Photo: Barbara Banks Photography
Melon was raised in upstate New York and has been a competitive swimmer since age 7. She received a B.S. in Exercise Science and Nutrition from the University of Massachusetts/Amherst and an M.S. in Exercise Physiology from the University of Michigan. She coached women’s and men’s swim teams at Keene State College in New Hampshire as a graduate student, and was an assistant coach of the women’s swim teams at Harvard, Michigan, and University of California/Berkeley. After thinking about it all as a chauffeur / administrative assistant for an orthopedic surgeon in Berkeley, she opened her swim school in 1983 because adults in traditional swimming lessons were afraid and they weren’t learning.
For fun, it’s swimming, SCUBA diving, kayaking, and riding her bike. She has taken her graduates diving in Hawaii, Bonaire, Belize, Fiji, Tahiti, the Maldives, Bali, Southeast Sulawesi, the Caymans, Turks & Caicos, US Virgin Islands, Cozumel, and Honduras.
She likes design, such as her Learn-to-Float Bar and Tether project, US Patent #11, 331,554.
“A real pool” (left) where Melon swims.
She’s always looking for a pool that’s 92 degrees, shallow and deep, with a zero depth entry or a kiddie pool onsite.
Miracle Swimming leased that pool for 3 years (right). Then, the owner wanted it back to build a school.
In order to teach all people to swim and to end drowning, we must define learning to swim in a way that makes each person peaceful in deep water. This has nothing to do with learning strokes. For a dose of Melon’s main passion, go to her blog.
The bottom line: all people are good even if you have to dig “way deep” to find them.
Miracle Swimming
School for Adults, LLC
