ISR Sebastian Palm Bay
Infant Swimming Resource (ISR) is a leader in survival swimming instruction, teaching children ages 6 months to 6 years life-saving self-rescue skills. With more than 60 years of experience and 19 million lessons delivered, ISR helps children build confidence and essential water safety skills.
With a mission of “Not One More Child Drowns,” ISR complements layers of protection like supervision, pool fences, and alarms by giving children another critical layer of defense: the skills to help save themselves in a water emergency.
Meet Your Instructor
My name is Tommy, and I have spent more than 20 years serving others in emergency medical services. I previously worked as a New York State critical care medical technician and am currently a certified Florida EMT and police officer. I also proudly served eight years in the United States Coast Guard.
My decision to become an ISR instructor is deeply personal. As an EMT, I have unfortunately responded to drowning and water-rescue calls and have witnessed firsthand the devastating impact these tragedies can have on families. Those experiences gave me a strong desire to help prevent childhood drowning and give children the skills they need to be safer and more confident around the water.
I’m also a dad, and my daughter completed the ISR program herself. Seeing the tremendous improvement in her confidence and abilities in the water reinforced my belief in the importance of these skills.
For me, being an ISR instructor is more than a job. It’s an opportunity to use what I’ve learned through years of emergency service to make a difference before an emergency happens. My goal is to help every child I teach develop the skills, confidence, and respect for the water that can help keep them safer.
“Supervision has a problem in that every time their child doesn't drown, parents think their drowning prevention strategy is working.
Luck is not a strategy.”
— Dr. Harvey Barnett, Founder of Infant Swimming Resource