SWIM COACH MARIA-ELENA

REVIEWS

“Maria Elena’s teaching is a definite reflection of her passion for swimming. After only a few weeks into our sessions my technique and confidence in the water has vastly improved. Her patience and dedication to my learning has made the experience so much more fun and I’m a lot happier to jump into the water thanks to her.”

— Prassilla

“Maria Elena is a great teacher! Our children loved her and made huge progress in a short time!”

— Cristiano

“Snorkeling, diving, jumping off cliffs into the water - all no problem. Ask me to swim a length while maintaining proper breathing - impossible! By the middle of my second session with Maria-Elena, I was swimming freestyle with my head in the water. For me this was huge! With every session, my confidence continues to grow, and with her drills and coaching, I can not only see the improvements, but I am learning how to make the necessary adjustments myself. She has encouraged us to try out different styles of swimming, and in every class, we learn something new. I have always wanted to compete in a triathlon but was not comfortable with the swimming aspect. Thanks to these classes, I now know that this is not such an impossible feat, and with practice and training totally attainable. Maria-Elena is a great coach, her passion and experience are evident in her lessons and she genuinely cares about her student's progression, customizing drills to suit everyone's needs. I would have no hesitation in recommending Maria-Elena.”

— Jen C.

“Maria Elena was a wonderful teacher to my son and myself. She taught me a lot and showed me how I can support my son in his swimming adventure. Thank you so much for everything.”

— Justyna

“Our 4 year old son wouldn’t put his face in the water. Despite his nervousness, Maria-Elena immediately built up a rapport with him and within a few weeks he was going underwater to fetch toys. We couldn’t believe our eyes! Two months later and he was jumping in the pool and swimming a length. It’s actually hard to get him out of the pool now! Thank you Maria-Elena for your constant encouragement and for pushing him. He always looks forward to his lessons. It’s very reassuring to know that he is learning important life skills, not only for his enjoyment but for his safety too..”

— Jen V.

“María Elena was such a kind, loving, and professional teacher to my baby boy Mati, who is just 11 months old. He learned how to hold his breath underwater, float, and exit the pool in case of an emergency. He also learned how to grab toys underwater in just 6 classes! I am so proud and happy. Would TOTALLY recommend!!!”

— Maria C.

“Highly recommend Mari Elena’s swimming lessons!!! While we were on holidays in Barbados Mari Elena gave swimming lessons to my 2 and 4 year old and she was so good even to my 6 month old!! She was infinitely patient and more importantly she made it fun while teaching them skills and confidence. They are both now confident in the water without their floaties and swimming like little fish!”

— Alannah S.

“Swimming with proper technique and swimming a long distance have always been what seemed like a distant dream, up until a friend I trust recommended Maria Elena. The rest is history. Maria Elena is a competent and patient coach. She is a great listener. She truly gets to know you, listens to your fears, your hesitations, understands them then continuously adapts her drills to suit your learning style. She genuinely cares about her students’ progress as well as their happiness and uses their experience and passion to demonstrate concepts. She clearly gives thought to your improvement in between sessions.
She uses imagery that helps illustrate a difficult concept and often makes you smile while doing it. I started seeing progress on day one and was learning new styles and tricks every lesson I got. I now feel so much more confident swimming in so many styles and am swimming long distances daily and loving it.
Finally I have marveled at and witnessed first hand how caring and big an advocate she is for her community.
I would recommend Maria Elena in a heart beat and without a hesitation.
She is an amazing instructor with a heart of gold, a down to earth approach and simply an amazing and kind human being.”

— Mounia

“Learning to swim as an adult is no easy feat, before touching the water fear steps in and the battle of the mind begins. For the last 10 years learning to swim was one of my goals, went through 4 different instructors, many hours in the pool, and failed over and over again, I couldn't connect with the sport nor the instructors long enough to stick with it.
Earlier this year I met Maria-Elena who is very passionate about the sport and confident in her teachings, I connected with her immediately which allowed me to trust her in the water. I love her approach to introduce life-saving techniques to first build confidence and comfort in the water. My goal was just to be able to swim and play in the pool with my kids, after 4 classes I learned 3 different styles of swimming, treading water from 5 seconds to 30 seconds. Last week I jumped off a catamaran and swam in the ocean with my kids, such an exhilarating feeling!! I can finally check that goal off, thank you M-E, it's such a pleasure working with you!”

