I am staunchly anti-ISR. I believe forced submersion is unnecessary and traumatic. A lot of my high fear clients were ISR students. Clients as young as 1-year-old can learn a breathing cue relatively quickly. The key is patience and waiting until someone is emotionally ready to submerge - that can be different for everyone. When you do that, you are fostering calm swimmers who love and understand the water - not creating fear reactions. Most adults can not think calmly and proactively when they are scared - I’ve yet to be convinced that a child can do it either. The burden of life preservation should be on the adult - not the child. It’s too heavy of an ask and I’ve seen first hand what that does to their little nervous systems.

I do teach survival skills along will teaching them how to swim. But I do not believe in unnecessary cruelty.

One thing to keep in mind: children learn at different rates and with different abilities, and they’re not going to learn to float and swim in just a few classes. Kids develop swimming skills in stages — generally ages 1–3, 3–5, and 6+ — and because they’re constantly growing, their center of gravity is always shifting. We’re literally subject to gravity in the water, and on top of that, they’re hitting developmental milestones the whole time. Swimming is genuinely a years-long process, and that’s something a lot of parents don’t realize going in.

There are very few people in the US who do what I do.

Most Olympic-level stroke analysts don’t have years of littles’ and beginner adult swim lesson experience . They work with developed swimmers. And most swim instructors who are exceptional with little ones and beginner adults —patient, creative, skilled with high-fear and kids on the autism spectrum—don’t have an elite stroke analyst experience.

I’m not just both. I combine them.

When I’m working with your one-year-old, I’m thinking about the six-year-old, ten-year-old, thirty-year-old they’ll become. I’m seeing the stroke problems that haven’t happened yet and mitigating them now—before they become habits, before they become limitations. The patience and creativity it takes to teach a scared toddler is happening at the same time as elite-level analysis of how their body is learning to move through water.

That’s why there are no wasted steps. I teach in progressions. Every choice I make at age two is shaping age six, age twelve, age forty. You’re not starting over at every stage—you’re building.

That combination is rare. That’s what makes me different.

The first day is extremely important and different than all the others, especially for kids but also for some adults. It may not look a lot like a “swimming” lesson sometimes. I am assessing issues like fear and breath-holding ability. I’m also conditioning your brain toward my voice for the breathing cue. The information I gather helps me determine where we need to start, what path to take, and if we are ready for controlled submersion. Being able to jump in from the side during play is NOT an indicator that a child can hold their breath while swimming. So trust the process and we’ll be moving along soon.

It’s just my backyard heated pool! I keep it pretty warm. There is a private pool bathroom for your use and a nice shaded seating area with ceiling fans. In the winter, I move indoors to my garage studio. It’s small but I can continue to work with most clients throughout the cold months.

For Kids: I recommend starting with at least 2x a week for the first 4-6 weeks if there are no developmental or high fear issues (examples of what I refer to as “blocks.” Blocks require extra concentration).

For High Fear: Fear is addressed by exposure - not length of the lesson. Try to come 4-5x/week during the first 2 weeks. If you can’t, I’ll still do my best - 3 is better than 2. We might have to start out of the water - that’s okay. I’ve started many lessons in the driveway. It will be a time and financial investment that will pay off smarter than spreading it out over time.

For Adults: I strongly recommend 45 minutes to 1 hr sessions and that you have a place to practice outside of your time with me. 30 minutes will feel like 10 minutes. I also recommend you get a paper or digital “Swim notebook” to write down what you learn so you can practice outside of working with me. Adults retain easily so you can come once a week or once a month. If you have a specific event you are training for (like a triathlon or a vacation) then I would base frequency on that event and increase the frequency based on your goals. The more you are in the water, the more you will improve.

For little kids under 5:

Speedo Sunny Gs. (“soft” no hair-pull goggles)

Splash Goggles (splashswimgoggles.com) (“soft” no hair-pull goggles)

Arena Spider Kids Mask

Aquaspere Vista Jr.

Older kids (5 and up - wider nose bridge) and Adults

Speedo Women’s Vanquisher (Kids and Women))

Speedo Vanquisher (Men)

TYR Special Ops 2.0

Aquaspere Kaiman

TYR Black Hawk