This Swim Program Is Giving Kids Confidence, Safety and a Fair Shot in the Water

On most afternoons, the pools at Peabody, Salisbury and Methuen locations are loud with laughter, splashes and steady strokes. Kids line up, take a breath and push off the wall. There is no waiting around. The lesson starts the moment they hit the water. For this local swim instructor, that urgency is more than good teaching; it is lifesaving.

For Timm, owner and head swim instructor of Swimm with Timm, swimming is not a luxury, it is a skill that saves lives and builds confidence. And he is determined to make it available to families who otherwise could not afford it.

Timm’s relationship with the water began long before he started teaching. He continued to develop his skills while swimming in college, deepening both his technical foundation and his respect for the sport. More than two decades later, he is still doing what he loves. He has spent over 20 years teaching swim lessons and coaching swim teams, refining a method that prioritizes confidence, movement and steady progress.

A 2024 study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that more than 4,500 people drowned each year in the United States between 2020 and 2022, almost 500 more deaths annually compared to 2019. Drowning is the leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4 and rates increased in many groups at risk. Many of those deaths are preventable with early swim education.

The gap in access is exactly what Timm’s Swimm with Timm program and the Hope Floats Scholarship Fund aim to close. Tuition help and sliding scale lessons give children and adults opportunities they might never otherwise have.

“What makes our lessons different is we get people in the water right away,” Timm says. “They swim, they build strength and they have fun. That’s how people learn best.”

His approach rejects the long waits and lecture-heavy sessions common elsewhere. Instead, swimmers are active for most of their 28-minute class. Children’s fear gives way to curiosity, but time after time, he says, fear gives way to confidence. Progress in the pool frequently shows up first as belief in oneself.

The most powerful moments, he says, often involve adults. Many arrive scared, carrying years of anxiety around water. When either group clears a mental hurdle, progress often follows quickly.

Swimming also brings community. While some families worry that individual sports limit social growth, he sees the opposite. Timm shares, “swimming has a great team aspect as well with individuals offer support and creating lifelong friendships.”

Access remains the biggest barrier, especially in New England, where pools are fewer and older. Many children complete basic swim lesson programs able only to keep afloat, not swim with proper technique. That leaves coaches to retrain them and too many young swimmers quit before they truly learn.

His program changes that by teaching proper technique from the start. That foundation makes the jump from survival skills to real swimming possible. It also creates a pathway into competitive and community swim team programs.

Looking ahead, expansion is the goal. For Timm, growing enrollment in Methuen is a priority. “The hope is to create more opportunities for children to learn to swim well and if they so choose be able to swim for more than recreation,” he adds.