Meet The Board players: Luke Shirley, Head Coach at SwimFast Academy
As a former competitive swimmer turned swim coach, Luke Shirley knows firsthand what it takes to give something your all. “If the only thing you've known your entire life is how to be the best, you'll probably end up trying to do the same thing in a different field,” he says.
In early 2026, he launched SwimFast Academy, offering one-to-one coaching lessons with select students. Luke has dreams of expanding his own coaching business across London and beyond. His ultimate mission? "To give swimmers confidence, to make swimmers technically excellent and to make swimmers fast."
Earlier this year, his summer swim camp of one-to-one sessions sold out in just two weeks – much faster than he’d anticipated – which shows huge demand for his coaching. Luke announced the camp on WhatsApp, directly messaging people whose numbers he’d collected over the years. People have been asking for private sessions since he was just 16.
While SwimFast Academy feels like a long time coming, Luke is still blown away by its early success. He hopes to gain knowledge and support on The Board to take his business to the next level.
Luke is very open about the funds required to start a business, and how at this stage he simply doesn't have the cash flow to invest. He doesn’t own a laptop yet, which makes it difficult to complete admin tasks on the go. “I'm out every single day. And by the time I get home, because of the nature of my job, it's literally like 10pm,” he says, adding: “The last thing I want to do is click the power on button on my computer and do more.”
Admin is a huge headache for Luke, who struggles to schedule pool time for his sessions, and he’s keen for advice or support. “It’s a lot harder than you think,” adding that given the chance he’d outsource admin “in a heartbeat”.
Will his passion and competitive spirit help Luke maintain momentum from his early successes? Or are administrative hurdles risking a false start? All will become clear when he plays The Board.
Why we’ve created The Board
At giffgaff, we support people to make their next move. Starting your own business means making big calls, often with no one around to talk them through. The Board puts those decisions on the table so players (and everyone watching) can clearly see the choices and trade-offs it takes to run a successful business.
During each episode, an entrepreneur maps out the future of their business on a physical board game, completing challenges and answering questions that probe every corner of their strategy. If they win, they get to choose between a giffgaff grant or mentorship.
Watching from another room are the Game Changers: Patricia Bright, entrepreneur, award-winning content creator and founder of The Break, a financial education and lifestyle platform; and Jordan Schwarzenberger, co-founder of Arcade, the entertainment company behind huge creator brands, including The Sidemen and Generation Football. Together, they will follow the players' progress on The Board and decide whether they’ve got what it takes to succeed in business.
If successful, players will be invited to an interview with the Game Changers, who will dig deeper into the business before offering a choice between a £5,000 giffgaff grant or Fair Play mentorship. If players aren’t lucky enough to make it through to the final interview, they will receive £1,000 to spend on their business.
Operational issues may not be the only obstacles to SwimFast Academy's future growth. Reflecting early on in the episode about Luke’s limited business experience, Jordan says: “He's a coach and he's a founder, and those skills aren't necessarily the same, so I'm sure there's a lot he has to learn.”
One area the Game Changers believe he can improve on is his brand messaging. Scrolling through the SwimFast Academy website, Jordan describes it as “a bit generic” and says the services need to be clearer.
Top tip: Make your brand distinctive
When starting any business, make sure your brand messaging is clear and distinctive. Your audience needs to quickly understand what you offer and why it’s better than your competitors. If you’re a key part of your business, like Luke is, make sure you include a personal profile so customers get to know you and you can start building that trust.
Another area that lacks clarity, according to the Game Changers, is Luke’s business priorities. He is deeply committed to giving back, offering affordable and even free sessions to low-income families. “The main thing I wanna do is something good for the community,” he says. “All my life, people have been helping me when they didn't need to help me. So the best thing I can do in my conscience is do the same thing for somebody else.”
Whilst the Game Changers applaud Luke's purpose-driven business, they remind him that he needs to make a profit to keep it sustainable and reach more people. One option they suggested is to consider different pricing strategies for different clients (such as premium private coaching packages for high-net-worth individuals) to drive revenue and allow him to run accessible sessions for those who need it.
As a coach, Luke's motivation is to push his clients to be the best they can be, but that drive could pull his attention away from the business. “My growth is the client itself,” he explains. “If my swimmers are getting better, they're developing as a person, as a swimmer, as an athlete, then my business is not failing.” It’s a coach’s mindset rather than a founder’s and suggests Luke may not naturally think in terms of revenue or long-term strategy. His challenge is learning to balance both: his clients’ progress and his company’s growth.
Luke is clearly talented and motivated by training the next generation of swimmers, but is that enough to build a successful business? Will Luke sink or swim in The Board’s high-pressure environment? Watch the full episode on YouTube to find out.