About our Staff

About Rob and Kathy McKay and Their Staff

Rob and Kathy McKay and their teaching staff. Their hallmarks are excellence, experience, caring and quality.

Rob and Kathy McKay have devoted their adult careers to developing the most stimulating, child friendly, educationally sound and developmentally appropriate swim school possible. The very tangible result of their mission is the nationally acclaimed Lifestyle Swim School in Boca Raton, the couple’s award-winning video series, Diaper Dolphins, their book Learn to Swim (DK Publishing), their website www.babyswimming.com and their contribution to The Experts Guide to the Baby Years (Clarkson Potter). The McKay’s highly qualified team of head instructors are professionals who act not only as positive and enthusiastic role models for each student, but are trained to teach in a methodology that emphasizes patient encouragement as well as the latest techniques in aquatics.

All staff train extensively with Rob and Kathy. For teaching infants and toddlers, special study with the national pioneers and authors of the gentle, child centered (non-traumatic) method of instruction plus years of personal research, experience and active involvement in parenthood have been combined in Rob and Kathy’s methodology. Rob has himself become one of the leading authorities on swim instruction for young students and the McKay’s school recognized as one of the most successful in the country.

His national credentials include:

	Charter member, United States Swim School Association (USSSA)
	Frequent National Conference Speaker (USSSA)
	3 time Delegate, National Aquatic Summit (Washington, D.C.)
	Named to "Top 100 Leaders in Aquatics", "Who's Who in Aquatics"
	Paragon Award Honoree, "Outstanding Contribution to Aquatic Safety", International Swimming Hall of Fame (ISHOF)
	Inaugural Recipient, "Virginia Hunt Newman Award", ISHOF
	Founding Member of the original Palm Beach County Drowning Prevention Coalition

Internationally, Rob served on the Board of Directors of the World Aquatic Baby Congress(WABC) founded by baby swimming pioneer, Virginia Hunt Newman. The WABC’s guidelines for teaching infants represent the highest standards of safe teaching practices for the psychological and physical well-being of tiny swimmers. He also served in the "Congress" of the International Swimming Hall of Fame which advised the Board of Directors, He is a sought after speaker throughout the world and has been a featured speaker on the couple's gentle, holistic baby swimming method in the following venues:

	WABC International Conferences Los Angeles (CA), Melbourne (Australia), St. Petersburg (FL)
	Aquatic Symposium (AQUATICA), International Swimming Hall of Fame
	New Zealand Swim Coaches and Swim Teachers Association, Rotorua (1996) and Wellington (2007)
	International Aquatic Conference, Acapulco, Mexico (2002)
	"Nordic Conference Babyswim", Oslo, Norway (2004)
	Teacher Workshop, Uppsala, Sweden (2003)

He and Kathy have trained teachers at their Boca Raton swim school from across the US including:

	California
	Florida
	Hawaii
	Connecticut
	Pennsylvania
	New York
	Wisconsin
	South Dakota

Teacher trainees from around the globe have traveled to Rob and Kathy McKay's home base at Florida Atlantic University. Participants represent the following countries:

	England
	Denmark
	Norway
	Hungary
	Australia
	New Zealand
	Japan
	The Philippines
	Singapore
	Malaysia
	India
	Argentina
	Venezuela

The McKay’s and their gentle, happy, learn-through-play methods have been featured in magazines and on radio and TV across the country including:

	Redbook
	Working Mother
	Quick and Simple
	Woman's World
	Fitness
	Nick, Jr.
	Toddler
	Family Life
	Aquatics
	Fitness Swimmer
	The New York Post
	The Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel
	Japan's Frau magazine
	CBS "This Morning"
	PBS
	Discovery Channel's "World of Wonder" (aired in 50 countries worldwide)
	Japan's Nippon TV's "Charismatic Teachers"

Rob has spent his life in and around water. He learned to swim at age 3; swam competitively as a youngster; throughout high school as an All-American Swimmer in Cedar Rapids, Iowa; throughout college as a varsity scholar athlete at Florida State University; and as an adult, as a Florida Gold Coast Masters record holder. He was former Assistant Men’s Swim Coach at FSU and coached national YMCA record holding relays. He pursued graduate studies in Elementary Education at FSU. Rob continues to swim for fitness. He has been an aquatic professional for over 37 years and owned Lifestyle Swim School for 27years. He holds the following certifications:

	WSI (Water Safety Instructor, American Red Cross)
	Certified Lifeguard (American Red Cross)
	Level 4 Swim Coach (top 5% nationally) (American Swim Coaches Association)

Kathy McKay is the swim school’s co-director and serves officially as Director of Program Development and Marketing. She has actively taught alongside Rob for

27 years and has also had the fun of being “the parent in the water” for the couple’s two children, Heather and Brianne. Kathy is a graduate of Mount Holyoke College with a degree in English and a strong emphasis in education and educational philosophy and methods. Her thematic approach to lesson planning is always apparent in games, songs, creative play, toys and theme days at the swim school. She is a former Girl Scout leader and had the distinction of being named the “Outstanding Leader” for her city. She received the “Outstanding Teacher Award” from the National Swim School Association. As well as being the co-author of the couple's book, Kathy has also provided script and marketing support for Lifestyle’s Telly award-winning video series Diaper Dolphins and is the narrator for Volume II. Her writing, P.R. and marketing skills honed for such major South Florida developers as Arvida Corporation and Lennar as well as for Hilton Hotel Corporation have been put to use in Lifestyle’s books, speeches, newsletters, parent guides, and press releases when she’s not in the pool with her students. She recently was a featured speaker at the WABC conference in St. Petersburg.

Jodi Davis, Head Teacher, has been associated with Lifestyle for 10 years.

Her strong background in educational theory and practice from University of South Florida, her experience in local classrooms and her passionate dedication to tear-free baby swimming make Jodi an asset to our staff and an integral part of the swim school. Jodi's patience and her keen assessment of each child's daily readiness levels help her develop calm, relaxed, happy and confident swimmers. When not in the pool, Jodi enjoys nature, travel, and jewelry making.

Coach Scott McKay, Assistant Teacher, is Rob's older brother and the swim school's resident "gentle giant". Scott helps make the magic happen for our head teachers by readying apparatus, toys and games for each segment of class. Don't let Scott's size fool you...he has the sensitivity to appreciate just what a child needs during class. Like Rob, Scott grew up spending summers on Lake Leelanau and Lake Michigan sailing, swimming and snorkeling. He graduated from Minnesota State University at Mankato is a certified Lifeguard, certified in CPR and First Aid. Scott is a kayak enthusiast, experienced genealogist and weight lifter in his time out of the pool.

Heather and Brianne, Rob and Kathy's daughters, have taught in the swim school in various capacities over the last 10 years. Currently, while they pursue their undergraduate education, you may see them on peak registration days, occasionally as substitute teachers and as their parents' assistants for international workshops.

Yoko Yagishita is our colleague of 10 years from Tokyo, Japan and frequently our Guest Instructor. Yoko originally met Rob in Melbourne, Australia and came to the US to learn our tear-free, child-centered, happy method of instruction. Over the years, this little dynamo has taken Rob and Kathy's gentle method of baby swim instruction back to her homeland and trained over 500 teachers. She has opened baby swim programs for the Tipness Group of Sports Clubs in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Yokohama and Kanto. She has also opened the baby program in the prestigious Tokyo National Gymnasium. Babies gravitate to Yoko's enthusiastic smile and her happy personality. Yoko is the 2007 recipient of the "Virginia Hunt Newman Award" at the International Swimming Hall of Fame. In her spare time, Yoko is an accomplished porcelain doll maker.