About

My name is Marion Bryant. I’m a swimming teacher with over ten years of experience, and I hope to inspire you and your children to take your swimming further.

Where it all started

I first started swimming with my family when I was only a few months old. With the help of my dad and a lifeguard, I could swim by the age of three. Well, at least I thought I could! By age six, I was swimming for my first club, Halesworth Dolphins. At the age of 10, I moved to St Felix Swimming Club, where I stayed for nearly seven years. I swam so often that I lost count and competed almost every weekend. It was too much by the time I hit my GCSE year. I moved clubs in 2011 to Leiston and District Swim Club. It was through this club that I completed my teaching qualifications.

How I got into teaching

Within a few months of joining Leiston, I wanted to help on the poolside. My coach called for Senior squad members to help, and I thought, why not? But I didn’t feel I had the confidence to begin with because I wasn’t equipped for it. So, my head coach sent me on my Level 1 Teaching Aquatics course in January 2012. By March 2013, I had completed my Level 2 Teaching Aquatics as well.

Now that I had my qualifications, there was nothing to stop me. I applied to multiple swim schools and took part-time work with every one of them as a way of gaining as much experience as I could. Then, in November 2014, I applied for a full-time swimming teacher role at Town Close School, a leading independent school in Norwich. I was surprised but thrilled when they offered me the job! After all, I was only 19 years old.

I started at Town Close in January 2015 and moved to Norwich in March. My move made it difficult to continue my training at Leiston; it was too far to travel. Therefore, I made the decision to move clubs and joined East Anglian Swallow Tails, a masters (adults) only club in Norwich, where I swam for several years and also coached on several occasions when cover was required.

Starting my own business

Having taught for clubs, leisure companies and schools since June 2013, I decided to branch out and offer my own independent lessons. “Make a Splash with Marion” was established in January 2019, offering one-to-one lessons for private clients based at a small pool in the centre of Norwich. I rebranded to “Splash into Swimming” shortly after but continued to offer the same services until COVID-19 put a rather abrupt hold on my business.

Covid causing chaos

As with many small businesses at the time, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a lot of uncertainty, though it did not dampen my enthusiasm to continue to inspire the next generation of swimmers. As the first lockdown began in March 2020, I also left my post at Town Close School, as my initial plan had been to move to New Zealand for two years to continue my career overseas and gain some valuable life experience. However, all flights were suspended, plans were cancelled, and I was unemployed with no idea as to when, or even if, I could reopen my business. I spent the first couple of months of lockdown applying for any jobs, working briefly in an Amazon warehouse and a curtain factory, before finally landing on my feet again.

Flying away

On the 28th of August 2020, I received a phone call and spoke with the co-director of Speedo Swim Squads, a thriving swim school and club based in the Middle East. They had seen my profile on LinkedIn and reached out to offer me a position within their company. The initial contract was going to be for two years and was going to be in Dubai! September 10th came around fast, and before I knew it, I was on a plane heading for the sunshine.

I taught swimming lessons across numerous venues, including in the private health club of the Burj Khalifa (yes, the tallest building in the world). It was new and exciting for a while, but unfortunately, I found it very difficult to find the time to socialise and make friends, so I made the difficult decision to come home in March 2021. It was an experience I will never forget, and I will always be grateful that I had such an incredible opportunity handed to me.

Moving to The Lake District

In March 2021, I cemented my move to Cumbria and The Lake District, where I’ve wanted to live since I was 15. I was in my Covid isolation hotel at Heathrow airport, Googling jobs and came across a hotel in Workington who were seeking a passionate swim teacher to rebuild their swim school after the pandemic. I quickly searched on a map to see where Workington was and, as soon as I determined it was just 30 minutes from The Lakes, sent in my application! By April 11th, I was driving from Suffolk to Cumbria to embark on the next chapter of my career.

After two-and-a-half years and a lot of hard work, the hotel’s swim school has grown from 62 swimmers to 172. There’s even a sizeable waiting list as demand far exceeds my available teaching time!

With plans to leave Workington in 2024 and move to Penrith, I decided it was time to step back out on my own and pursue the dream of running my swim school.