Swim to Live owner Kassy Clifford’s swimming classes aren’t about playing in the water. They’re about survival.
Drowning is the leading cause of unintentional death for children ages 1-4, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, and that statistic became all too real for Clifford when one of her 2-year-old daughter’s playmates drowned in his backyard pool.
The tragedy led Clifford to start teaching swimming to family and friends’ children 25 years ago, and her business grew from there.
“There weren’t many programs out there for kids that were intensive, that were going to teach the kids how to survive,” Clifford said.
She recently moved from California to Rossville, where she teaches mostly young children at her backyard pool. She specializes in teaching special needs children, and has extensive experience doing so in her business and with her oldest daughter, who is on the autism spectrum.