For one week in late-December, Madison’s Debra Stapleton becomes one of the most popular people in the county. It’s sign-up time for swimming lessons and spots fill up so quickly for lessons that begin months later.
Originally from Cleveland, the Madison transplant has been teaching swimming lessons here for over 20 years.
People have dubbed her a “miracle worker,” someone able to teach children how to swim in only four, 20-minute lessons. She jokes that she has “magic water.”
The number of kids she teaches varies each year and there’s usually a wait list that is more desired than those found at popular restaurants in Manhattan.
Stapleton has always been one with the water and has taught lessons much of her life, but two decades ago is when she became passionate about her craft.
“As any teenager, I was more into me,” she said. “But, it’s all about the children now. I get more excited every year and I have the best year every year.”
When she first started out, Stapleton went the old-fashioned route of plastering flyers on driveways and windshields in the early morning hours after working full-time as a realtor.
Once she built up a large client list, she moved full speed ahead.
“I’ve very blessed,” she says. “I’ll continue to do this until I just can’t do it anymore. It’s different every year. I love what I do and I get so excited.”
Her students are as young as three years old. Many take intermediate and advanced classes after the beginner course.
For beginners, the first day is an introduction and to orient students to the water. On day two, they are in there swimming, she says. The third day is review and the final day is parent day, a time many moms and dads become amazed at the quick transformation.
Parents say it’s a miracle, mostly because they aren’t allowed “backstage” during the training and the only see the results on the last day when a once-afraid child starts swimming with ease.
Maren Lee, a Madison mother of four, said two of her children — seven-year-old Joseph and five-year-old Henry — both took lessons this year and her jaw dropped after seeing the results.
Lee says she has tried over the years with different methods and different trainers to adjust her kids to the water to no avail. She heard about Stapleton but was apprehensive at first.
“I was a little skeptical,” she admits. “We had tried a lot of different things. Nothing had really worked with the kids and the success I wanted to see.”
Lee says she first thought there was no way that four, 20-minute lessons would accomplish what she wanted.
“I was absolutely floored what she showed me the last day,” Lee says. “I couldn’t believe both of my children were able to show me swimming across the pool, effectively get themselves to a wall — the things they demonstrated were amazing.”
The Lee family recently took a trip to Disney and they were able to go swimming without floaties, another sign they retained all of the information from the classes.
She looks forward to taking her children back this summer, along with her three-year-old.
Katie and Stephen Snell’s son Henry also took lessons this year and she couldn’t have been more excited about the outcome.
“She has the ability to make children feel comfortable in the water and teaches them the necessary lifesaving skills that puts parents’ minds at ease,” Snell said. “Water safety is critically important and Miss Debra helps kids understand what it means to be safe near the pool.”
Amanda Polles sent her four-and-a-half-year-old son John Carter Polles to Debra for more advanced training this year, too.
“He was swimming good on his own,” Amanda says, adding he was in Lake Caroline at 18 months old with a lifejacket. “But, she pushed him beyond his comfort level.”
Amanda says that John Carter was able to float on his back and hold his breathe while diving to the bottom of a six-foot pool. This gave her comfort knowing his abilities in the water were advanced after the lessons.
“She’s really good at what she does,” Amanda adds. “She obviously loves it. At the end, she has this entire little package — like a huge Easter basket full of toys and a framed picture. It was that personal of an experience.”
This past year, one of Stapleton’s repeat students, a deaf child named Michael, took the class after receiving aqua cochlear implants.
“This was the first year he had those and I was able to communicate with him while swimming,” she remarks. “He’s absolutely beautiful.”
Stapleton has taught several kids with special needs and those are some of her favorite students.
She loves what she does because she can connect with the students and also teach them valuable skills.
“When they leave, the children are more confident,” she says. “I also know they are more safe than they were when they first came to me. I wake up every night and pray over my kids.”
To do this day, Stapleton is often greeted out in public by current and former students, some who have even gone on to swim competitively.
“They come up and hug me,” she says with a beaming smile. “It fills your hear with joy.”