— Prea

“Our two children under 5 had an amazing time learning to swim with Maria Elena! Having not had lessons before Maria quickly developed their trust and gave them the confidence to try new things. By the end of seven 30min sessions they were very nearly swimming, and were even diving to the bottom of the pool to retrieve toys (our daughter didn't even like water on her face before the lessons!). We've taken away lots of great tips to be able to carry on their learning at home, our only regret is not knowing about Maria earlier in our stay.”

— Will

“Maria Elena is a fantastic teacher. I am thrilled at how she quickly got my 4 year old son to swim and learn water safety. I am also astonished that after just two lessons, she had my 6 year old daughter ready to compete in club level swimming. We are now back home and my daughter is way ahead of her friends in style and technique.”

— Amy S.

“I learned to sea swim from Maria Elena in the idyllic surroundings of the beach at Holetown over the course of six weeks. After which I joined a swimming group at Carlisle Bay and had the most wonderful experiences swimming up to 2km which is ten times more than I would have swim before. Maria Elena is a wonderful coach, unfailing kind , positive and encouraging. I looked forward to our lessons every week. I cannot recommend her highly enough.”

— Ronan

“Maria-Elena is a brilliant teacher and I have achieved so much in a few weeks.
I overcame my main fear of getting my face wet and head under water in my first lesson - gentle coaxing and by the end of the lesson I could pick up a weighted float from the seabed. This was a huge achievement for me and gave me confidence to achieve more goals each lesson.
I was taught how to swim breast-stroke, backstroke and front crawl using a more correct technique and effective breathing - this needed lots of practice using my float but now I have the tools to improve.
I gained more confidence with swimming out of my depth but always with Maria-Elena close by so I felt very safe.”

— Rachel R.

“We came to Barbados for vacation for a couple months in hopes to find a swim instructor for our boys and we found that and more with you. You have made our youngest - age 5 - begginer swimmer with floaters 100 times better and safer in the water in such short time and now no floaters. And our older son - age 7 - a more advanced swimmer. They have both progressed so much its just amazing. I would highly recommend Maria Elena for anyone at any swimming level. She is brilliant and the best we have had!”

— The Marsh Family

“Arriving in Barbados in early January, after two years of Covid restrictions, my husband and I were so thrilled to be able to be swimming again in the ocean and the pool at our apartment. Two years ago at the age of 74, we had been in Florida and a superb swimming teacher had encouraged me to swim breaststroke with my head in the water for the first time and had worked to improve my husband’s crawl.

So arriving here after two years of no swimming, with our first morning swim, we were both so disappointed and frustrated to find that we were having breathing and technique problems. And just so luckily, we found Maria-Elena to come to our apartment pool! Within five minutes of our first lesson, she had identified the issue with my breathing, told me to glide after my first stroke and like magic, I was swimming like a dream! And in just three lessons, she has pretty well perfected my husband’s crawl. Just wish we were here longer to learn new strokes! We cannot speak more highly of her instructor skills. From her website, looks like she is a super teacher of little children but in our experience, just brilliant with the other end of the age spectrum! Cannot be more effusive in our appreciation of her coaching skills.”

— Rowena Wood (Bath UK)

“Beau, our 2 year old absolutely loved it and learned so much in just a few lessons, thank you so much hopefully see you again soon..”

— Simon T.

“Maria-Elena is a wonderful swimming coach. In a matter of minutes during our first session, she could assess quite a few things. From day 1, I was able to start working on my techniques concretely. She makes swimming and learning easy and is able adapt based on who she’s teaching. Swimming laps was actually fun. She definitely made me feel comfortable in water and motivated me to keep going and learn some more.”

— Stephanie J.

