Hello, my name is Joanna and I am part of the Glasgow team of teachers. I have always loved swimming from a young age, competing for my school, snorkelling on holidays or just having a paddle in the Loch on a summers day.
I moved to Central America for 7 years after university where I started open water swimming and Scuba diving. I attempted a 19 mile swim from the island of Roatán to the island of Utila but after 2 attempts I was unable to get further than 16 miles. After my long swim attempts I decided to start a swim club for anyone who wanted to join and swim open water with the safety of a group, it became very popular and still continues today.
I left Honduras to take a career as a chef in the Superyacht industry, working of private sailing yachts in the Mediterranean and the Caribbean and during this time I met my husband and after 3 years working we moved back to Greenock in the west of Scotland.
I became a swimming teacher and lifeguard in 2013. I taught the Scottish Learn to Swim Program to Schools, council lessons, private lessons and the occasional swim intensive program during holidays. After 3 years teaching in Greenock I moved to Aberfoyle and taught private lessons in Stirling, Dunblane and Milngavie.
In 2018 I took on a project refitting a sailing boat and fulfilling a life long dream of setting sail west towards the sunset. My husband and I lived off grid on our 40ft sail boat for 5 years cruising the Caribbean, South America, Central America and the Eastern coast of the USA.
But now I’m back, refreshed, living in Glasgow and ready to teach! With buckets of life experience under my belt there are few situations to give me a fright any more. I look forward to helping you learn to swim or tweaking your stroke to be a bit more efficient or helping you build stamina so you too can enjoy the underwater world that awaits you
Joanna is an absolutely brilliant swim coach and an all round lovely person, can’t recommend her enough for anything thinking about getting swimming lessons.
She helped make the difficult things much more simple and progress was very tangible lesson to lesson. The lessons have given me so much more confidence in the pool and I can’t recommend enough!
I had a lot of fun learning of Joanna, she made it honestly, that my breathing and kicking need to improve. Would Recommebd Joanna to anyone considering lessons
I really enjoyed learning swimming with Joanna. She is very fun teacher and I’m feel relaxing to be with her.
I’d rate here a 10/10, she’s patient and she painstakingly takes her time to teach, she encourages and motives. Qualities like these are rare in this time and age.She’s a great teacher
Joanna is a fantastic swimming instructor. My son, at 15 years old had a fear of the water and while he could swim a couple of strokes of breast stroke, he was not a competent swimmer and feared the deep water. He’d never even jumped into a swimming pool. He currently has had 15 30 min lessons from Joanna and last week completed 20 lengths of the St Rochs pool in front crawl. If you are thinking of booking lessons with Joanna, do it. She’s awesome, and she loves to have a laugh too!!
Joanna is a very experienced teacher and always very patient and methodological. She makes sure you enjoy your lessons whilst ensuring your continued development
Thank you so much and we appreciate you is all I can say to our swimming coach Joanne. I remember the first lesson my 4 year old daughter and 11 year boy who has autism. I was so scared for them that I almost jumped in knowing I can’t swim myself. But today, seeing her become confident and improve each lesson and him learning new skills and enjoying every moment of his lesson attest to the incredible swimming coach you are. It’s a pleasure having you as a coach and money worth spent.!!. Can’t recommend you enough her enough.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for supporting and teaching Joseph on his swimming journey. He has attended lessons with you for 3 months and it is his favourite 30 mins of his week! Hes gone from having little to no confidence in the water, to becoming such a water boy! His self esteem and confidence has grown so much in general and his emotional, mental and physical wellbeing has developed to new levels that I couldnt have imagined! From the first session when you showed him how to dip his face into the water to now confidently treading, swimming and jumping into the deep end of the pool with excitement and delight. It has been the best experience for myself as a parent to watch from the sidelines but most of all for Joseoh and I have you Joanna to thank. Hes grown extremely fond of you and your friendly and super supportive approach to teaching and encouragement Thank you so much. Cant thank you enough We will be back and will be highly reccommending you to others. What an asset to the team you are.
I absolutely love swimming now I’m not as terrified as I use to im more confident now you are a amazing instructor you make me feel safe in the water.
My daughter Isabella loves her weekly swimming lesson with Joanna. Her confidence has grown week on week and I can really start to see it all coming together. Isabella comes away from her lesson with Joanna happy and excited for the next big thing she’s going to learn. I would highly recommend Joanna as a Swimming instructor.
Joanna is a wonderful teacher to our two children, always full of positivity and enthusiasm. They both love their lessons with her, she is so friendly and encouraging, they are both doing so well.
Joanna is a fantastic teacher, who has great patience, is always full of encouragement, and has a great sense of humour. Lessons with her are extremely enjoyable due to this and her positive attitude at all times. I cannot recommend Joanna highly enough as a teacher, and would like to thank her for ensuring great progress with my own swimming ability.
