Founding Partners
Total Aquatic Programming
Colorado Springs, Colo.
This year marks the 56th anniversary of partnership — in business and life — for Mick and Sue Nelson.
The expertise and experience built from that partnership have come to benefit the aquatics industry at large: In the past 17 years, the Nelson have supported the creation of 190 new facilities, among other achievements.
The Total Aquatic Programming cofounders hold a deep connection with the water and each other. It started early in central Illinois. Mick was born into the aquatics industry. His grandparents provided recovery and rescue services as part of the American Red Cross. His mom, “Teach” Nelson, served as aquatics director at the local YWCA. His uncle worked as a lakefront supervisor in Indiana.
When she was 6, Sue took her first swim lessons with “Teach” Nelson. More than a decade later, Sue and Mick ran into one another. As time passed, their love for one another and for aquatics only blossomed.
“Neither of us expected aquatics to take us to where we are today,” Mick says. “I tried to stay away from it, but that lasted only about three years out of college. I missed the water, and I missed working with the kids.”
They opened their first swim club in Danville, Ill., in 1972, launching a dual aquatics career that was challenging at times, but always left both feeling fulfilled and energized. Over the next 30 years in Danville, they opened Nelson’s Swim Supply, NSS, WaterWay Therapy, and Poolside Health & Wellness Center — all while raising three children and continuing the family legacy in aquatics.
By the mid 1970s, Mick and Sue held one of only two businesses in the country that built and programmed their own aquatics facility. Thanks to that expertise and their drive to help others, the pair made an obvious match when USA Swimming sought to develop a facilities department but struggled to find the right facilitators. With a push from their youngest son, the pair relocated to Colorado Springs in 2004. Sue Nelson became aquatic program specialist, while Mick Nelson took the role of facilities development director. They formed Total Aquatic Programming in 2019.
Today, Total Aquatic Programming’s well-respected Build a Pool program is an extension of that work. It’s a way, Mick says, to help people understand what it takes to build and program a pool that’s financially sustainable, and make it a community centerpiece for all ages and stages. They also offer custom Build a Pool programming, going to individual facilities to provide personalized training and instruction.
“The experience of building our own facility, fighting for every penny to make sure it was efficient, and working to constantly adapt and grow helped us sharpen our expertise,” Sue says. “It wasn’t a natural evolution perhaps, but it was the next big challenge to take our skills on the road and help other people to be successful.”
Today, Build a Pool also is available virtually, something the Nelsons began working on even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit. “We were thinking forward about ways to make Build a Pool more affordable and accessible for those who may not have the funds or travel budgets to do the traditional program,” Sue Nelson says.
Two of their three children are still involved in aquatics and helped get Virtual Build a Pool up and running in just four weeks, when it became clear that pandemic restrictions would be around for quite some time.
“Creating a virtual version of the program helped us keep it cost effective for us and for our clients, and it’s been extremely popular so far,” Sue Nelson says.
Mick Nelson also works on another job that stands to benefit all those who love water — collecting and parsing drowning data from across the country, as part of a longstanding partnership with the National Drowning Prevention Alliance, with support from Stop Drowning Now.
“At NDPA conventions, we saw the impact that childhood drowning has on real people, and it really lit a fire in me to gather statistics that would stress the importance of swimming being an essential skill, for everyone,” Mick Nelson says. “The only place that had those [statistics] was the CDC. And while they do a great and thorough job ... often the most recent data was two years old by the time of release.”
The process involves about 1,100 man-hours per year plus cost for programs and support. New drowning statistics are posted at the beginning of every month, and all data is housed online and accessible 24/7.
“It’s also a tool for aquatic programming that we use to show the value of providing adult swim lessons,” says Sue, who noted that adults account for at least 63% of drowning victims. “We can take these statistics to the community to show them that it’s worth spending tax dollars and bonds on supporting aquatics facilities.”
When they aren’t working or spending time with loved ones, they love to be out on the golf course.
