---
title: "Thrive Global: President of Big Blue Swim School Chris DeJong Discusses His Journey of Launching a Business"
url: https://burnaze.com/article/4d657454-4f3b-48fb-8f89-9f9e1d5c2e83
source: "1851 Franchise"
original_url: https://1851franchise.com/thrive-global-president-of-big-blue-swim-school-chris-dejong-discusses-his-journey-of-launching-a-business-2716584
category: "Swim"
industry: "Education & Childcare"
segment: "Swim"
topics: ["Emerging brands","People"]
published: 2021-09-07T13:08:00.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T01:37:56.626Z
image: https://newimage.1851franchise.com/cdn-cgi/image/quality=85,format=webp,width=1280,height=720/story/featureImage/d2933b7bff627ff8c29ea7e2dedb65037456.jpg
---

# Thrive Global: President of Big Blue Swim School Chris DeJong Discusses His Journey of Launching a Business

**TL;DR:** Chris DeJong, president and founder of Big Blue Swim School, discusses his journey to founding the swim school, which now has over 10 open locations and 150 in development. DeJong hopes to bring Big Blue to every state in the U.S.

*originally published in 1851 Franchise on 2021-09-07. [Read the original](https://1851franchise.com/thrive-global-president-of-big-blue-swim-school-chris-dejong-discusses-his-journey-of-launching-a-business-2716584).*

## Story

Chris DeJong , president and founder of Big Blue Swim School , a children’s swim school that helps children achieve life-changing moments, recently discussed his journey to founding the swim school with Thrive Global .

Before starting Big Blue Swim School , DeJong was ranked 4th in the U.S. and 5th in the world in the backstroke category, but after coming in right behind Michael Phelps by just three-tenths of a second in the Olympic qualifiers, his swimming career was over.

Soon after, DeJong founded Big Blue, now with more than 10 open locations and another 150 in development. With the company expanding rapidly under his watch, DeJong hopes to bring Big Blue to every state in the U.S.

According to DeJong, the perseverance that he learned in swimming has been a huge piece of his life as a founder. Once he had the idea to break into franchising with a swim school, his mind was made up.

When speaking about his journey, DeJong stated, “There have been many small steps and decisions along the way to lead us to the current moment that we are in, but I’ve never lost sight of the ultimate goal. You have to be flexible and recognize when you need to take a few steps outside of our original framework, but those are still steps that you are taking to move forward.”

## Entities

- 1851 Franchise (publication)
- Education & Childcare (sector)
- entrepreneurship (topic)
- business expansion (topic)
- franchise launch (topic)
- Big Blue Swim School (company)
- Chris DeJong (person)
- swim school (topic)

---
Originally reported by 1851 Franchise (https://1851franchise.com/thrive-global-president-of-big-blue-swim-school-chris-dejong-discusses-his-journey-of-launching-a-business-2716584). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/4d657454-4f3b-48fb-8f89-9f9e1d5c2e83).