CreateFit bristol

I am an intermediate swimmer and came to Mark to improve my front crawl technique and times. Mark is extremely knowledgeable and experienced. He breaks the stroke down into manageable bite-sized drills with imaginative explanations which stick in my mind. The sessions are appropriately paced with customised solutions to fit my specific swim profile. Mark is friendly, approachable, enthusiastic, patient and very encouraging. He has taken the time to send me video clips of swim techniques that he feels I would particularly benefit from. Best of all I am now swimming faster and more economically. I will certainly be back for some more lessons in a few months, once I have consolidated the instruction Mark has given me so far.

Thanks very much to Mark for a great course of adult swimming lessons. I'd lost all confidence in my abilities around water and needed someone to bring back that confidence and help (a lot!) with my techniques. Mark was warm, friendly and a great coach. I would recommend him unreservedly. Also a comfortable, quiet & relaxed environment to learn in.

Sarah Mildenhall has helped me improve my swimming technique hugely. I chose to have one to one lessons as I thought I would get more out of it and I definitely did. She is very patient and gives great constructive feedback and exercises for you to work on. Fellow swimmers have commented on how much faster and better I now swim. I have recommended Sarah to a number of friends and wouldn't go anywhere else.

Mark is an excellent swimming teacher. He puts you at your ease, is really knowledgeable and communicates what he wants you to do very clearly. I had a couple of one to one lessons with him to tune up my front crawl after a 20 year lapse. He pointed out several things I would never have picked up on and now I feel I'm making much more efficient progress through the water.

Mark Durnford for me was excellent. He helped me gain confidence in the pool and also helped me to learn how to swim breast stroke. I could only just about do front crawl when I attended swim lessons with him. I can now confidently swim in the deep end of a pool and breath whilst front crawling. All of this was achieved literally only after 5 -6 sessions with Mark. The one to one sessions are so helpful and tailored to your individual needs, hence why my confidence grew so quickly. Thanks so much!!!!

I came to Mark hoping to improve my backstroke speed and couldn’t have been happier with the progress made in the space of one session. Mark taught technique adjustments in a very clear way and at no point did I feel overwhelmed by the new information he was teaching. This was my first private 1to1 swimming lesson and the improvements were significant. Would highly recommend to swimmers of all abilities.

Had a swimming lesson with Mark to try and improve my front crawl and was amazed at how much progress I made. Mark is an incredible teacher, explaining everything very simply and a great motivator. Can't wait to get back in the water to put it all into action.

It was a really enjoyable first swimming lesson. I came away inspired, encouraged and looking forward to using all the new techniques Mark, the instructor, showed me. Lots to now embed into my swim! I hesitated to book a lesson for far too long and needn’t have been nervous as the style of coaching made me feel really comfortable from the word go. The analogies Mark used were useful in helping to make things clear, plus they made complete sense! A really inspiring session! He was clearly passionate about improving swimming. I’ll be sure to book another session once I’ve embedded what I learnt in this first one!

Why not celebrate the opening of sport venues with swimming. No matter how old you are, whether you are a swimmer, or always wanted to learn to swim, even if you are afraid of water as I was. Mark Durnford is the most incredible teacher who has given me confidence and taught me to swim. He is very patient, has a sense of humour, is dedicated, kind and persuasive at encouraging you to do what you want to achieve. My friend George and I simply love Mark. We would highly recommend Mark to anyone. If you are looking for an excellent and amazing swimming coach at any level, Mark is always the one to contact, every time. If you are not sure, try for yourself and see, you are guaranteed to not be disappointed. Margaret Duncan Bristol UK March 2021

I loved my lessons with Mark. I am not especially sporty or fit, and wanted to improve my dreadful front crawl. I was delighted with how much progress I made, and how much fun the lessons were. Mark is a great motivator, and brilliant at explaining how to carry out the stroke in a way that works. I also teach as a job, and found myself noting down his coaching techniques to use myself. You will not regret signing up for a lesson - the pool is also lovely and you can use the sauna/steam room so it's a treat all round. Cannot recommend highly enough!