About ISR
Why ISR
ISR is the global leader in the industry. Founded in 1966, ISR pioneered survival swimming lessons for infants and young children. Our team of highly-trained ISR Instructors provides the safest and most effective survival swimming lessons available. The ISR lessons our students receive today is a product of nearly 60 years of research and experience to achieve unparalleled results each day in pools around the world.
Today, our mission, “Not One More Child Drowns,” is the foundation of everything we do and is the driving force behind ISR’s employees, our independent ISR Instructors, and our major corporate partnerships. We believe the successful prevention of the leading cause of accidental death for children under the age of 4 in the U.S. will require a large group of caring and capable professionals whose sole focus is to save lives.
To date, we have delivered more than 19,000,000 ISR Self-Rescue Lessons. ISR believes in multiple layers of defense against aquatic accidents which include pool fences, alarms, and active adult supervision. However, traditional lines of defense break down, and the over 4,000 drowning deaths per year bear a grim testament to the fact that traditional approaches are missing a key component: the child. ISR’s core conviction is that the child is the most important part of a drowning prevention strategy and our over 450,000 ISR graduates and hundreds of documented survival stories, are proof that children can, and do, save themselves. Children are curious, capable, and have an uncanny ability to overcome obstacles like pool fences; at ISR we take that ability and teach them skills to potentially save themselves if they find themselves in the water alone.
Meet Your Instructor
Hi, I’m Olivia! I’m a homeschool mom to three energetic boys, a NICU nurse, and Certified ISR Instructor serving Santa Fe, League City, Dickinson, and surrounding areas. Before I became an instructor, I was an anxious first-time mom just trying to figure it all out. As a nurse, I knew the statistics and was also very aware that I had a very curious very busy little boy on my hands. I signed him up for ISR lessons but had a boatload of questions and anxieties to go with. Will this traumatize him? Is it safe? Can he actually learn this? I took all these fears to our amazing instructor and she so kindly and gently educated me on the truth and invited me to come for a pool visit before we started lessons. I can honestly look back at that day as one that changed my life forever. I immediately knew there was an answer to fight back these gut-wrenching statistics and I had found it.
My little guy had lots to overcome in lessons and they were not easy. We learned through seasons of separation anxiety, sensory sensitivities & more. Did he cry? Yes, sometimes. Did he also happily ask for a sticker and wave goodbye to his instructor? Also, yes. Did he talk about how proud he was of himself for months and months after? Definitely. And once he was confident & competent in the water he fell in love with swimming. Lessons were a huge commitment of time and resources but in the end they became an invaluable layer of peace I didn’t know I needed.
Fast forward several years & a few unexpected life turns later and I had the opportunity to become an instructor myself. As a family, we took time to pray about the right path forward but our hearts knew quickly this was the path for us.
I am truly honored to be even a small part of each of my amazing student’s lives. I’ve been on the other side and I am so very aware of the trust each family places in me to keep their student safe & to teach them these lifesaving skills. Don’t get me wrong, we have a LOT of fun together! But my heart and the mission runs deep. My why? The answer truly is simple. I’m an instructor because I long to see the day not one more family is devastated by their child drowning and I know that together we can make that dream a reality.
POOL LOCATION
Private residence in Santa Fe near Lobit Elementary. I have a shaded, heated, saltwater pool.