Today we’d like to introduce you to Dr. Andrew Ha.
Sigma was started in the fall of 2009 at Texas Wesleyan University with 45 swimmers. Sigma struggled to pay the bills and its founder, Dr. Ha, sometimes went months without pay.
Sigma’s growth and success has been due largely in part to the hard work, dedication, and perseverance of its staff and volunteers. For Sigma, it is never good enough to be “good.” For Sigma, excellence, constant improvement, and customer service have been key pillars in their success.
Eight years after their humble beginnings, Sigma is the largest swim team in Fort Worth, offering swim lessons to both children and adults in addition to a nationally ranked competitive swim team.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The road has been paved with successes, failures, and everything in between. Many times, we considered closing our business due to various challenges.
One notable struggle: In the business of swim lessons and competitive swimming, working with parents can be a challenge. In the early years of our business, we simply didn’t manage our relationships properly which created undue conflict. After many failures and broken relationships, we have learned how to better work with families to create as many win-win-win outcomes as possible; wins for the parents, swimmers, and coaches.
Our parents and swimmers are our customers and stakeholders. Therefore, creating positive working relationships is paramount.
So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Sigma Swimming story. Tell us more about the business.
Sigma teaches swimming – all aspects of it and to all ages and abilities. We specialize in teaching swimming the right way – the way that promotes safety, health, and for about half of our patrons, performance.
Our customers usually tell us that we have a reputation for caring instruction, an unmatched curriculum, and excellent instructor-student ratios.
What sets Sigma apart is the amount of *shared* knowledge and experience. Almost our entire staff is comprised of swimmers who can teach. Often, swim programs are staffed with swimmers who cannot teach and/or teachers who do not truly understand swimming. Sigma’s staff of swimmer-teachers works together to continue improving our curriculum and pedagogy.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I don’t believe that we were lucky. I think our success has been the byproduct of an immeasurable amount of hard work and perseverance. Maybe we were lucky to have some of the best staff, volunteers, and parents to show us our strengths, weaknesses, and everything in between. We were lucky to get staff and coaches who were willing to make mistakes, learn, and improve. For Sigma, there hasn’t been much good or bad luck, just a lot of grit, determination, and learning from and trying not to repeat the mistakes we’ve made.
Pricing:
- Swimming Lessons (children): $105/month, $76 registration
- Swimming Lessons (adult): $65/month, $32 registration
- Competitive Swimming: $75-155/month, $76 registration
- Private Lessons (children, adults, learn-to-swim, triathletes, competitive swimmers): $1 per minute
Contact Info:
- Address: Burleson: 550 N.W. Summercrest Blvd, Burleson, TX 76028
Burleson: 2750 SW Wilshire Blvd, Burleson, TX 76028
Cleburne: 1010 Hillsboro Street, Cleburne, TX 76033
Dallas: 703 N. Cedar Ridge Dr., Duncanville, TX 75116
Fort Worth: 2212 Forest Park Blvd, Fort Worth, TX 76110
Fort Worth: 1100 Collard Street, Fort Worth, TX 76105
Lake Worth: 4801 Marine Creek Parkway, Fort Worth, TX 76179
North Richland Hills: 8451 Boulevard 26, North Richland Hills, TX 76180 - Website: sigmaswimming.org
- Phone: (714) 396-1840
- Email: swim@sigmaswimming.org
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/sigma_swimming/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sigma-Swimming/190598837714450
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/SigmaSwimming
Image Credit:
Sigma Swimming
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