Franchise Times: The Start of Big Blue Swim School

Losing to Michael Phelps for the 2008 Summer Olympics by three tenths of a second may have ruined Chris DeJong’s dream of getting into the Olympics, but it didn’t stop him from a career in the swimming business. In a recent Franchise Times article, DeJong reflects on his loss and how it pushed him into creating the Big Blue Swim School franchise.

DeJong always enjoyed swimming as a child and took lessons himself. His competitive swimming career started when he was just eight years old. So when he didn’t qualify for the Olympics, he decided to coach other kids to make some extra money.

“I knew my competitive swimming days were behind me, so I started teaching swimming to make ends meet,” DeJong told Franchise Times. “That competitive drive in me transitioned to building a business from scratch. I had no idea what I was doing, I had zero dollars in the bank account, but I just started to teach swimming and build relationships and I loved doing it.”

Eventually, a few parents of the children he was coaching approached DeJong about becoming investors in his business and building his own pool - he was currently coaching in the basement of an old church. And thus, the first Big Blue Swim School opened in Wilmette, Illinois in 2012. DeJong is committed to opening more locations that were delayed due to the pandemic while also selling more units to franchise partners.