I've always loved the water. My mom says I learned to swim before I learned to walk, so she wasn’t surprised when I came home from elementary school and asked if my sister and I could join the new Denton YMCA swim team.  She agreed and then called my aunt to ask if my cousins wanted to join, as well.  It quickly became a family affair and we spent our summers surrounding the pool, cheering for each other. I joined the swim team as soon as I entered high school and then joined the diving team, as well.

 

After I graduated from high school, I attended UNT. They didn't have a swim team, so I took their advanced swimming class and finished in just a couple of weeks. During this time I met my husband, Wes; we married young and started our family. I became a certified American Red Cross Water Safety Instructor in 2002 and started teaching my friend's children how to swim. 

 

I traveled to different pools to teach on-and-off for several years, and then in 2010 I took a leap of faith and started Amy's Aquatics. I had been laid off from a job I didn’t enjoy and our family had moved into a home with a pool, so I took it as a sign that we were ready to take the plunge, literally, by going into business for ourselves. That summer, I taught 52 kids to swim. The next summer, I set a goal to double that amount, and I did. Amy’s Aquatics has continued to grow every year and has racked up many awards such as: HulaFrog's Most Loved 2019 and 2020 and Best of Denton County 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023. 

At Amy's Aquatics, we always tell the kids, “I’ve got you.” That when they're here, they're safe. It’s incredible how much looking kids in their eyes and telling them "I've got you" can calm them down.  I also don’t allow the kids to say "I can’t.” Instead, I have them rephrase it to "I will try.” Usually after a few tries, they realize they CAN! There's nothing more rewarding than that!