Today we’d like to introduce you to Emma Grynbal.
Hi Emma, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Growing up, I was extremely sporty and competed in many sports but excelled in swimming, even competing internationally for England. My dream was to become a physical education teacher. However, I did not pass the exams required to get into college. Knowing I had to start earning money, I got a job in an international bank. After just a few months, I knew sitting in an office was not for me, and for the next 18 months, I was miserable. Something had to change. I guess some might say that I ran away. I like to think that America was calling for me to seek greater opportunities. I came to America as a naïve 22 year old after studying and passing the (AMI) Association Montessori International accreditation. I left my whole family in England and was sponsored to come to this country on a J1 working visa as a Montessori teacher in Temple Terrace. At that time, this was my passion and over the years, I started to become very confident in my skills as a lead Montessori teacher.
As the years went by, I started to boost my salary by teaching swimming after my days work at Montessori. I took the American Red Cross water safety course and would teach lessons to some of my pre-school and kindergarten students. One day, while teaching swimming in a community pool, I observed another swim instructor teaching lessons to what looked like an infant and at that split second, I knew what I wanted to do for the rest of my life!! A few years later, after what seemed like a lifetime to me and after a horrible divorce, I finally plunged into the most expensive $10,000, the most exhausting, the most exhilarating training of my life!! After what seemed like six months but was only six weeks, I emerged as a fully-fledged Survival Swim Instructor.
Over the next few years, my passion began changing from a Montessori teacher into a survival swim instructor, and soon one took over from the other. The years as a Montessori teacher did, however, set me up to be the best swim instructor I could be. For the past 20 years, I have taught thousands of children to be safe and confident in and around the water. A two year old student that had been taught these water safety techniques some ten months before fell into a cold, muddy pond and used his newly acquired skills to save himself in a situation that could easily have ended in a horrific tragedy. It has been because of amazing incidences like that and the joy of that little boy’s parents that I have dedicated myself to the mission to ensure that as many children as possible are given the skills to survive an aquatic problem. I have to say that when you do a job that you love, you are never really working! I have truly found my passion!
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The hardest struggle was being away from my family in England and not having their support while being in a very difficult marriage with a baby girl.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
I teach survival swim lessons to children from 6 months old onwards. All lessons are one on one as each child has a unique personality and works at their own pace. All lessons are four times a week and last for up to ten minutes a day as most young children only concentrate for up to 10 minutes on any one activity. Survival swimming lessons are very different from regular lessons. At the end of a few short weeks, every child is completely safe if they were to find themselves in a body of water. Each child also learns these skills while fully clothed as 86% of children found drowned were not in bathing suits! Can you imagine seeing a six-month-old fall into a pool and then roll onto their backs and rest and breathe? I can! The difference between life and death is just five inches from face down to face up! Did you know that drowning in the United States is the number one cause of death in four years old and under? This is why I do what I do!!
We all have a different way of looking at and defining success. How do you define success?
Starting a business from nothing and creating a name and brand that people know and talk about in my local surrounding areas. Watching my schedule fill up year after year and knowing that each year more and more students are safe and confident in and around the water.
Pricing:
- $65 registration fee
- $80 a week for the 4 lessons a week
Contact Info:
- Email: info@msemmasswimacademy.com
- Website: www.MsEmmasSwimAcademy.com
- Instagram: swimandsurvival
- Facebook: Ms.Emma’s Swim and Survival Academy
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