Typical Day
Chloe Reen starts her day bright and early at 6:00AM. She has a light liquid breakfast—a banana yogurt smoothie and coffee for potassium, protein, and caffeine. Then she puts on her suit, sunblock, and shades, stickers her hair in a pony, and she's ready to roll.
It's eighty-five degrees already (gonna be a hot one), and it's summer days like this that make Chloe thankful she teaches swimming for a living rather than being stuck in a hot office all day.
She's very happy to have remembered her coffee today. She's going to need a lot of energy for the day ahead, as she's got three morning-swim classes for beginner and intermediate kids, and the afternoon booked solid with private lessons.
She makes most of her money during the private lessons, where she charges $25 for a half-hour lesson. The morning-swim school classes only net her $13 an hour, but they're a requirement for anyone who wants to teach privately in the pool afterwards. It's a trade-off, and one that works for her. Chloe has been working summers at the community pool since she was a senior in high school, where she was a star on her swim team and water polo team.
She has been going to junior college and during the winter months, she teaches swim and water aerobics classes at the local YMCA while also working part-time as a receptionist for a chiropractor's office. Between all three of her jobs, she cobbles together enough money to live on, though nothing that will enable her to save up or allow her to buy her own condo.
Chloe plans to go back to school in the Fall this year so she can get her Bachelor's Degree in business and maybe open up her own swim school. That's where the real money is.
The tadpole group of six- and seven-year-olds are jumping up and down on the pool deck, eager to get in the water. As soon as Chloe shows up she gives them the okay sign and they're in, some cannonballing, others creeping in more timidly. Chloe instructs them to get their kickboards and start doing laps. As they do, she glides from child to child, showing them how to stay buoyant, how to kick properly, and to keep their arms stretched out in front of them.
When they are done, Chloe has them flip on their backs and teaches them a shorter version of the backstroke to work on. The kids are eager and learn quickly.
After forty-five minutes of this class, Chloe Reen ushers in the next group, where the kids are between eight and ten years old. She works on more advanced stroke techniques for freestyle, breast stroke, and back stroke with this group. At the end she gives them a short lesson on diving. One of the boys almost dives into the shallow end and luckily Chloe stops him in time and launches into a lecture about the dangers of jumping or diving into shallow water. Hopefully the kids were listening.
Another forty-five minutes and Chloe greets her last class of the day. These are the intermediate to advanced level swimmers. There are a couple of young kids who started the swimming program very early, though the majority of these kids are between nine and eleven.
Chloe goes over rotary breathing techniques, as well as the more advanced strokes like the butterfly. She has the kids do laps most of the session, utilizing freestyle, backstroke, breast stroke, and the newly learned butterfly.
At lunchtime, Chloe reapplies her sunscreen and takes off to grab a Subway sandwich. She eats with Davey Schwimmer, a lifeguard and friend from the pool who also teaches classes. Davey and Chloe have been friends for years, though lately Chloe is getting the feeling Davey might be interested in something other than just borrowing a new flipper or two.
After lunch, Chloe has her private lessons. She has a first-time lesson with a three-year-old. Chloe loves it when the little'uns learn to swim. She adores this girl, Claire Bear, who takes to the water naturally, as many toddlers do. The kid is a natural and is up and dog paddling in no time. After the lesson, Claire's mother seems very pleased and books Chloe for another forty-five minute private lesson. She's confident her girl will be a bonafide swimmer one day, just like her mom and dad (who played water polo in high school and college).
Chloe's next lesson is with an adult who wants to learn to swim so she can snorkel with her husband on their upcoming vacation in Hawaii. The woman is extremely afraid of the water and Chloe is only able to get her to go in up to her chin and can't even get the woman to lighten up enough to float on her back. Chloe tries to tell the woman to take it slow, but she's frustrated. She wants to learn how to swim right away and can't understand that it takes time to gain confidence.
After her, Chloe has a young girl with Muscular Dystrophy, which Chloe does water therapy sessions with. Chloe is very proud to have passed a special class she took over the winter so she could do aqua therapy with special needs children and adults. The young girl giggles in delight as the water touches her ears, fingers, toes, and top of her head. It's a wonderful experience for both swimmer and teacher.
At the end of the day, Chloe is exhausted. She passes on Davey's offer to go out for nachos and instead heads home. She shovels down some leftovers and falls asleep on the couch watching Scandal.