This picture is 10 min. after a swim lesson. The goggle marks fade, but the joy does not. I believe everyone can experience the inner joy that swimming offers by growing comfort with water. My teaching philosophy centers on building trust—both between students and their teacher and within themselves—so they feel confident in and around any body of water.

I’ve swum for 30+ years, including several years year-round. Since beginning instructing swim lessons and coaching swim teams in 2007, I’ve built teaching relationships with a diverse set of demographics including ages ~30 months to 80+ years old. Those learners brought a range of water experiences, such as no prior swim lessons, near-drowning events, unfortunate past situations with instructors, or struggling to make progress in certain skills — to name a few of many!

One of the experiences that most shaped my teaching approach was guiding an eight-year-old who had a deep fear of water after a prior “sink or swim” experience. What began as hesitation to sit on the pool steps gradually transformed—through patience and trust—into confidently swimming freestyle across the deep end. This experience reinforced my belief that trust is the foundation of every lesson. When swimmers feel safe and supported, confidence follows—and with it, both skill and joy.

Additionally, I effectively developed nearly two dozen swim instructors plus programming and curricula for youth, adult, swim team, and special needs swimmers while operating aquatics at a community pool setting. My approaches include continuously learning and deepening knowledge in all circumstances.

With that, I’m known to be a curious person. See below for Contact & FAQ’s to send me questions with what you’re curious about. Let’s start building trust for learning and joy!