What started with swimming lessons as a young girl has become a lifelong passion for Katie Wilson, who has now completed STA’s Level 2 Swimming Teaching Qualification (STQ) and taken the next step in her aquatic journey as a qualified swimming teacher.

Katie’s love of swimming began more than a decade ago when she learned to swim at her local leisure centre in Doncaster. From those first lessons, she progressed through the learn-to-swim pathway before developing as a competitive swimmer and competing at local, regional and national level.

But Katie’s swimming journey didn’t stop at competing.

Swimming quickly became a family affair, with Katie’s dad becoming a qualified coach and both Katie and her sister Jess continuing to compete in the sport.

More recently, Katie began working with Swimstars & Dolphins as a Swim Buddy, supporting younger swimmers as they developed their own confidence and skills in the water.

Inspired to take the next step, Katie recently completed the STQ and is now working as a fully qualified swimming teacher with Swimstars & Dolphins, taking her from being the young swimmer in the lesson to the person helping to inspire the next generation.

Launched by STA in 2025, the STQ provides one clear qualification route into swimming teaching, qualifying successful learners to teach across the full learn-to-swim pathway. With flexible learning options, including blended learning, it has been designed to provide an accessible route into teaching for people at different stages of their aquatic journey.

Katie’s story is a great example of what that pathway can look like.

For Katie and her family, swimming has provided far more than the ability to swim. Over the years it has brought friendships, confidence, competition, volunteering, coaching and now employment.
Adding an extra layer to the story, one of Katie’s original swimming teachers was Alex Barrett. Having taught Katie during her early lessons in Doncaster, Alex now serves as STA’s Head of Aquatics and was delighted to see her gain the STA qualification all these years later.

Alex said: “It really is one of those lovely full-circle moments. I remember Katie learning to swim all those years ago, and to now hear that she has gained her STA STQ and is teaching children herself is fantastic.

What I particularly love about Katie’s story is that it shows where learning to swim can lead. Those first lessons are about giving a child an essential life skill, but they can also be the beginning of a lifelong connection with aquatics.

For Katie, that journey has taken her from learning to swim and competing, through to supporting lessons as a Swim Buddy and now becoming a qualified swimming teacher. She is now in a position to give the next generation of swimmers the same encouragement and opportunities she had when she was younger, the very place we first met, and exactly how I started!.”

Like Katie, for those already involved in swimming, whether as swimmers, volunteers, lesson helpers or through their local clubs, the STQ can provide a clear next step, turning their experience and passion for aquatics into a recognised qualification and employment.

And while Katie may now be on the other side of the lesson as a qualified teacher, she hasn’t hung up her goggles just yet, as she continues to swim competitively.

For the Wilson family, swimming remains very much a family affair. What began as a young girl’s first swimming lessons has grown into a lifelong passion that continues to create opportunities, friendships and memories, with Katie now helping the next generation start their own journey in the water.