Private Instruction

Aquatics

The MIT Aquatics Program offers private instruction for both youth and adults (ages 3 and older). Please click on the below link for all of the detailed information including pricing.

Aquatics Classes & Lessons

Meet our Instructors:

Below is a list of our instructors. Please browse through their bios. We are very proud of the experienced and professional staff that we have assembled to help meet your aquatic needs.

Name	Christine Adams
Certification(s)	Water Safety Instructor, CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer, Standard First Aid, Lifeguarding
Experience	Christine has previously taught children in YMCA classes ranging from parent/infant to Level 6 for the past three years. Christine is also a lifeguard at the Zesiger pool.
Area(s) of Expertise	Teaching older youth
Philosophy	Swimming is an invaluable skill that given the opportunity everyone should learn.
History/Background	Christine swam on her local high school swim team in Wakefield from elementary school through high school.
Hobbies	Swimming, Pilates, and anything to do with the fashion industry.

Name	Jimmy Carlson
Certification(s)	Water Safety Instructor, CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer, Standard First Aid, Lifeguard
Experience	Jimmy has worked at the Zesiger Center since 2002. He started as a Deck Manager and Swim Instrcutor. Jimmy is now a full time lifeguard and part time swim instructor.
Area(s) of Expertise	Stroke Technique coached workouts, and helping people incorporate swimming into theier workout routine.
Philosophy	"There is too much water in this world not to know how to swim."
History/Background	Grew up in CT and moved to Boston in August of 2000. Jimmy has lived all over the city and has worked at a couple of different pools. Jimmy attends school part time.
Hobbies	Snowboarding, swimming, cycling, basketball, and soccer. Jimmy is a very active person and he also enjoys listening to music and hanging out with friends. His other hobbies include; photography, graphic design, and gardening.

Name	Matt Creighton
Certification(s)	Water Safety Instructor, CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer, Standard First Aid
Experience	Matt has taught at a YMCA for 2 years and has taught at the Newton JCC for 2 years.
Area(s) of Expertise	Swimming lessons
Philosophy	Work Hard.
History/Background	Born and raised in Allston, Matt is currently a student at Boston University.
Hobbies	Playing the piano, listening to music, watching movies, and he recently returned from a study abroad program in Isreal.

Name	Rachel Fontaine
Certification(s)	Water Safety Instructor, CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer, Standard First Aid, and Lifeguarding
Experience	Rachel started as an assistant swim instructor at the age of 11 and obtained her WSI at the age of 17. She has been teaching lessons for 10 years now. In addition to teaching she also swam on her community swim team until she graduated from high school and then joined her college team where she was Captain her junion year.
Area(s) of Expertise	Rachel enjoys teaching a wide veriety of swimmers from true beginners (floating, kicking, ect.) up through more advanced swimmers (Stroke Refinment, turns, ect.). She enjoys teaching both youth and adult swimmers.
Philosophy	"Swimming should be fun. It is one of the only sports that you can do from birth to old age. "
History/Background	Rachel was born and raised in NH. She attended Wheaton College in MA where she majored in Physics and Astronomy. She is currently seeing a Masters Degree in Medical Science at Boston University School of Medicine, and is applying for Medical School for the Fall of 2008.
Hobbies	Reading, photography, scrapbooking, and taking walks around the Boston area.

Name	Jeff Gilbert
Certification(s)	Water Safety Instructor, CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer, Standard First Aid, and Lifeguarding
Experience	Jeff has been an instructor here at the Zesgier Center since 2005 and has experience in teaching both youth and adult for group and private lessons.
Area(s) of Expertise	Jeff enjoys teaching a wide veriety of swimmers from true beginners (floating, kicking, ect.) up through more advanced swimmers (Stroke Refinment, turns, ect.). She enjoys teaching both youth and adult swimmers.
Philosophy	"There is no can't."
History/Background	Jeff swam for the MIT swim team while in school at MIT from 2002-2005. Jeff is currently an Assistant Swim Coach at the Cambridge YMCA.
Hobbies	Jeff enjoys snowboarding and sailing

Name	Linda Greene
Certification(s)	Water Safety Instructor, CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer, Standard First Aid, Lifeguarding, YMCA Certifications
Experience	Coaching and teaching group and private lessons for approximately 10 years.
Area(s) of Expertise	Competitive, fitness workouts, and recreational from beginner to advanced. Linda also works with stroke technique.
Philosophy	"Nothing is impossible as long as you are willing to learn, keep an open mind, and never give up. Plus being able to swim is a skill that you can never be too young or too old to learn. And since 72% of the earth's surface is covered in water it is probably a good idea to learn to swim."
History/Background	Linda's parent's had her in the water as a toddler and she has not stopped swimming since then. She has been a member of several YMCA swim teams and went on to join her high school swim team.
Hobbies	Cooking, reading, working out, spending time with her friends, and watching professional sports. It's good to be a Boston Fan!

Name	Conan Hom
Certification(s)	Water Safety Instructor, CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer, Standard First Aid, Lifeguard
Experience	Conan has been a lifeguard as well as a sailing and rowing coach.
Area(s) of Expertise	Stroke refinement
Philosophy	"You are always learning, even if you are not aware of it."
History/Background	Conan is an MIT graduate, native of the Boston area. He learned to swim at an early age on the insistance of one of his parents who nearly drowned when she was a child.
Hobbies	Music, sailing, and rowing.

