4 Advantages of Running a Swimming School Franchise

Alice Tuffery, writer

Published at 10/11/2017, Updated on 04/05/2022 , Reading time: 5 min

4 Advantages of Running a Swimming School Franchise — Photo © hussain-badshah-Hlc0D_HoEKk-unsplash__1_.jpg

There are plenty of great things about running a swimming school franchise, from job satisfaction to the financial potential. Here are four of the most significant advantages of setting up a swimming school franchise.

Always fancied running your own swimming school? You could make your dream a reality by joining one of the UK’s successful swimming school franchises. Whether you’re an experienced swimming teacher or a swimming fanatic with a professional background, there are lots of reasons to consider setting up a franchise in your local area.

From teaching children a vital life skill to entering a sector that has grown consistently over the last decade, running a swimming school is an excellent idea for any ambitious entrepreneur. Here are just four of the advantages of going down the swimming school franchise route.

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Advantages of running a swimming school franchise

1. Your business isn’t at the mercy of trends

Swimming is one of the most important sports for any adult or child to take up. Not only is it fantastic exercise, as it torches calories while taking the strain off your joints, but it also could save your life. As a result, swimming has been incorporated into the National Curriculum and is a popular hobby for many people. Swim England.&text=7.5m%20people%20swim%20in%20open%20water%20and%20in%20outdoor%20pools.) found that around a third of the population have been swimming in the last 12 months, with 10% visiting the pool at least twice per month.

It’s clear that swimming is something us Brits love to do, making it the perfect area to explore for your business. Of course, nobody could have predicted the strange circumstances of 2020 that have affected many swimming schools. But once restrictions ease and life gets back to normal, it’s likely swimming schools across the country will be busier than ever with children and adults looking to make up for lost time!

2. There’s a huge potential market

Current guidance suggests that it’s safe to enrol children in swimming lessons from the age of one. Considering there are currently just under 12 million children in the UK [Statista], there’s a pretty big market just waiting for you to take advantage of. And if you’re looking to offer infant-safe services, you could even open a swimming school like Puddle Ducks, which offers fun sessions for children and babies.

In addition to children, you could also tap into the adult swimming lessons market, which has the potential to be pretty lucrative. Swim England estimates that around 14.2 million adults in the UK cannot swim one length of a pool - almost a third of the adult population. Suppose you’re looking to diversify your income streams. In that case, you could take advantage of this vast demographic and offer a mixture of children’s and adult’s classes on your weekly swim school timetable.

You could even expand further to offer specialist classes for people with disabilities, older adults or elite swimmers looking to take their technique to the next level.

3. You can help keep children safe in the water

Most children love splashing around in the pool or the ocean during a holiday, but it can be a dangerous past-time if the child doesn’t know how to stay safe in the water. Sadly, the CDC (Centre for Disease Control) found that one in 5 fatal drowning victims are under the age of 14.

If you start a swimming school franchise in your local area, you could offer a service that helps improve children’s confidence and allows them to enjoy the water safely. One study found that swimming lessons can reduce a child’s risk of drowning by up to 88% when combined with proper adult supervision. So not only will you make a healthy income, but you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing you’re providing a genuinely useful service.

4. You don’t need to have qualifications

If you choose to join a swimming school franchise, you won’t need to worry about having the right qualifications to actually run the lessons. That’s because many favour the management franchise concept, where you use your passion for swimming and tangible management, organisation and other professional skills to oversee a team.

While you can run sessions yourself if you are qualified, it’s also possible to recruit a skilled, experienced teacher (or even a team of them) to help your swimmers instead. That way, you’ll have plenty of time to concentrate on growing and developing your business without having to worry about the day-to-day running. You can choose to run your franchise in a way that suits you, enjoying the financial rewards and career satisfaction of finally being your own boss.

The current state of the swimming school industry

According to the 2019 State of the UK Swimming Industry Report, there are around 4,559 swimming pools in the UK. 84% of the country’s population live within two miles of a swimming pool, making it easy for them to enjoy swimming on a regular basis. And with so many established swimming schools around, potential franchisees might worry that the marketplace is becoming overcrowded. However, statistics from STA’s report seems to suggest otherwise, as almost 86 percent of respondents believed that the “baby swim market had not yet reached its peak”.

What’s more, after a long period where children have had no access to many sporting facilities, it’s likely that many are now dying to get back into the pool and improve their confidence, driving a predicted boom in demand. If you put in the hard work to get your franchise set up now, you’ll be ready to accept a wave of new students once life begins to get back to normal.

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Start a swimming school franchise

As you can see, there are plenty of great reasons why starting a swimming school franchise should be your next career step. You could generate a healthy income and help keep the nation fit, active and safe in the water at the same time. Want to find out more about starting a swimming school franchise? Here are our three top swimming school franchises that are currently looking for new franchisees.