Our Story

Shendy's Swim School was founded in 1992 by Eric "Shendy" Shendelman. Shendy, as he is affectionately known, sought to combine his love of aquatics and passion for teaching as he opened the part-time operation. The school quickly grew, with a strong reputation for hands on teaching, fun and safety, Shendy's became known as a top swim school in the Greater Toronto Area. Eric's meticulous attention to detail continued to draw the attention of families in the Greater Toronto Area, looking for the best environment to learn to swim. The school expanded through numerous facilities as it provided swimming lessons from infants to adults, first aid programs and advanced certification courses in Bronze, National Lifeguard and Instructors

Eric takes great pride in ensuring that he is involved in every element of the business - from being in the water with new swimmers, performing maintenance on the pool, or ensuring every swimmer is a good match for their instructor, and every family is getting the absolute best his school has to offer.

A Permanent Home

In 2012, Shendy built his first full-time facility. Located in the heart of North York at Leslie and York Mills, Shendy's Swim Centre reflects the passion and meticulous nature of Shendy. Every element of this facility has been customized for Shendy's from he non-slip floors around the pool and in the change rooms, to the natural light skylights above the pool.   The facility has allowed Shendy's to expand into new programs like aquafit, aquarestore, and school swim period - while maintaining a full program of learn to swim and leadership programs.  As the Shendy's continued to grow it expanded the facility to support gender neutral changing facilities, and modern leadership training rooms.

Adding A Second Amazing Facility

Through a global pandemic, Shendy's took industry leadership roles to help ensure Water Safety in Canada did not suffer despite lock downs and a global crisis.   Eric Shendelman was named the winner of the Barb McLintock Memorial Communication Award on behalf of the No Push Movement!  With regular and constant communication to the Shendy's Community, it was clear the loyalty of our extended family was standing in support of Shendy's.  We are forever thankful for this continued support.  

Despite the challenges of the Pandemic, Shendy's used ingenuity and innovation to ensure we could live up to the support of our community.  This drive lead to the addition of a second custom facility at Dufferin & Finch, complete with all the finishing touches our families have come to expect from Shendy's.  We are excited to be branching into a new community, and all the opportunity this will bring to the entire Shendy's family.  

An Exciting Future    

Shendy's remains fully affiliated with the LifeSaving Society and has been a Commercial Member of the Ontario Camps Association since 1992 providing camp staff and C.I.T.s with First Aid and Aquatic training.  We remain active in the Water Safety industry as a whole because we are passionate about what we do.

Our safety and  sanitization protocols helped to ensure our environment is set up for success - even in the face of a global pandemic; and we continue to create a safe space for all to succeed in all levels of aquatics.  We appreciate the adherence to our policies: from our flip flop friendly zones, and nut safety awareness, to the welcoming of the LGBTQ+ community and accessibility accomodations.  

Today, Shendy's not only teaches swimmers who are new to the school, but former alumni staff and students who are now parents are proud to see their children learn from Shendy the same way they did.