Tiffany combined a psychology and social behavior degree from the University of California, Irvine with experience as a California-credentialed school teacher, coach, and business owner to develop and grow My Swim Buddy. More than 20 years of business and sales experience honed her business sense and leadership skills, but her childhood athletics provided the foundation and passion for teaching swimming.

At age 12, she competed in the Junior Olympics for swimming. Tiffany still holds the 800-meter record in track and field at Laguna Hills High School, which earned her a college scholarship. She developed a passion for teaching swimming when she was 16 and her swim coach offered her a summer job.

Tiffany was inspired to start My Swim Buddy by a single question, “What would you do for free?” She knew the answer instantly, “teach swimming.”

“I have nothing but continued growth and satisfaction since I decided to follow my heart,” Tiffany Hoggard.

Today, she leads a team of My Swim Buddy teachers, relentlessly finding, training, and supporting the most qualified and passionate swim teachers who also strive to make a positive impact on our youth. She hopes that she and the My Swim Buddy team can help support you and your family not just to learn to swim but to also gain confidence, drive, and passion for life. The My Swim Buddy teaching methodologies are sprinkled with the influences of her favorite coach, John Wooden, and driven by his principle of success: “Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming.”

When she is not in the water or helping her My Swim Buddy families and team, you can find Tiffany playing sand volleyball.

Julie discovered her passion for swimming and teaching when she moved to Texas from Chicago as a teenager. The first place she found “home” in Texas was when she joined the local YMCA swim team. This led to a summer job teaching swim lessons and coaching the swim team. Julie eventually managed the local YMCA swim program in her summers when she was home from college and early on in her teaching career. She took some time off from teaching swim lessons in order to raise her three fabulous children, one of which is on the Autism Spectrum.

Julie brings her experience and passion to teaching swim lessons as a former swimmer, swim instructor, lifeguard trainer, swim coach, and general special education teacher. As a diagnostician working with 2–5-year-old students, Julie has demonstrated her knowledge of young children’s overall development as well. She has extensive experience working with children of all ages in and out of the swimming pool.

Julie holds a bachelor’s degree in elementary education with a special education certification, as well as a Masters degree in Special Education. During her career as an educator, Julie has worked in both general education and special education, including working as a Behavior Specialist for several campuses. After receiving an educational diagnostician’s certificate, Julie served as an Autism evaluation team member for multiple area school districts.

Growing up around water – Dora’s mother and grandmother were both swim teachers – it is a natural extension of Dora’s talents to be a swim instructor as well. Prior to joining My Swim Buddy Dora gained experience as a camp counselor where she first realized she thoroughly enjoyed working with children. Dora is passionate about the next generation so she is pursuing a major in education at the University of North Dallas. Her passion lies in helping kids develop confidence and improve their swimming abilities.

I grew up in Fort Worth and moved to McKinney a few years ago. It was here that I fell in love with teaching kids how to swim.

My love for teaching comes from my love for swimming. Seeing kids push themselves and watching them grow while also forging a bond with them is an irreplaceable feeling and experience.

I hope to instill in kids the same passion and love for swimming that I have!

Lauren, who grew up in Prosper, is a recent graduate from Baylor University with a degree in Health Science Studies. She is studying to become a physical therapist, with an interest in pediatric care. Lauren has grown up in the water, surfing, swim conditioning, and any other water sport you can think of. She has aspirations to work with pediatric oncology and neurodivergent patients in the future, which, a lot of the time, use water based therapy approaches. After learning about this in school and shadowing in institutions that utilize these methods, she was eager to become a swim instructor to help kids and their families now, while preparing for the future as well.

Lauren has 5+ years of experience coaching youth soccer and tutoring children, allowing her to gain considerable experience in creating a joyous learning environment for her students. She understands how important is it to cater to each child’s individual needs, be patient, and make learning fun! Lauren’s passion for helping children grow and learn is what drives her to be a swim instructor and she is so excited for the fun memories to be made with all of her students. She is looking forward to teaching children how to safely enjoy swimming, and give them the skills they need to be confident in themselves both around and in the water.

Kathy brings a unique blend of educational expertise, compassion, and a love for teaching to every swim lesson. With over 25 years of experience in public education, she has worked with children of all ages and developmental levels—from preschoolers to early elementary students. Her background includes teaching early childhood education, kindergarten, and first grade, as well as serving as a diagnostician for children as young as two.

In her role as a diagnostician, Kathy specializes in evaluating and supporting children with a range of developmental needs, including Autism, attention and focus challenges, and other learning and behavioral differences. Her work helps shape individualized learning plans and foster greater understanding of each child’s unique strengths and needs.

Kathy holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and teaching certifications in both early childhood and special education, as well as a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership. Her background in both general and special education settings gives her a deep understanding of child development and learning differences.

As a mother of two college-aged children—one of whom briefly swam competitively—Kathy understands the importance of fostering confidence, resilience, and joy in young learners. Her warm, encouraging teaching style creates a supportive and inclusive environment where every swimmer can feel safe and empowered.

