Two-time Olympic swimmer Nim Shapira ’08 recently announced that his Northeast Florida-based company AQUAfin Swim Schools will reach farther south in the sunshine state as it opens its first franchise facility in Orange City, Florida. Shapira’s former Bolles teammate and fellow Olympian Rodion Davelaar ’08 and his wife Cassidy are behind the first AQUAfin franchise location, which provides swim lessons and water safety instruction to children as young as two-months old.

Rodion Davelaar and Shapira first met while swimming and boarding at The Bolles School in 2006. The relationship built at Bolles has lasted all these years later, and they are now both owners of AQUAfin Swim Schools.

“We are excited to expand into franchising after nearly a decade in business and further spread our swim knowledge and experience throughout Florida,” Shapira said. “We’re extremely proud to have Rodion as our first franchisee! Being a former Olympian himself combined with his career experience gives us the utmost confidence he will bring amazing water safety and swimming instruction to the Orange City community.”

Davelaar’s decision to franchise with AQUAfin came down to Shapira’s passion for swimming and desire to teach children to be safe in the water mirroring his own.

“As an Olympic swimmer and with my wife being a pediatrician, we know the importance of prevention, and the best way to prevent a swim-related tragedy is to enroll children in swim lessons early,” Davelaar said. “The joy I found teaching my two children to swim showed me I wanted to help other families do this as well.”

AQUAfin currently has 70+ employees serving thousands of local families at its corporate locations in Mandarin, Town Center and St. Augustine. To learn more about AQUAfin Swim School, visit the company’s website for more information.