Minreet Kaur says being swimming teacher makes her feel ‘on top of the world’

After taking up a new career as a swimming teacher, Minreet Kaur explains how she feels ‘on top of the world’ and encourages others to join the sector.

Minreet has recently completed her Swim England Qualifications Level 2 Teaching Swimming with Triton Training and has described it as a ‘positive, inspirational and motivational career’.

In a previous interview with Swim England, Minreet revealed that the main reason she wanted to take her qualifications was because of the national shortage of swimming teachers.

When asked about how important it is that all children and adults have the opportunity to learn to swim, Minreet said: “It’s really important, swimming is a life skill and you can potentially save your own life as well as someone else’s, because we’re surrounded by water.

“Being able to help somebody learn that skill, it’s just amazing – it’s such a rewarding career.”

“It’s rewarding because you see a number of children and a number of adults that want to learn and you think to yourself that your skill set in becoming a teacher is helping someone else to learn.

“The best way to describe it is, it’s such a positive, inspirational, motivational career and you can really go from strength to strength. You meet different people all the time so that in itself is just brilliant.”

I feel on cloud nine

Minreet is hoping to continue breaking down the taboo around learning to swim as she predominantly teaches Asian men and women.

On seeing the progress of those in her lessons, she says it makes her feel ‘on cloud nine’.

“I feel really, really happy, you just feel on top of the world,” she said.

“You feel so motivated to continue doing what you’re doing because you see how you’ve made a difference in their lives and they have confidence, they don’t have that fear anymore or that anxiety.

“So for me, it’s a part of me, it makes me feel like I’ve done my job and I’m on the right path and that I’m doing something to make a change in these people’s lives. I just feel really happy and just on cloud nine really.

“Now, being in my local leisure centre – it’s so the right thing and I love it and I can see from this what I want to achieve.

“I want to be able to give back and help so many people and turn the whole percentage around of figures of those not swimming, and to actually take the ‘not’ off, and put ‘are swimming now’.”

Open doors to other opportunities

The Institute of Swimming, supported by Swim England, have recently introduced recruitment academies to reduce the financial barrier of training; working with pool owners and operators to provide and access to funding.

The academies now offer the chance to train to become a swimming teacher for just £79, with other funding opportunities also available.

Minreet received a bursary from Swim England Approved Training Centre, Triton Training, to help reduce the costs when completing her Swim England Level 1 Swimming Assistant (Teaching) Qualification as she was not working at the time.

She was able to give an insight into the financial barriers some may face and how opportunities such as the recruitment academies and others will help, adding that they will make a ‘huge impact’ to those considering a career as a swimming teacher.

She said: “I think they’re going to make a huge impact because it’s not a lot of money to be able to get such a brilliant qualification. I think it’s going to help people so much.

“It’s something that they could secure a career out of because we know there’s a shortage of teachers, so I think that they will make it accessible.

“It’s fantastic and it should encourage more people to sign up.”

If you are interested in becoming a swimming teacher, click here to find out more.