Kathy is excited to bring her deep understanding of child development, patience, and personalized approach to the pool. She is passionate about helping each child build foundational swim skills, develop confidence in the water, and discover a lifelong love for swimming.

Caroline’s has almost a decade of swimming experience, including 3 years in water polo. Her love of the water has inspired her to teach water safety to children as they develop a desire and passion for swimming. She wants to use her passion to inspire and reach as many people as she can. Using her position with My Swim Buddy she plans to teach each child she works with the important skills for them to be safe in the water. Many have already fallen in love with her fun and engaging approach at connecting with her swimmers.

My Swim Buddy is proud to provide 1-1 private instruction. Unlike a thirty-minute group class where the instructor must divide their attention between multiple swimmers, private instruction allows our teachers to spend the entire lesson helping your student learn and retain new skills in an individualized format. We also set our lesson times to support the age-appropriate typical attention span for effective learning. Generally, a young child’s attention span and task focus is about 15 minutes.

(Sources: The development of sustained attention in children: The effect of age and task load. Child Neuropsychology, – PubMed)

See more about the My Swim Buddy Methodology, Levels of Achievement (8 Cap Levels), and Charter Building Bracelet (John Wooden’s Pyramid of Success) here.

Your lesson fee will vary depending on the swim package and program you select. A swimmer’s age, ability, comfort level in the water, and goals can all play a part in which program and packages you choose. You can see the different programs, scheduling options, and pricing on our customer portal here.

That will vary based on your child’s swim level and comfort level, but here are some guidelines to help you:

Doesn’t Know How to Swim:
Our Intensives are the most popular and are highly recommended for families who want to get significant results in the most efficient amount of time. My Swim Buddy highly recommends every beginner or swimmer 5 & under start with at least one intensive, if possible. The intensive package has a 2-week minimum commitment. The average early learner takes about 6 – 8 weeks of practicing four or more times per week to become a Safer Swimmer. See our scheduling options and availability here.

Knows how to swim and wants to become a stronger swimmer:
After becoming a Safer Swimmer many of our students chose to continue building on their skills with weekly lessons (1x, 2x, 3x per week).For those that are looking to add to their swim skills and who want weekly lessons (1x, 2x, 3x per week). Signing up for our sessions (10 – 12 weeks) is ideal. See more about out scheduling options and availability here.

Please take notice of parking signs and instructions on site. Parking is limited and at a private home. If we work together to follow a few simple steps everyone will be able to come and go easily.

• For cars with one swimmer, please use the circle drive to park in front of the house.
• If you arrive early to your lesson and are one of the last cars in the circle drive, please park and bring your swimmer to their lesson. When the swimmers that are attending lessons before you have left (and your swimmer is with their teacher), we ask that you please move your car to the top of the circle drive so those that arrive after you have a place to park.
• The two parking spots directly in front of the pool gate are reserved for cars with two or more swimmers and adult swimmers. Please do not park in these spots unless you have two or more swimmers or have adult lessons.

We also ask that you not park in front of the workshop to the far right, as that is the staff/resident parking.
Thank you for helping us make it possible for everyone to arrive and leave their lessons on time!

Cancellation/Withdrawal Policy
Please see our Terms and Policy section here.

Inclement Weather Policy
Rain and cold weather do not cancel a lesson! My Swim Buddy has a dome enclosure around the pool in the cooler months. The dome combined with the heated (90 – 92) degree pool allow us to conduct lessons in the rain and in cold weather, so please plan to swim in the rain and cold weather. If this is a concern, please avoid booking in the colder season because for us to reserve our teachers for your lessons, we can not stray from this policy and must commit to the schedule you sign up for, rain or shine.

Lighting and/or thunder may cancel a lesson — but we will notify you if that is the case! If you do not hear from us, the lesson is still taking place!

If there is availability you will have the option to reschedule your lesson for a later date. My Swim Buddy must initiate the cancellation for you to be allowed to reschedule/receive credit for the weather cancelation. Do not assume a lesson is canceled due to the elements. My Swim Buddy will contact you and confirm the cancellation as soon as possible.

Late Policy
Your reserved time slot(s) will be the time period you have booked online. For example, if you reserve 4:00 pm to 4:15 pm and you arrive at 4:05 pm, your lesson will still end promptly at 4:15 pm. The time period before and after your lesson is allotted for other swimmers.

We do not offer a trial class as one lesson is not a great indicator of the effectiveness of the program, but we DO offer the opportunity for prospective swimmers/families to visit us and observe! We also offer a (free) water safety assessment which allows you to visit our location and talk poolside about what we do, answer any questions you have and help you determine if it’s a good fit for your family. Tiffany Hoggard, the owner and creator of the My Swim Buddy methodology has close to 30 years of teaching experience and is always happy to speak with families about the My Swim Buddy program and methods when they visit!