Sea Star Swimschool and Gymnastics Center, Missouri City

Sea Star Swimschool and Gymnastics Center's instructors guide kids through gymnastics courses, and shepherd students of all ages through swimming lessons designed to build coordination and promote safety in aquatic environments. Eleven levels of swimming lessons craft confident swimmers out of students of any age, with 30-minute lessons combining drills and activities that bolster aquatic prowess without surgically swapping out limbs with paddles. Students are separated by age and ability, with adults separated into beginner and advanced classes covering everything from tackling fear of the water to training for a triathlon in a supportive group atmosphere. Parents and hydrophobic invisible friends can watch children’s lessons in the facility’s viewing area, beaming with pride as their little aquanauts master a variety of strokes and breathing techniques.

The 45-minute gymnastic lessons—held within the 2,000-square-foot gymnastics gym—help kids build the coordination and grace needed to steal cookies from the cookie jar without setting off laser alarm systems. As their parents watch from a viewing area, little ones aged 1–3 learn activities that safely improve flexibility and strength on the gym’s padded floor. Older tots traverse the trampolines, vault, and balance beams. Kids 6 or older can advance to tumbling or classic gymnastics activities on apparatuses such as bar and beam rings, cultivating more confidence in their abilities than a heavyweight champion with the genetic properties of a butterfly and a bee.