I was homeless but now everything's going swimmingly

AWARD-WINNING COACH'S LIFE TURNED ROUND AFTER HE SAW AD

- CHRIS SLATER

AN AWARD-WINNING swimming instructor who was homeless as a teenager has opened up on how finding the profession changed his life.

Phil Sutton, 32, now based in Stockport, left home at an early age and by 18 found himself sleeping rough or on friends' settees.

However, when he was 22, he saw an advert for a job as an apprentice swimming teacher in Tyldesley, near Wigan.

And it set the wheels in motion for a fantastic career, which saw him work overseas and even revert to care work in order to help others during the pandemic.

It culminated in him named being one of the best swimming teachers of the year at a nationwide top awards ceremony this week.

Yet Phil said things could have been very different.

"I was homeless at 18, sleeping rough, or on friends' couches from time to time, even in a hostel at one point," he said.

"But I managed to get work in a supermarket. I wasn't getting any job satisfaction from it but needed the money to afford somewhere to live and couldn't see a way out.

"When I was 22, I saw an apprenticeship position as a swimming teacher at a pool in Tyldesley. I'd always enjoyed swimming and had been a good swimmer when I was younger, so this opportunity to do something I enjoyed jumped out at me.