A Greater Manchester company, which is backed by double Olympic champion Becky Adlington alongside medallists Steve Parry and Beth Tweddle, is to invest £3m to drive forward the recruitment of children’s swimming and gymnastic teachers.
Bury-based Sporting House was founded by former swimmer Steve Parry and includes swim!, Total Swimming Academies, Beth Tweddle Gymnastics and Becky Adlington’s SwimStars.
The £3m investment is being made by the business to address the shortage of trained teachers, with a view to recruit and train 100 swimming teachers and 40 gymnastics coaches by the end of the year. Longer term, the firm wants to add 4,000 by 2030.
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Sporting House is to pay the £1,000 training costs for each teacher/coach.
Mr Parry said: "We fundamentally believe we should hire people on attitude and then train for skill. It’s all about the relationship between the teacher and the youngster - sports teachers can be highly influential to a kid’s life.
"If you’re passionate about making a difference, and believe kids should have good opportunities and enjoy experiences, this is a role for you.
"We are making huge investments to pay people good salaries and deliver quality lessons.
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"I hope it makes the rest of the industry think about it too."
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Swim England, the national governing body in England, revealed earlier this year that a nationwide shortage of 8,000 swimming teachers could mean as many as 600,000 children missing out on lessons.
Becky Adlington added: "You have to describe the current situation as a crisis. There’s always been a shortage of swimming teachers but the problem has escalated because of Covid.
"Swimming, together with water safety, is such an important life-skill and sadly many, many children still drown each year.
"It genuinely helps save people’s lives, so you have to see it as a life skill rather than just a sport. If children can’t access lessons because there aren’t enough teachers, it’s a huge worry."
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The recruitment campaign is also backed by World Champion gymnast and fellow Olympic medallist Beth Tweddle, with a shortage of coaches also a problem in her sport.
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"There’s always been a huge demand for gymnastics", she said, "but Covid had a huge impact and the absence of courses led to a backlog of people who were ready to take exams but couldn’t.
"Many teachers were forced to find other work because they wanted job security and it was uncertain when sports were going to reopen. Now we’re trying to fix that backlog by bringing in new people and offering them training."