Lisa Cook, founder of KidSwim, is passionate about the water, and a child’s place in it. An avid life-long swimmer, Lisa has spent more than 20 years teaching children about water safety and swimming skills. She has taught children from coast to coast, and internationally while living in Japan.

A competitive swimmer in her youth, Lisa honed her teaching technique as a YMCA instructor and Aquatics Program Director in Los Angeles and added a specialty as the aquatic venue director for the Summer Special Olympics at UCLA. She has been a swim coach for Masters and Youth swim competitions, and has organized and directed community service swim programs for underprivileged youth in cooperation with the YMCA.

Lisa founded KidSwim in 2001 with the vision of offering a developmental, age- and skills-appropriate program. Believing that water is the least discriminating forum for a child’s sports activity, she has seen that any child can swim, no matter their age, size or physical ability. Her experience has shown that a developmental swimming program is successful for every child, including those with special needs. Lisa’s reward is seeing the joy that every child gets from accomplishing a new goal in the water. She knows this is a priceless gift.