TGt Meets: Kristin Maguire from Individuality Swimming - IWD

Wednesday 8th March is International Women’s Day, and we here at Total Guide are celebrating the occasion with a range of interviews. We put Kristin Maguire, the Director of Swimming and Aquatic Tutor at Individuality Swimming, under the spotlight...

Tell us a bit about yourself …

I have had a passion for swimming from a young age, I swam for Poole swimming club and competed for Dorset. At age 16 I trained and became a swimming instructor I have taught 1000s of children to swim over the years, cumulating in training a swimming teacher who I taught as a child, that did make me feel a tad old…

Tell us about your business.

We are an award-winning swim school having won the Swimming Teachers association Swim School of the year in Oct 23. Individuality Swimming has been around for over 23 years teaching around 2200 swimmers per week in Shaftesbury and the BCP area. We have around 80 staff members who made up the Individuality Team. We focus of small groups and treating people as individuals both as swimmers and as staff. We teach a wide range of lessons from Parent and Baby classes to Adult lessons.

What do you love most about your job?

Seeing the sense of achievement on swimmers faces when they swim on their own for the first time is one of the great things ever! Also giving people a skill for life that can save there life. I also love training teachers, as I said some of whom we have taught to swim and now we are teaching them to become swimming teachers.

What Is your proudest achievement?

Winning the Swimming Teachers Association National Swim School of the year award last year has to be my proudest achievement, this is our national and international governing body so winning this was an amazing feat and a testament to team hard work.

This year’s IWD theme is ‘Inspire Inclusion’ – what does this mean to you?

Supporting our younger female teachers to develop leadership and decision-making skills by encouraging them to attend training courses and CPD’s. Encouraging our female swimmers seize the opportunities to develop their swimming to club level and beyond.

What are the biggest challenges you have faced in your career?

Covid, was the greatest challenge we faced, we risked losing everything we worked for. Somehow we managed keep all our staff employed and grow our customer base when we reopened!

How do you balance your business and personal life?

I try keep a balance by seeing my boys by supporting them with all their activities, school and sports alike. Although our boys do understand we run a business and at times we need to do “work things” but on the whole we have the flexibility to be able to be there for them when needed.

Which women inspire you the most?

My Mum, she is amazing, she raised my siblings and then went on to foster children for many years.

What advice would you give to a woman starting her own business?

When a “door closes” look for the opportunities, it presents! We have faced various obstacles along our way, when some have presented themselves we have looked at it from another angle and have spotted a completely different opportunity that we would not have seen had we not been knocked back.

https://individualityswimmingandfitness.co.uk/