Name	Greg Josephs
Certification(s)	Water Safety Instructor, CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer, Standard First Aid, and Lifeguarding Instructor
Experience	Greg began teaching for the City of Fort Collins, CO at the age of 15 as a non-certified instructor. He went through the WSI course and received his certification at age 17. Shortly before turning 18 Greg took the position with the City of Fort Collins as an Aquatics Manager and continued to teach while helping to oversee their expansive lesson program. When Greg left Fort Collins in 2005 he held the position of Pool Coordinator for one of their three facilities and oversaw the lesson program. His duties included teaching registration, adding, and cancelling classes, and developing new classes to add to the system.
Area(s) of Expertise	Stroke refinement and technique. Greg believes in a strong understanding of hydrodynamic principles and the overall science of swimming is critical to learning especially for adults.
Philosophy	Greg believes that swimming is the closest that human beings can come to flying. In his teaching he strives to impart the passion and pleasure he finds in swimming though positive reinforcement, engaging, and interesting drills, and more then a small help of humor. If you are not having fun, the skills being taught will both less memorable, and enjoyable. I try to live my life to the insightful words of Albert Camus "Live to the point of tears."
History/Background	Greg has been swimming competitively since the age of 8 and continued year round with the Fort Collins Area Swim Team in CO. Throughout high school he also swam for his high school swim team.
Hobbies	Greg is a self proclaimed Francophil. He enjoys collecting and exploring popular French music. His friends are often exhausted by his tendency to insert French phrases or even entire unintelligible monologues into conversations. Greg would probably give up speaking English all together if it were practical. He is also a book loving NPR junkie in love with nice food, good wine, and excellent company. Having studied music composition he always has a song rolling around in his head and if more of them would make it into his computer and onto paper he might be able to do something with them someday.

Name	Alexandra Levine
Certification(s)	Water Safety Instructor, CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer, Standard First Aid, Lifeguard
Experience	Alexandra has taught all ages from children ages 6 months through adults and has taught a variety of levels from Parent/Toddler, Pre-school classes through Level 6. She has also been a supervisor for 2 different camps that meet twice a week.
Area(s) of Expertise	Children and first time swimmers, stroke refinement and levels 5 and 6.
Philosophy	"The only way that students will improve to the best of their ability is if their skills and pushed at each and every lesson."
History/Background	Alexandra swam on a variety of swim teams between the ages of 7 to 15 , and she was continuously enrolled in competition and stroke refinement during that time. She has also studied diving for one year and has lifeguarded and taught lessons since 2002.
Hobbies	Listening and analyzing music, shopping, swimming, walking around Boston, and being active in her sorority.

Name	Felicia Marottoli
Certification(s)	Water Safety Instructor, CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer, Standard First Aid, Lifeguard
Experience	YMCA swim lessons, camp counselor, high ropes course instructor
Area(s) of Expertise	Working with children of all ages
Philosophy
History/Background	Felicia is from CT and pursuing a BA in biochemistry and molecular biology at BU. She loves working with kids.
Hobbies	Reading, rock climbing, hiking, white water rafting, being outdoors, and learning.

Name	Lauren Moye
Certification(s)	Water Safety Instructor, CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer, Standard First Aid
Experience	Lauren taught for four years at the Belmont Public Pool teaching 4-15 year olds. She also taught Parent - Infant classes at Atlantis for one year.
Area(s) of Expertise	Working with kids that need motivation or the mechanics of swimming explained to them.
Philosophy	"Learning how to swim encourages children to perservere and push themselves to excel. It is about personal improvement in my classes!"
History/Background	Current student at Mt. Holyoke, and current Somerville resident.
Hobbies	Lauren has recently returned from a study abroad program in London, England.

Name:	Sara Robertson
Certification(s)	Water Safety Instructor, CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer, Standard First Aid
Experience	7 years of teaching for the ARC and YMCA's throughout MA.
Area(s) of Expertise	Beginner swimmers and advanced swimmers, both ends of the spectrum.
Philosophy	"By developing strong foundation of swimming skills, advancing is easier."
History/Background	Sara started swimming at age 8 for the YMCA swim team. She later became the high school swim team captain specializing in 500 free and the 200 IM.
Hobbies	Swimming in a beach or pond.

Name	Jan Rushton
Certification(s)	Water Safety Instructor, CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer, Standard First Aid
Experience	Over 20 years of teaching experience in swimming and diving
Area(s) of Expertise	Conditioning, stroke annalysis, breath control, relaxation in the water.
Philosophy	"Enjoy the total freedom of motion in the water."
History/Background	SCUBA diving, sailing, surfing. Jan grew up on the waterways of Cape Cod.
Hobbies	Underwater photography, travel, horseback riding, archery

Name	Charlotte Yang
Certification(s)	Water Safety Instructor, CPR/AED for the Professional Rescuer, Standard First Aid
Experience	Charlotte has been a swim instructor since high school. Charlotte started teaching at her local city pool in Cerritos, CA. Charlotte has been teaching at MIT since September.
Area(s) of Expertise	Beginning swimming with youth and beginning swimming for adults.
Philosophy	"With hard work and practice you can do anything. Enjoy what you do."
History/Background	Charlotte is a student at MIT
Hobbies	Charlotte enjoys tap dancing and reading