Triton Training - bringing swimming teacher training to diverse communities

People from ethnically diverse and disadvantaged communities can train as swim teachers thanks to a Swim England Qualifications (SEQ) affiliated Approved Training Centre (ATC).

Triton Training explore funding options to enable them to offer free and discounted training courses, whilst also offering payment plans to spread the cost of securing an SEQ Level 1 Swimming Assistant or Level 2 Teaching Swimming qualification, as well as running non-funded courses.

Triton operates out of several pools in and around London and have guided more than 630 people to achieve Swim England qualifications.

They pride themselves on offering opportunities to become fully qualified swim teachers to members of their community who might not have explored such a career option … and their work in that sphere has not gone unnoticed.

Director Krystal Buckley explained: “In 2021 we won Swim England Approved Training Centre Inclusion Champions Award at the Swim England Teaching and Education Awards for our funded work.

“That was in our first year as a SEQ ATC and was a huge honour that really spurred us on to do much more in the funded space.

Emma Tugby, also a director, added: “We won the award because we trained in the region of 50 teachers and lifeguards for free, thanks to funding from Brent Council. We had some really good feedback, and a lot of the learners went into the industry.

“That was all the motivation we needed and now I spend most of my time exploring different funding avenues. It’s something I really enjoy, although it has got harder. There’s a lot more competition out there now for funding.”

Representing their community

Krystal continued: “Brent Council wanted people who really represented their borough to take advantage of the course – people from diverse ethnic backgrounds.

“Some came from swimming clubs but there were people who did the course who had no aquatic background and would not have dreamt of looking to do a swim teacher qualification due to the cost. They have gone on to teach locally, across the country and at university.

“We’ve had people on our courses who have been a little bit nervous because they don’t come from a swimming background, but we encourage them to have belief in their selves and they come out of their shells.

“They then go away and tell their family and friends, and they decide they want to train for a qualification. We’ve had several generations from the same family on our courses, which is fantastic.”

Emma added: “It’s incredibly rewarding when you see people who may not have considered becoming a swim teacher secure their qualifications. There are so many people who stick in my mind – they may have needed a little more support to get over the line, but they really loved it.

“Some people keep in touch and tell us what they have gone on to do with their qualifications which is fantastic for us.”

Emma and Krystal set-up Triton in 2019, just a matter of months before the pandemic, but they even put the hiatus caused by COVID to positive effect.

“At the outset we were really small, operating out of just two pools, and then the pandemic hit, and everything stopped,” Krystal says.

“In a way we used the pandemic to our advantage because we worked hard behind the scenes to put plans in place that helped us grow and develop as a business.

“We were going for ATC approval from Swim England Qualifications at the time, and I can’t say it wasn’t tricky. I devoted all my time to policy writing and putting in place our systems of work.

“As soon as we had approval from Swim England Qualifications (SEQ) we were ready to start delivering online courses straight away – we were one of the first ATCs to do so – and as soon as we got the all-clear to return to the pools we kind of hit the ground running, so to speak.”

Triton also own Fin2Fit, a unique monofin swimming program that blends fitness, skill-building and enhancement of mermaid swimming into a structured and professional swimming framework.

The Swim England affiliated Fin2Fit courses provide instructors with the necessary qualifications to teach monofin swimming safely and effectively.

To find out more about Triton Training please visit Triton Training – Swim Instructor Training

Further details on how to become a swimming teacher – and all of Swim England Qualification’s courses – are available by clicking here.