Meet Our
Team
Our team of certified swim instructors is here to help your children learn the survival swim skills they need to survive a water emergency!
Your children will grow in confidence, skills, and learn to love the water!
All of our instructors have gone through intensive 100+ hours hands-on training. Our leadership team is certified through the Survival Swim Development Network and all of our instructors are trained by us
to follow this certification.
All of our lessons are one-on-one. We believe in keeping eyes in the water at all times. Our goal is to keep your child in a horizontal position, which makes it easy to roll to their float, relax, rest, and breathe, keeping them out of the vertical, or drowning, position.
Our calm and gentle approach to lessons feels more like play than practice to your child! Each lesson is custom-tailored to the child and their individual needs.
Meet your swim team
Hayden & BEN Wooten
Owners | Instructors
Hayden grew up around the ocean in Florida but was still shocked to learn what she didn’t know about water safety. When a friend approached Hayden about survival swim lessons in the 417 area, she felt called to bring it to Springfield.
Ben and Hayden have both been trained by the Survival Swim Network, and both spend their days in the pool helping kids learn to survive in the water. They love training new team members and seeing kids progress!
Hayden opened Tiny Fins Survival Swim in 2019 and has worked with hundreds of kids! Hayden says her favorite thing about teaching it is so rewarding to see kids master their swimming skills!
Jessica edwards
Lead Instructor
Jessica has always loved being a swim coach. After learning about survival swim, she became passionate about teaching it to kids and families.
Jessica says her favorite thing about working at Tiny Fins is seeing how each child blossoms during individualized lessons. She says she’s not sure who gets more excited when her kiddos reach a new milestone– her or the kids!
Rachel Sutter
Client Scheduling | Survival Swim Instructor
Rachel heard of Tiny Fins in late 2021 after she was looking for an alternative option to traditional swim lessons for her daughters.
After seeing the difference survival swim made in their swim skills, Rachel become passionate about helping other children achieve the same! She started working with us in August of 2022 as a swim instructor and is now both a morning instructor and evening scheduler.
Rachel says her favorite thing about working at Tiny Fins is seeing her kiddos swim-float-swim all the way down the pool!
Ashely Kellinson
Client Scheduling | Support
Ashley came to us after she learned of us from her sister. Ashley is passionate about serving families with kindness and compassion.
Ashley says her favorite thing about working in client scheduling and support and Tiny Fins is seeing kids go from being terrified to loving the water and swimming up and down the pool!
Courtney Mantle
Lead Instructor | Jefferson City Location
Courtney is passionate about Survival Swim after seeing how it has helped so many children learn to survive in a water emergency.
She loves watching kids gain confidence in themselves and being a part of their development in an important life skill!
