About Us
|
United States Swim Academy Staff
We hire our staff based primarily on their love for teaching and children. Next we ensure they all complete both the Red Cross and American Swimming Coaches certifications. They take CPR and First Aid classes and have been personally evaluated by US Swim Academy founder and president, Karen King. We are proud that two members of our staff have been awarded Instructor of the Year by United States Swim Academy. They include school nurses, water polo coach, lifeguards and competitive swimmers, fire fighters and EMT’s.
|
|
|
"Briceida keeps it all organized. She makes it all work and can figure out how to schedule all 4 of my kids."
"Gaby is a gift from God. Roy had been to other swim programs and refused to float. I was amazed to see him float on his back with Gaby in the first lesson."
"She's learned a lot and the teachers are just wonderful. We love Mark." |
||
|
Karen King, Founder and President A swim instructor came to teach all the children of the seaside town where Karen grew up how to swim in the ocean. Coming from a family of fishermen, Karen knew that crabs and seaweed and lobsters lived in the ocean. She had no interest in getting into the water. She suffered through the lessons, and was the least enthusiastic swimmer in her town. At college on a scholarship, Karen was looking for a job that would supplement her income. The YMCA had a position for swim instructor. Karen was torn; she wanted the job but she was not very enthusiastic about the idea of swimming. She began to teach children to swim during the day, and study how to teach swimming at night. This was the beginning. A decade later Karen was married with two sons who enjoyed swimming. Her older son excelled on his swim team, and Karen's life became defined by early morning practices and weekend swim meets. It was inevitable that her not-so-secret past as a swim instructor would come to light. As soon as it did, Karen was working again, teaching children both water safety and proper stroke techniques. In 1992 Karen was hired by as National Director of SwimAmerica by the prestigious American Swimming Coaches Association. Under Karen’s direction, SwimAmerica grew from 27 swim schools to 217 schools in just 12 years. |
 |
|
| Karen has lectured through out the US, South America, Central America, Europe, and Australia on aquatic education for young children. An award winning instructor Karen has received five Who’s Who in the US Aquatics awards and is certified to teach instructors both the Red Cross and SwimAmerica program.
Last year, Karen authored The State of Florida’s certification program for Florida’s Aquatics Teachers of Children with Special Needs. She is a founding board member of the International Swim Instructors Association. Just recently one of her swim schools was recognized by Swim Central for teaching 52,000 children about water safety over the last 10 years. Click here for more information on this recognition. |
||