Welcome! I’m Ginger Blackman and I’ve been a Brevard County resident all my life. I live in Merritt Island with my husband and two young children. I love living in Florida where we enjoy a wide variety of water activities. I also understand the hazards the ever-present bodies of water present to families of young children.

Drowning is the #1 cause of accidental death in FL for infants and young children. These statistics are alarming, but fortunately, drowning is a preventable tragedy. I cannot stress enough the importance of ISR Self-Rescue (TM) Swimming Lessons as early as possible as part of your overall water safety plan including effective supervision, pool fencing and CPR.

I discovered ISR when researching swimming programs for my then 2 year old daughter after becoming very dissatisfied with the progress we had made with other “Mommy & Me and learn-to-swim” programs that she had been enrolled in since she was 6 months old. She had lost all fear of the water and would happily jump in, blow bubbles….and sink to the bottom! Having a backyard pool and constantly being surrounded by water, I knew that it was imperative she learn the skills to survive should she ever need them and to be able to SAFELY enjoy the water.

After doing my research I located ISR Master Instructor, Lisa Persse in Rockledge.
I was initially skeptical when Lisa told me my 2-yr-old would learn in WEEKS instead of YEARS as the other programs had advised, but decided it was worth a try and quickly enrolled my daughter. I was amazed to see her happily swim-float-swimming across the pool in just a few short weeks!

I was so impressed with the caring, individualized approach and the amazing results that I wanted to become an ISR Instructor myself. I completed the ISR Instructor Training Program and founded Merritt Island Swim School in 2007. It has been and continues to be an honor to join ISR’s mission to see the day when “Not One More Child Drowns”.

Since then, I have enjoyed teaching hundreds of infants and young children the ISR Self-RescueTM technique. I am constantly amazed at what these little ones are capable of learning, starting at just 6 months old.

I have a degree in Computer Science and have a background in Marketing and Website Design. I enjoy using these skills to promote my passion – Merritt Island Swim School!

Through the ISR Instructor Certification process I have studied Behavioral Science, Psychology, & Anatomy and Physiology in addition to learning how to teach the ISR Self-Rescue technique to infants and young children. I am also American Heart Certified in CPR and First Aid.

I am honored to have been selected as a Master Instructor Candidate, which means I have the opportunity to share this amazing program by training and mentoring other Instructors.

I love working with children and consider it a great privilege to be able to dedicate myself to such a worthy cause and to be part of such an amazing organization. I believe in teaching using positive reinforcement and making lessons as fun as possible with safety being the #1 priority.

I teach from my screened, heated pool in Newfound Harbor in Merritt Island, across from Super Wal-Mart on 520. It is maintained year-round at the perfect temperature of 86-88 degrees and kept CLEAN and chemically balanced.

My schedule fills quickly, so please register early for the best selection of start dates and timeslots.

I look forward to working with you and your family and teaching your children to become COMPETENT and CONFIDENT in and around the water.

Please complete the CONTACT FORM for more information and a registration packet. You will receive a response within 24-48 hours. Feel free to contact me on my cell: (321) 698-5840 for more information.