Swim Swim Swim I Say - Agnes Davis

About Us

Disclaimer | Certifications/Memberships/Insurance

SWIMMING IS NOT A LUXURY, IT IS A LIFE SAVING SKILL!

Agnes Davis, President/CEO Imagine in the blink of an eye my life changed from a Cardiovascular Perfusionist working on a cardiac surgical team to NO paycheck, and NO job through a wrongful termination.

One morning in March of 2009 when I was laying on my couch, Donny Deutsch appeared on The Today Show. He said that, "you may think I'm crazy but this is the best time to start a business in the worst economy since The Depression. Find a niche that makes you unique, love what you do, and the rest will come." That day I started thinking, "what am I good at and love to do?" SWIMMING.

Ms. Davis has been swimming since she could remember. As a child, she grew up on Long Island in a small family of four that swam. The indoor pool in her town made swimming all year around the norm to her experience of growing up. During the summers, early morning outings to the Jones Beach with the entire family in the blue Volkswagon Beetle is the best memory of her childhood (Her dad would pop out the front seat, sister and Mom in the back seat and the cooler would be placed in place of the front seat for her to sit on. Remember, only a tiny front trunk was part of a Beetle, No seat belt laws, No child endangerment laws either back then. For me, this was the best!). The family got to the beach at the crack of dawn, found a barbeque pit, cleaned it off, and Mom and Dad started cooking breakfast. As a middle class family on Long Island, the Davis' swimming ventures made us not the normal but Ms. Davis never minded. Her swimming continued through High School and College. She worked as a lifeguard and taught swimming to her friends as a hobby. As Ms. Davis continued her medical career, she used swimming as an exercise added to her gym routine and running. She ran her first NYC Marathon in 2008 and finished under 4 hours.

Ms. Davis researched swimming and found how the drowning statistics and the lack of knowledge killed loved ones at a rate she was unaware of. Ms. Davis acquired her American Red Cross re-certifications in CPR, Water Safety Instruction, and Lifeguarding in the spring of 2009 and a local partnership formed soon after. With eight drownings in NYC during the summer of 2009, it was clear to Ms. Davis that every child and adult, whether young, old, and any ethnic group, socio-economic level needed to learn how to swim and learn water safety. Swimming instruction needed not to be looked at as a luxury for the few but a necessity to the majority. The cost should not be a factor or quality of instruction. Our communities must not be afraid of the water but be prepared to prevent the alarming fact that drowning is the second leading cause of accidental death among children. Unfortunately, adults are not immune to the drowning tragedies as seen in 2009. Moreover, people of color are three times more likely to drown. A partnership with the Make A Splash Foundation was an alliance with an organization clearly dedicated to stopping the needless drownings that occur with people of color and children.

The CDC, Central for Disease Control, writes the best means to prevent water-related injuries is to learn how to swim. So swim swim swim I SAY was born. Even though swim swim swim I SAY was established in 2009, the aquatics experienced of 40 years plus far out ways our infancy. Being the only female owned Upper Manhattan swimming company, swim swim swim I SAY fulfills the needs of the Manhattan client without having to venture downtown. swim swim swim I SAY is dedicated to personal service, student learning, excellent communication between parents and instructor, a positive learning environment, repeated enthusiasm and just plain having fun.

Ms. Davis has returned to her Cardiovascular Perfusionist job but swim swim swim I SAY is continuing on and she continues as an instructor and at the helm of the company. Not until the drowning numbers decrease or the unfortunate drownings stop, Ms. Davis will continue to make this a cause at the forefront of her life and one that will not be overlooked or forgotten.

Clarence “Clay” Smith began his life as a swimmer at 18 months old when his father, got him in the water for his first lessons. His swimming abilities made him an easy fit for his high school swimming team. That experience prepared Clay to be able to pass the entrance requirement for New York City Municipal Lifeguard School. After going through the lifeguard school, he began working at Orchard Beach every summer for 20 years while working as a teacher of the sciences to kindergarten through high school grade students.

Clay left his life guarding position in 1986 as Chief Lifeguard but continued to pursue his teaching career in the NYC school system. In 2005 he started teaching swimming for the city all year round and it was during that time that he met Agnes Davis, who shared with him her idea to start a swimming company. From the start Clay knew that he wanted in! It was also during this time that he found his love for competitive swimming extended to coaching when he took the position of coach for the swimming team at St. Mary’s in the Bronx. Clay continues his teaching career in a tutoring capacity for the sciences and in math while teaching swimming with swim swim swim I SAY.

Caroline Carreño is a native New Yorker born from parents of Dominican and Colombian descent. She has been swimming all her life thanks to her father's willingness to take his toddler into the water with him on summer trips to Rockaway Beach, Queens. Having taught students of all ages and abilities for the past three years, she loves it when her students gain confidence in knowing and showing that they posses the necessary skills to be safe in and around the water. But there is more to just knowing basic water safety and Caroline never holds her students back from a challenge. Caroline is current with her American Red Cross Water Safety Instructor certification and plans to become a science teacher one day.

Dorothy E. Crowley (WSI, Lifeguarding, CPR) Her passion for the water comes from her mother, who was raised in a seaside town. Dorothy's earliest recollections are of her mother holding her on her hip and bobbing under the waves - She guesses that was her first swimming lesson. At age 6, Dorothy began formal lessons at the YWCA and, a decade later, completed the American Red Cross Lifeguarding and Water Safety Instructor’s courses, which qualified her for paid work during high school and college. Over the course of her business career, she swam for exercise, relaxation, and, after becoming a PADI-certified scuba diver, adventure! With swim swim swim I SAY, Dorothy has the opportunity to enable others to reap the benefits of swimming and, with our work in the public schools, expand the reach of swimming instruction to underserved communities.

Disclaimer | top

swim swim swim I SAY does not guarantee with one set of lessons that a person will know how to swim or acquire all the skills to move to the next level. Each person starts at a different point and with a different comfort level of the water.

It is common for any participant to enroll in several sessions of the same Level before they successfully demonstrate each skill. That is okay! It is not how quickly they move through a level, but that they acquire each skill and find a level of comfort. Plus, practicing does help reinforce the lesson taught to the swimmer and makes learning fun.

Certifications | top

Water Safety
CPR/AED Professional Rescuer
Lifeguarding/First Aid
Lifeguarding Instructor
MEMBERSHIP | Top

Proud Provider of the American Red Cross
Local partner of the Make a Splash Foundation
US Swimming School Association
National Drowning Prevention Alliance

Insurance | top

K and K Insurance Group