Cincinnati, OH 
Lillian Fetalaiga grew up with a passion for swimming. Her summers were spent at the community swimming pool while she kept engaged in a swim team all year long. When she was 16, she was able to begin making a career out of swimming through lifeguarding, teaching swim lessons privately and at a summer camp, and becoming an assistant coach for a swim team in New York City.
She studied elementary education with an emphasis in special education at the University of Wyoming, which helped her broaden her teaching methods both in the classroom and in the swimming pool. Lillian taught fifth grade for several years to a population that was mainly English as a Second Language in Denver, Colorado and found her way back to teaching swim lessons with the added knowledge that a classroom teacher has.
In 2009 Lillian joined the Peace Corps and served in Western Samoa as a teacher and village based development worker. Although she did not have the opportunity to teach swimming to children in her village, she did work with several children elsewhere to learn about water safety and beginning swimming using natural elements to supplement the lessons (for example, using coconuts as kickboards). She ended her service in 2013 and moved to Ohio with her family to begin working on her master’s degree in international cross-cultural education at Bowling Green State University. In 2015, she thankfully found her way to Columbus and became the Aquatics Director for British Swim School of Central Ohio when they opened.
Lillian’s daughter has grown to have an even bigger love for the water as she was introduced to floating and water safety skills when she was only 6 weeks old, while her husband prefers playing rugby and is a member of the local rugby team at Scioto Valley.
Here are some facts about Lillian:
Favorite animal: monkey
Favorite place: The blowholes in Taga, Savai’i , Samoa
Favorite food: ko pai (a Samoan dish – chocoloate soup with dumplings)
Favorite color: yellow
