Bert Lozada Swim School: Alive and splashing for 70 years

IT HAS been 70 years since the Bert Lozada Swim School (BLSS) began, a staple for those looking for swimming lessons either for themselves or for their children, especially in the summer.

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As the Philippines' largest and longest-running swim school, its mission has been simple - to help Filipinos overcome their fear of water.

Started in 1956 by Remberto "Tito Bert" Lozada, whose experience in international swimming competitions motivated him to use what he had learned to teach others, the school has spent the last 70 years championing water safety nationwide. It has taught over one million students in that time, and has produced seven Olympian swimmers.

Bert Lozada's sons, Anthony and Angelo, now run the business. In a recent virtual interview with BusinessWorld, they said that passion is behind the constant improvement of their programs over the decades.

"When it started, it was a mom-and-pop thing with a few family members teaching at a couple of swimming pools. The curriculum was based on what my dad developed from his experiences coaching abroad," Anthony Lozada, BLSS president and chief executive officer, told BusinessWorld via video call on April 10.

"At the time, there was no structure, methodology, or pedagogy on how to transfer information to children, given that it's a free moving environment, not a classroom setting," he added.

It was Tito Bert's father, Capt. Catalino Lozada, who sowed the seeds for a swim school in the early 1950s. Each generation of the family got more exposure to international swimming standards, resulting in the necessary modifications and teaching aids.

The brothers underwent a certification course in Australia, where they got the information needed to equip Filipino coaches with the skills to teach basic fundamental swimming, in turn upgrading their own learn-to-swim program.

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