Sophie Mann & Adam Comfort In conversation

Comfort Academy not only trains swimming teachers, it has also made an extraordinary impact on young carers by removing financial barriers and offering free swimming lessons. For its work, the company won two STA Awards in 2025 – Approved Training Centre of the Year and Not-for-Profit Community Campaign of the year. SwimNation spoke to founders, Sophie Mann and Adam Comfort

What is Comfort Academy and what does it do?

Comfort Academy is an STA Accredited Training Centre (ATC), meaning we deliver courses to train and qualify individuals wishing to enter the world of aquatics. We offer multiple qualifications and will continue to expand this range in the future.

Comfort Academy has multiple partnerships with local leisure centres, schools, colleges, charities, and swim schools across Essex, Surrey, Kent, London, and Dorset. We are also happy to support any aquatic business by delivering qualifications tailored to their needs and are always looking to expand our locations.

What was the motivation behind setting up Comfort Academy?

We started Comfort Academy initially due to a lack of instructors in the industry. Adam owns Comfort Aquatics, with Sophie as the Swim Coordinator, and we were struggling to recruit good-quality instructors into the swim school. Recruitment of experienced, high-quality instructors was extremely challenging; however, we noticed an increasing number of newly qualified instructors applying who needed a little more training and nurturing.

As we are both qualified and experienced tutors, we decided to start our own training centre to bridge this gap. Running our own STA ATC allows us to deliver courses in line with STA standards while also ensuring that instructors are trained to a high standard and are ready to integrate into swim schools.

We are also able to run additional qualifications within our ATC, such as Baby and Preschool, Lifesaving, and Certificate courses. These are valuable upskilling opportunities that can be offered to instructors to ensure they are continuously developing throughout their swimming careers.

Additionally, we are affiliated with NOWCA, through which we offer Open Water Coaching qualifications. This partnership is extremely important to us, as Adam started with NOWCA as Head Coach, then progressed to Head Tutor, and we are now their sole Training Provider.

Comfort Academy was originally established to support recruitment within Comfort Aquatics; however, in less than a year we have delivered over 35 courses and now work with multiple contracts, networks, and locations, not only across the UK but internationally.

So the motivation behind Comfort Academy was initially to support recruitment. However, we have both worked for multiple ATCs where we were unable to deliver courses in the way we wanted. We were working for multiple organisations, following different processes, and began to lose the fun, sparkle, and value of being an STA Aquatic Tutor.

As a result, we decided to establish our own ATC, where we could take a more hands-on, fully engaged, and involved approach. By doing so, we were able to carefully select the very best freelance tutors and elevate Comfort Academy into one of the leading ATCs.

How many people have you trained this year?

We have qualified 180 people across multiple aquatic disciplines during 2025, which is an incredible achievement for our first year. We have also worked with three leisure centres, six swim schools, and three charities.

In 2026, we aim to increase our locations and partnerships, allowing us to qualify and upskill even more people. Our charity work will also continue, and we are committed to providing as many opportunities as possible.

How would you describe the current state of the swimming teaching sector?

We see the sector as building a new and brighter future in aquatics. Since the pandemic, we have seen a significant reduction in swimming instructors, with many experienced professionals leaving the industry permanently, which has been extremely sad to witness. In response, STA launched the STAnd Up for Swimming campaign, which offered free training and qualifications to hundreds of people to introduce a new generation of swimming instructors into the sector. This campaign has had a hugely positive impact, and over the past five years STA has delivered more campaigns, conferences, and Level 2 aquatic qualifications than any other governing body.

The next exciting development is the launch of the new STA Level 2 Swimming Teacher Qualification, which removes the confusion created by multiple courses and levels for becoming a swimming teacher. This new qualification brings together the most important content to ensure instructors are fully prepared to work immediately upon successfully completing their course. It represents a major step forward in standardising the industry and raising professional standards.

People

What do you see as the sector’s biggest threats?

The biggest threat to the industry at present is the closure of many pools and leisure facilities across the UK. With fewer pools available, many people have limited opportunities to learn the basics of swimming, lifesaving, and personal survival— skills we consider extremely vital.

From a training perspective, one of the challenges is the lack of full alignment between different organisations delivering swim teaching qualifications. STA has embedded a prior learning and RPL process into its courses, allowing individuals holding other regulated qualifications to have their prior learning recognised, which supports progression and mobility. However, differences in how qualifications are positioned and applied across the sector can influence recruitment practices, with some employers favouring one over another. While often unintended, this can narrow the available teaching workforce. We hope that the introduction of STA’s new course, alongside equivalent qualifications, will help encourage a more standardised and flexible approach to swim teacher recruitment. Employers should be encouraged to recruit individuals holding any recognised Level 2 qualification, to ensure access to the widest possible talent pool at a time of ongoing staffing shortages.

And what about opportunities?

Comfort Academy is looking forward to supporting the launch of the new STA qualification and integrating it into our course offerings alongside many others. We are continually taking on new contracts, locations, and partnerships across the UK. Alongside this growth, we are welcoming many new tutors to our company and supporting as many probationary tutors as possible.

What does winning the STA Awards mean to you and the Comfort Academy?

Winning not just one but two STAr Awards in 2025 was everything. We went from a single conversation (“shall we just open our own ATC?”) to being awarded ATC of the Year after only ten months of operation. It was a huge achievement, and we are incredibly grateful. Adam mentioned at the previous awards ceremony that “next year, I want to win that one,” and, through hard work and dedication, it became a reality.

We were also fortunate not only to be recognised but to win the Non-for-Profit STAr Award 2025 for our work with local Young Carer charities. We were extremely proud, particularly as we were up against one of the largest charitable leisure companies in the UK.

We are both immensely proud of ourselves and our incredible team of tutors. We are truly humbled to be able to support, engage, and promote STA values within our business, and we will continue to do so throughout 2026 and beyond.

We are both immensely proud of ourselves and our incredible team of tutors

What are your plans for Comfort Academy for the year ahead?

Comfort Academy has ambitious plans for this year. One of our key priorities is to support the launch of some of the initial new Level 2 qualifications, having worked closely with Kayle, Jodie, and Brett, who are all part of the Qualification Development Team at STA.

We aim to continue supporting our tutors, swimmers, and learners through a wide range of qualifications while expanding our course offerings. We strive to thrive within the aquatics industry and to further establish ourselves as a leading ATC.

A core passion of ours is our charity work, through which we offer free swimming lessons, fun swim sessions, and free training and qualifications to young carers across Dorset and Essex. We would love to expand this charitable work as we move into 2026 and beyond.