Year-Round Swim Lessons in Hillsboro and the Greater Portland Area

For years, Stephanie had a daydream. She would tell friends about it sometimes, usually around her daughter, who started swimming the way Stephanie had as a kid. "My dream has always been to dig a hole in my backyard and build a pool." It was one of those things you say without expecting anything to come of it. Then one day, she said it to the right person at the right time, and the head coach of the local swim team mentioned, almost in passing, that there was already a quiet effort underway to expand water access in the Portland area. The conversation kept going from there. A few months later, Stephanie left her corporate role to run a brand new swim school full time.

That swim school is Big Wave, a year-round indoor and outdoor pool inside the wellness building at Reed's Crossing in South Hillsboro. Heated and open in every season, it offers a place to keep swimming all year long.

Small Group Swim Lessons Built Around How Kids Actually Learn

Ask any parent who has put a kid in group swim lessons and you will probably hear some version of the same complaint. The class is thirty minutes long, your child stands at the wall most of the time, and after a few weeks you cannot really tell what they have learned. Stephanie has heard it for years, including from her own friends. As she puts it, "if they're swimming with me, I'm going to make sure they're getting more than three times in a thirty minute lesson. They're not just sitting there getting cold."

Big Wave is built around that one principle. Group classes are capped at four students per instructor, and lessons are structured so kids are actively in the water for most of the half hour. Fundamentals come before speed. Controlled breathing, body positioning, balance, water awareness, and the ability to roll to your back and swim to the wall all come first. Strokes get refined after the basics are real. The goal is not to push kids through the levels. The goal is for them to actually know what to do when they are in the water.

That mindset has roots. Stephanie swam competitively in college, and she has been teaching lessons and lifeguarding since she was fifteen. She has a teaching degree, spent years as an elementary school teacher, and then moved into business roles at companies like Nike. The combination shows up in how she runs the school. She talks about swimming like a coach and about kids like a teacher.

A Hillsboro Neighbor Behind the Swim School

For Stephanie, doing this for a living was not always something she thought was possible. "I never thought I could support my family teaching swim lessons or coaching, and being in the swim world." Hearing her talk about it, you get the sense that this is not a pivot or a side project. This is the thing she always wanted to do, and she finally figured out how.

It also matters that she lives here. Stephanie is a Washington County resident raising her own family in the same area she is teaching kids to swim in. Big Wave is not a regional chain that landed in a vacant building. It is a neighbor building something she has wanted to build for years.

Swim Programs for Kids, Adults, and the Whole Family

The foundation is private and group lessons for kids, but the school is built to serve a wider range of swimmers over time. A parent and tot class is in the works for the youngest swimmers, where a parent gets in the water with the child. For older kids, levels are structured so a swimmer can keep progressing toward technique work and beyond. And for adults, the longer term roadmap includes lap swim, masters swimming, triathlon training, family swim time, and aqua aerobics. Pool rentals for birthday parties and special events are part of the picture too.

Beyond lessons and individual programs, Stephanie is also working with neighboring organizations, like the Ackerley senior living community across the street, to figure out how the pool can serve a wider range of people in the Reed's Crossing area. A lot of that is being paced thoughtfully against demand. The fastest way to shape what gets scheduled next is to tell Stephanie what you are interested in.