Chris DeJong Founded Big Blue Swim School After Not Qualifying for the Olympics Behind Teammate Michael Phelps by Three-Tenths of a Second

Chris DeJong started swimming competitively at 8 years old and continued throughout high school, college and after. In a recent article with Franchise Times, DeJong explained how not qualifying behind Michael Phelps for the Olympics helped inspire him to open Big Blue Swim School.

After missing qualifying for the Olympics in 2008, DeJong moved to Chicago and coached a competitive youth swim team while teaching private lessons on the side in a 60-year-old pool in the basement of a church with no windows.

He lucked out when a few of the first families he taught banded together to invest in building a pool. For the next three years, DeJong built up a lesson base of nearly 600 students. He opened the first Big Blue Swim School in Wilmette, Illinois, in April 2012.

“At its core, swim lessons are something all parents know their kids need, and it really is a need for families. Unlike other sports lessons, swimming is a lifesaving skill,” DeJong told Franchise Times.

Built as an elevated swim lesson experience, Big Blue Swim School pools are heated to 90 degrees Fahrenheit and used exclusively for swim lessons. Additionally, a glass wall separates the pool from the air-conditioned lobby area so parents can sit behind the glass to watch if they don’t want to be on the pool deck.

As of now, there are six corporate Big Blue Swim Schools in the Chicago and Atlanta areas. In September 2018, the brand started franchising and now has more than 125 units sold.

In 2017, Level 5 Capital Partners acquired a stake in the swim franchise and is growing the franchise. In December 2020, the brand inked its largest franchise deal for 37 locations in the Southeast. DeJong plans to continue selling more units in 2021 while the brand works to open the committed locations.