Meet Ann

It all started when Ann was an infant. Her two year old sister nearly drown in the family back-yard pool. Due to this incident, learning how to swim was always a high priority in Ann’s home. It was a huge concern for someone to leave the sliding glass doors open.

When Ann became a mother, she often vacationed in Florida where her parents and family lived. The concern was still there about protecting the children from free access to the back yard pool. On one visit to Florida, her sister began working in the pool with Ann’s children. Upon Ann’s return to Denver, she did a search on swim programs that focused on aquatic safety for children.

After finding a program that was satisfactory to her needs, Ann put her children through the program and began learning beyond the class curriculum what children need to know to be fully safe in the water. She then entered herself in many courses and certifications in order to bring a holistic knowledge of aquatic safety to the Denver community.

In 1981 Ann became a Registered Nurse. She had always loved pediatrics, but liked working with healthy children more than those critically ill. An opportunity arose.

During Ann’s Nurse training, she witnessed numbers of children on ventilators due to near drowning accidents. Because of her own rearing with aquatic safety and her children in an aquatic safety program, she knew that these accidents were easily avoidable and this both frustrated and inspired her into a new career path.

After 10 years as a Registered Surgical Nurse, Ann made the leap into the career of her dreams. She continued working as a part time Nurse as she started building her business. After 13 years of being a private only instructor, Ann opened her own Swim School that would be affordable to those who couldn’t afford the high prices of private lessons. Ann also knew the need for swim classes to be taught in a specified learning environment and opened Starfish Swim School to fill that need.

In 2003, Ann Shidler opened Starfish Swim School. She then filled her school with hand picked instructors. They are then trained by Ann in her extensive knowledge and effective teaching techniques for children to receive a better quality swim lesson. All of her staff has prior experience working with children and some have prior experience teaching swim lessons. In 2003, Ann was recognized as an “Outstanding Swim Teacher of the Year” by the United States Swim School Association.

“Our success is due to having a dedicated professional staff that really cares about each student and show it both in and out of the water." – Ann Shidler

Ann loves SCUBA, boating, swimming, and teaching kids how to swim. Her favorite thing is watching and nurturing the process of infants and toddlers developing and perfecting their swimming skills. She also loves extending her knowledge to other Swim School owners and being an involved participant in the United States Swim School Association (USSSA). She is also a Champion Club member, an honorary division of the USSSA.

Ann has been featured in Denver newspapers, on local television and even on NBC Nightly News with Jane Pauley. Ann was also honored by Governor Roy Romer in 1993 for her work with Colorado’s children.

Ann has maintained her Nursing License to date and will continue to do so. She also continues to renew the Infant/Toddler Certification course offered by the United States Swim School Association.

Ann is a member of the following programs:

United States Swim School Association
Colorado Safe Kids Coalition - a National program that focuses on children and safety
World Aquatics Baby Congress
Colorado Parks and Recreation Association
Swim for Life Foundation
Safe Kids
National Drowning Prevention Alliance

Have questions or comments for Ann? Send Ann an Email.