About us
Our highly trained, caring swim instructors use practiced and proven water safety techniques to provide swim instruction to young children to the best of our ability.
Desert Swim School (formerly Waterworks On Wheels) was founded in 1985 by Janice Jaicks, owner and president. Janice began offering backyard swim lessons around the city of Mesa, AZ and was the sole instructor. Now Desert Swim School employs part-time summer instructors for backyard swim lessons serving the entire East Valley, as well as a staff for year-round indoor lessons at three health club facilities in Arizona.
Meet The Team!
Janice Jaicks
Desert Swim School/FitnessFest Janice Jaicks is the owner
of Desert Swim School. Janice began teaching swim lessons in 1985 at the Mesa YMCA and found that she had a real knack for it. She immediately sought additional training and received her Lifeguard Training Certification and WSI (Water Safety Instruction) Certification.
She then started teaching children all over the East Valley in their own backyard pools. Janice became so busy with this endeavor that
she started training and hiring other instructors to join her team.
From that time forward, Desert Swim School blossomed into the
outstanding business it is today! Janice adds: "All kids are unique
I try to take their individual temperaments, including any fears or
anxieties and learn for that child how to best teach him/her to
swim and be water-safe. As for my instructors, I choose my staff
based on experience with all ages and abilities, as well as his/her
ability to understand a child's strengths, weaknesses and psyche
- when to push, when to hold back and what step to take to
achieve our goals is key! The final ingredient to an outstanding
instructor is someone who genuinely cares about each and every
child and has patience. I personally enjoy teaching the Parent/Tot
class at Fitness Forum. It thrills me to see the little ones, even at
15 months old, going underwater and kicking their little legs to get
through the hula-hoop. I also love to see that child a year later
doing well enough to join the "big boy/gir!" class!"
Christina Haneghan
Swim Instructor Christina Haneghan, BA Kinesiology (Exercise
Science), has been with Desert Swim School for over 10 years.
When she isn't working for Desert Swim School, Christina works
for a cardiac clinic in Phoenix, AZ. Some of Christina's other
interests include health and wellness and sports medicine.
Christina spends her free time exercising, watching sports,
listening to music, and hanging out with friends and family.
Recently, one of our clients shared a wonderful note with us about
Christina:
"We wanted to drop a note about our children's swim
instructor, Christina. She is such a phenomenal swim instructor.
She is very aware of the kid's abilities and challenges each child
to his own level even within the same class. She is also firm, yet
gentle, and so very patient. Kids will often try to get out of doing
things that are challenging (e.g. by whining) but Christina never
falls for this; she has a very gentle but firm way of getting the kids
to participate. The other parents also always comment on how
patient and good she is. She always stays calm even with the
frequent whining or disruption (the kids that scream through entire
sessions or won't sit still). I don't know how Christina does it! We
believe that Christina is truly an asset to your school. We really
appreciate having her and our kids look forward to going to swim
class each week mostly because of her." -Viviana
Claire Dana
Hello! My name is Claire and I have been a swim instructor and lifeguard for the past 5 years. I am passionate about teaching and helping kids learn how to be safe in the water. Outside of my aquatic jobs, I love to sing and cook with my siblings. One cool fact about me is that I worked at Walt Disney World! Besides that, Swimming has always been a huge part of my life, and I’m grateful that I can share that with others.