“We were so lucky to have Maria-Elana teach our 4 year old while we were on vacation in Barbados. The progress she made in just a few lessons was incredible! She went from always swimming with her puddle jumpers to swimming independently across the pool with the proper breathing techniques. Her confidence and love for water grew so much in her short time with Maria-Elana. She was also great at including our 2 year old into the lesson. We cannot recommend her enough!”

— Lacy L.

“Our kids had an amazing experience with Maria-Elena! Before coming to Barbados, our children didn’t know how to swim and hadn’t been in a pool very often. After 4 weeks of swimming lessons, our 3 year old son was swimming the full length of the pool all by himself and floating independently. Maria-Elena brought out a confidence and love for swimming that we didn’t know he had. Our 1 year-old daughter loved to copy her older brother and Maria-Elena was very patient and attentive with her as she explored the water. I would highly recommend Maria-Elena for anyone looking to hire a private swimming coach in Barbados!”

— Victoria A.

“My son learned to really swim (let go of the noodle) with Maria Elena within 3 days. She is the best swim instructor we’ve met to date. I was so impressed with how she instilled confidence and competence in my son. She also earned his trust so quickly. She doesn’t trick the children into going outside their comfort zone but instead provides encouragement and support which simply works better. I only wish she would come up to NY for the summer to teach! Maria Elena will be my first call to reserve for my next trip to the island!”

— Gia C.

“Our 7-year-old Giovanni was afraid to put his face in the water when he started his lessons with Coach Maria-Elena. Now, after 6 weeks of lessons, he is confident enough to dive for toys or other objects, relaxed enough to lay float and has made great strides with his swimming strokes without the use of a floatation device. In addition, her patience and encouragement has brought about a love of the water and swimming in our son we couldn't have imagined before.”

— Damien B.

“Maria-Elena is a fantastic swim coach, and I would highly recommend her services for toddlers and anyone looking to learn to swim or teach their kids pool safety! She is gentle, patient, and focused on providing a positive experience to our toddler in the pool. Her methods focused on demonstration and positive reinforcement while ensuring my toddler had time to play and splash around. She also worked with me and my husband to make sure we learned how to reinforce the skills outside of lessons. We adore Maria-Elena!”

— Emma S.

“We recently travelled to Barbados for a 2 week vacation with our 3.5 year old son max and were introduced to Maria Elena by our hotel. She taught Max in the hotel swimming pool everyday and taught Max how to swim. When we arrived he was comfortable underwater for a second or 2 but needed assistance swimming. Maria Elena provided him with the attention, assistance and support he needed to become confident in our hotel pool. she was great with him and had very safety oriented techniques. She also gave us tips as his parents so we could help him learn and develop when we went to the beach. We couldn't have been happier with the results and highly recommend Maria Elena!”

— Nick S.

“ “I belong here” my exact phrase after my first freestyle. 30-year-old woman , terrified of swimming and had no experience in the water, despite loving it. Fortunately, I met Maria, who was incredibly patient and calm. Her technical expertise and precise guidance transformed my fear into confidence. With her help, I've gone from struggling when my feet couldn't touch the sand to feeling comfortable floating, breaststroke, still learning freestyle, and treading water. I'm so incredibly proud of my progress. it's all thanks to Maria.”

— Raghavi R.

“I came to Barbados with one kid who always wore a floaty, and one kid who never left the shallow end. We had 5 total lessons and by lesson 4 I HAD SWIMMERS!!!!!! Jumping into the deep end and swimming all the way to the shallow. Jumping in and immediately swimming to the side.

Maria-Elena was fun, patient, and incredible instructor. My kids were excited for her to come every morning! Lessons with Maria-Elena was the best decision we made for this trip! When we come next time, we will book more to work on form and more!!!!
Thank you Maria-Elena! Thank you soooooooo much!”

— Gabriel O.

“I was referred to Maria-Elena through my cousin who also took swimming lessons with her.
Although, I'm a native of Barbados, I was visiting home for a very short time and could only fit in a couple lessons.
Maria-Elena was very professional from the start. We had a plan of action to help me with very specific areas and were able to achieve the goal despite the short time period. I would definitely recommend her services to anyone who desires to have a patient and encouraging teacher.”

— Simone G