As Ryan Murphy reached the pinnacle of his swimming career, he wanted to use that platform to help others.
After winning three Olympic gold medals in Rio in 2016, he partnered with Goldfish Swim School Franchising, LLC, as a brand ambassador, helping to teach kids how to swim.
Now, he has his own school.
Murphy celebrated the grand opening of the Goldfish Swim School in St. Johns, Florida, close to where he grew up, last week.
“It has been a couple of years in the making,” Ryan Murphy told Swimming World. “My family and I decided a few years back that we wanted to open up a Goldfish Swim School in the greater Jacksonville area. We started the process, eventually found a plot of land and built it from the ground up. It is a buzzing area and a great location.
“After having a bit of success in Rio, I looked into philanthropy and looking at the statistics, I learned how dire of a situation drowning is in the U.S., and really across the world. It felt like a natural fit for me.”
Drowning is the leading cause of accidental death in children 1-4, according to Goldfish Swim Schools, and learning to swim reduce the risk by nearly 88 percent.
“It is an epidemic,” said Murphy, a four-time NCAA champion in both backstroke events at Cal. “And we know what the cure is. We just need to make it more accessible.”
There are more than 170 Goldfish Swim Schools in the country that teach more than 200,000 kids to swim each week. But starting one from scratch was an experience that took time and patience.
“We really bought a dirt lot. We had to get everything from water to electrical set up. Goldfish does a great job setting a plan for what the building should look like, which helped. It is really beautiful. It is a really welcoming place for parents and children to feel comfortable and learn to swim,” Ryan Murphy said.
The St. Johns facility has two full-time staff members and 29 part-time staff members.
“I will be going back a good bit to Florida to make sure things are going well, and my parents still live in Florida and have been very hands on,” Ryan Murphy said. “We want this location to be a top-tier experience for everyone who walks through the door.
“The hope is to open up more locations.”