I didn’t have high hopes of learning how to swim as an adult learner who is terrified of deep water, especially after a pretty disastrous attempt at swim lessons several years ago, but I needn’t have worried as even from just the intro session Joanna’s vast experience and skill in teaching swimming was evident.
Jo is a kind, funny and empathetic swim instructor, who takes your fears and concerns into account, but always pushes you to learn in a friendly and supportive environment. She is also very patient and has worked with many adults who have a fear of water and this is evident in her approach to teaching.
In a few short months I am now much more comfortable in the water (something I most definitely was not when starting), can do lengths, and have almost mastered confidently breathing in both breast stroke and front crawl. Each lesson is fun and I genuinely can see improvement in both my swimming and my confidence with every lesson. Though I will definitely be continuing my lessons in the New Year to continue to build confidence and improve technique, I cannot believe how quickly and how far I have come with swimming and this is largely due to Jo’s skill as a teacher.
I cannot recommend swimming lessons with Jo at Swim Now highly enough whether you are an adult beginner, someone with a child needing swim lessons, or an advanced swimmer needing to perfect their technique.
I just want to say how amazing my lessons with Joanna has been! Her patience and dedication is really appreciated . She always creates a fun environment that makes learning to swim enjoyable. Thanks to her support me and my brother, have gained confidence in the water again and improved our technique a lot . Highly recommend!
Joanna has really helped us gain confidence in the pool, this was the first time we signed up for swimming lessons so it was important for us to have someone supportive with lots of experience.
She is always cheery, enthusiastic and patient with us giving plenty of encouragement along the way – our swimming abilities have developed quite quickly in a short space of time. She is also very flexible with her schedule, accommodating around us when we weren’t able to make lessons.
Joanna has really helped us gain confidence in the pool, this was the first time we signed up for swimming lessons so it was important for us to have someone supportive with lots of experience.
She is always cheery and patient with us giving plenty of encouragement along the way – our swimming abilities have developed quite quickly in a short space of time. She is also very flexible with her schedule, accomdating around us when we weren’t able to make lessons.
The best thing I have ever done for myself. Joanna is a fabulous teacher. Patient, encouraging, supportive and fun. It is the quickest half hour I put in each week. My confidence and skill are growing each week. I would encourage anyone who like me just required someone like Joanna to give them confidence in the water to sign up. You would not be disappointed.
Joanna is amazing, she’s made me feel so at ease and comfortable from lesson one. I know she’s always there when I need her for when I stumble. I didn’t have any previous swimming experience and for how far we’ve come in such a short space of time WOW- I couldn’t have asked for a better teacher 🙂
My son and daughter enjoy having lessons with Joanna .They are now very confident to go into water without hesitation.She Teaches with Great attention and is always encouraging my kids .They have improved there skills in a very short period of time.She is very kind and funny .
Joanna was fantastic with me from start to finish. As someone who was very unsure about getting into the water again she not only made that possible but allowed me to be confident in swimming again. So much so that after avoiding it for over 10 years I am now swimming on myself twice a week and enjoying it! If you’re looking to either refine your technique or start from scratch I have full conference that Joanna would be the right instructor for you. Thank you!
Joanna is an absolutely brilliant swim coach and an all round lovely person, can’t recommend her enough for anything thinking about getting swimming lessons.
She helped make the difficult things much more simple and progress was very tangible lesson to lesson. The lessons have given me so much more confidence in the pool and I can’t recommend enough!
I had a lot of fun learning of Joanna, she made it honestly, that my breathing and kicking need to improve. Would Recommebd Joanna to anyone considering lessons
I really enjoyed learning swimming with Joanna. She is very fun teacher and I’m feel relaxing to be with her.
I’d rate here a 10/10, she’s patient and she painstakingly takes her time to teach, she encourages and motives. Qualities like these are rare in this time and age.She’s a great teacher
Joanna is a fantastic swimming instructor. My son, at 15 years old had a fear of the water and while he could swim a couple of strokes of breast stroke, he was not a competent swimmer and feared the deep water. He’d never even jumped into a swimming pool. He currently has had 15 30 min lessons from Joanna and last week completed 20 lengths of the St Rochs pool in front crawl. If you are thinking of booking lessons with Joanna, do it. She’s awesome, and she loves to have a laugh too!!
