Lisa Thrane has lived for two decades on the island of Singapore. With the South China Sea to the east, the Strait of Malacca to the west, swimming pools attached to every condominium, and multiple beaches, Singapore is surrounded by water. This is the perfect setting for Danish Lisa, who runs her own swimming coach service, Braveswimmers.
Childhood fear
“As a kid I was terrified of water,” Lisa remembers. “Neither of my parents could swim. But my mother made me take swimming lessons. I would always try to come up with excuses not to go. The water was too dark, too cold.”
It wasn’t until Lisa met a special coach with whom she could resonate. The coach was able to break through the fear and make Lisa trust her. Suddenly the pool wasn’t too scary, the water not too dark.
Lisa began to swim a lot, and at the age of 14, she was swimming in championships. She had summer jobs as a lifeguard in Vejle and Kolding. To Lisa, swimming meant friendship and mentorship.
“My friend group was my swimming team; we were close. Swimming can be lonely, it is only you and the black line on the bottom for laps on end. But we knew that we all jumped in the water together and we got out of the water together,” Lisa tells. “I was also fortunate to have a string of really good coaches. They built the confidence in me that I needed. They made me strong and determined.”
Lisa even met her husband, Nicolai, during swimming practice.
A move to Singapore
In 2002, Nicolai was offered a job in Singapore, so Lisa packed a bags and set course for the tropics with him. Lisa had a degree in childcare and figured she would find a job once they arrived.
Finding a job turned out to be easier than she had hoped. After meeting fellow Danish expats in Singapore, Lisa mentioned she had worked as a swimming coach, and within days of arriving on the island, she was asked if she wanted to coach local children. From then on, Lisa gained more and more clients over the years, and at one point she was coaching over 120 people of all ages.
During the pandemic in 2021, Lisa and her family returned to Denmark, after Lisa had finished a Masters degree in Counselling. But in 2025, Lisa and Nicolai returned once again to Singapore, where Lisa has now started a new swim coaching business, Braveswimmers.
Swimming as a life skill
To many parents, swimming may be seen as just one of many options when choosing an activity to put their child in. But to Lisa, swimming is special.
“Swimming is a life skill,” Lisa says. “In all other sports, you are able to breathe. But in the pool, surrounded by water, if you don’t know how to keep yourself afloat, you drown.”
“We are on an island, there are pools everywhere. I have been to so many pool parties or beaches and seen kids or grownups who cannot swim jump in the pool. I have had to save so many people over the years,” Lisa says.
Lisa has experienced that a lot of people don’t have the same respect for water that she has growing up in Denmark, and that is something she would like to change through her coaching.
A bond of trust
With her background in childcare, Lisa has a special professional mindset when it comes to teaching children how to swim.
“It is about trust,” Lisa explains. “Many children are like me; they are scared of the water. What I will do is get in the water with the child, and I will ask the child to swim to me. Many adults would perhaps take a few steps away from the child as they are swimming, making the child swim further, but I won’t. The child needs to trust that I will stand still and that they can rely on me.”
That trust between trainer and trainee, that special relationship, is what originally made Lisa fall in love with swimming.
“I trusted my coaches, I believed them fully, so when they believed in me, I believed in me,” Lisa tells.
Fun for all ages
While Lisa is mainly focused on teaching kids, often beginners, to feel comfortable in the pool, she is happy to take on any client, at any age and swimming level. Through Braveswimmers, Lisa coaches people from 6 months old to 60 years old: beginners and advanced swimmers.
“I teach the new ones how to feel comfortable in the water, and I teach strong swimmers how to perfect every stroke they take,” Lisa says.
Swimming is hard and exhausting, but that does not mean there is no time for games.
“Kids should have fun,” Lisa says. “I teach them how to swim, but we also play games and have fun in the pool.”
“In Singapore, a lot of parents want their kids to succeed and do well, but I don’t think you can truly succeed if you don’t have joy for what you are doing. I love swimming and I love coaching people, that’s how I succeed.”
