave it a shot.
My second HATED the water. Bath time was a nightmare! Any water touching his face always caused a meltdown. For this reason, I was nervous for my extremely stubborn, strong willed child. I must have emailed Miss Marci a million times before we started and she reassured me every time that it would be fine and he wasn't the first. I'm unsure what kind of unicorn dust Miss Marci carries, but on that first day, he put his face right in the water when she asked him to and he did it EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. I won't say there weren't tears (they were minimal) or that he wasn't reluctant some days, but she always made him comfortable and he always did the work for her! I quickly realized he was more confident and skilled in the water than my oldest (5 at the time), so I had him do some skill sessions to get him to a place where he also looked more confident.
We finished our lessons just before summer started and spent our entire summer swimming at the pool and beach! There is a different level of comfort that comes with these things when you no longer have to worry about your children falling in the water. I was able to sit on the side and just watch them play freely and I am so thankful to Little Fins for giving me that. My youngest loves putting his face in the water now and often pretends he's swimming during bath time.
If I could go back, I would have done Little Fins for both of my boys. I cannot recommend them enough and I cannot speak more highly of Miss Marci and her team! Don't go elsewhere. You get what you pay for and Little Fins is worth every single penny!
Little Fins is amazing! Hands down the best swim school in the area! I wouldn’t send my kids anywhere else.
My four children ages 1-8 all learned to swim/float/swim in no time at all with Marci and Sierra’s patient instruction. They now have confidence in the water and I have peace of mind knowing they have one more layer of protection against drowning!
My oldest two now know multiple strokes and do flip turns, my 3-year old jumps off the diving board and swims independently to the side of the pool like a pro, and my 1-year old flips to float and is becoming a better swimmer every day! Worth every penny for this life skill!
At Little Fins your child will learn to become confident and skilled in the water in 4-5 weeks. Some programs teach children to "swim" only for as long as they can hold their breath. To hold your breath is great, but knowing how to get a breath is essential!