Joanna is a very experienced teacher and always very patient and methodological. She makes sure you enjoy your lessons whilst ensuring your continued development
Thank you so much and we appreciate you is all I can say to our swimming coach Joanne. I remember the first lesson my 4 year old daughter and 11 year boy who has autism. I was so scared for them that I almost jumped in knowing I can’t swim myself. But today, seeing her become confident and improve each lesson and him learning new skills and enjoying every moment of his lesson attest to the incredible swimming coach you are. It’s a pleasure having you as a coach and money worth spent.!!. Can’t recommend you enough her enough.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much for supporting and teaching Joseph on his swimming journey. He has attended lessons with you for 3 months and it is his favourite 30 mins of his week! Hes gone from having little to no confidence in the water, to becoming such a water boy! His self esteem and confidence has grown so much in general and his emotional, mental and physical wellbeing has developed to new levels that I couldnt have imagined! From the first session when you showed him how to dip his face into the water to now confidently treading, swimming and jumping into the deep end of the pool with excitement and delight. It has been the best experience for myself as a parent to watch from the sidelines but most of all for Joseoh and I have you Joanna to thank. Hes grown extremely fond of you and your friendly and super supportive approach to teaching and encouragement Thank you so much. Cant thank you enough We will be back and will be highly reccommending you to others. What an asset to the team you are.
I absolutely love swimming now I’m not as terrified as I use to im more confident now you are a amazing instructor you make me feel safe in the water.
My daughter Isabella loves her weekly swimming lesson with Joanna. Her confidence has grown week on week and I can really start to see it all coming together. Isabella comes away from her lesson with Joanna happy and excited for the next big thing she’s going to learn. I would highly recommend Joanna as a Swimming instructor.
Joanna is a wonderful teacher to our two children, always full of positivity and enthusiasm. They both love their lessons with her, she is so friendly and encouraging, they are both doing so well.
Joanna is a fantastic teacher, who has great patience, is always full of encouragement, and has a great sense of humour. Lessons with her are extremely enjoyable due to this and her positive attitude at all times. I cannot recommend Joanna highly enough as a teacher, and would like to thank her for ensuring great progress with my own swimming ability.
I didn’t have high hopes of learning how to swim as an adult learner who is terrified of deep water, especially after a pretty disastrous attempt at swim lessons several years ago, but I needn’t have worried as even from just the intro session Joanna’s vast experience and skill in teaching swimming was evident.
Jo is a kind, funny and empathetic swim instructor, who takes your fears and concerns into account, but always pushes you to learn in a friendly and supportive environment. She is also very patient and has worked with many adults who have a fear of water and this is evident in her approach to teaching.
In a few short months I am now much more comfortable in the water (something I most definitely was not when starting), can do lengths, and have almost mastered confidently breathing in both breast stroke and front crawl. Each lesson is fun and I genuinely can see improvement in both my swimming and my confidence with every lesson. Though I will definitely be continuing my lessons in the New Year to continue to build confidence and improve technique, I cannot believe how quickly and how far I have come with swimming and this is largely due to Jo’s skill as a teacher.
I cannot recommend swimming lessons with Jo at Swim Now highly enough whether you are an adult beginner, someone with a child needing swim lessons, or an advanced swimmer needing to perfect their technique.
I just want to say how amazing my lessons with Joanna has been! Her patience and dedication is really appreciated . She always creates a fun environment that makes learning to swim enjoyable. Thanks to her support me and my brother, have gained confidence in the water again and improved our technique a lot . Highly recommend!
Joanna has really helped us gain confidence in the pool, this was the first time we signed up for swimming lessons so it was important for us to have someone supportive with lots of experience.
She is always cheery, enthusiastic and patient with us giving plenty of encouragement along the way – our swimming abilities have developed quite quickly in a short space of time. She is also very flexible with her schedule, accommodating around us when we weren’t able to make lessons.
Joanna has really helped us gain confidence in the pool, this was the first time we signed up for swimming lessons so it was important for us to have someone supportive with lots of experience.
She is always cheery and patient with us giving plenty of encouragement along the way – our swimming abilities have developed quite quickly in a short space of time. She is also very flexible with her schedule, accomdating around us when we weren’t able to make lessons.
The best thing I have ever done for myself. Joanna is a fabulous teacher. Patient, encouraging, supportive and fun. It is the quickest half hour I put in each week. My confidence and skill are growing each week. I would encourage anyone who like me just required someone like Joanna to give them confidence in the water to sign up. You would not be disappointed.
Joanna is amazing, she’s made me feel so at ease and comfortable from lesson one. I know she’s always there when I need her for when I stumble. I didn’t have any previous swimming experience and for how far we’ve come in such a short space of time WOW- I couldn’t have asked for a better teacher 🙂
My son and daughter enjoy having lessons with Joanna .They are now very confident to go into water without hesitation.She Teaches with Great attention and is always encouraging my kids .They have improved there skills in a very short period of time.She is very kind and funny .
Joanna was fantastic with me from start to finish. As someone who was very unsure about getting into the water again she not only made that possible but allowed me to be confident in swimming again. So much so that after avoiding it for over 10 years I am now swimming on myself twice a week and enjoying it! If you’re looking to either refine your technique or start from scratch I have full conference that Joanna would be the right instructor for you. Thank you!
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Review Joanna – Lead Swimming Teacher – Glasgow.