Members only

Private swim lessons at Wedgewood

Water safety, the Green Tag Test and stroke work, taught by the swim team's coaches, lifeguards and experienced team members.

Call (610) 696-4390 Ask about membership

Water safety, the Green Tag Test and race strokes

Private swim lessons are offered by the Wedgewood Swim Team, when instructors are available, to club members. They are members only, and they are built around three goals: learning water safety skills, working toward the club's Green Tag Test, and developing or sharpening the strokes needed to swim in meets.

The Green Tag Test is the club's own swim test. Passing it earns permission to swim in all areas of the club's pools, which is why it is the goal many families bring to the first lesson. Ask for it in your request and the instructor will know what to work toward.

For swimmers who want to race, lessons cover the strokes required to compete in swim meets, taught by people who coach those strokes on the team.

Who teaches, and how a small group works

Instructors come from three places: the coaching staff, the lifeguard staff, and high-school-aged members of the team who have swim instruction experience. Everyone who teaches also has a primary job, so instructors cannot give lessons during swim practices or while they are on a lifeguard shift.

That is why availability shifts over the summer, and why the lessons page exists at all. It gives parents one place to ask, and it gives club employees a fair way to offer lessons as an extra on top of their regular duties. It also keeps lesson times and rates consistent from one instructor to the next.

Lessons are usually one swimmer with one instructor. Small groups of 2 to 4 can be arranged for siblings or friends when an instructor is free.

Asking for a lesson and when one can happen

Lessons begin in mid-June and are scheduled during the club's full-time hours, listed on the lessons page as 12 to 8 pm. They happen while other members are using the pools and the lap lanes, so the space an instructor can use depends on the crowd. The window from noon to 2 pm is usually the most available for instructors and the quietest in the water. Late afternoon and early evening lessons can be scheduled too, if an instructor has the time.

To ask, complete the private lessons interest form and note the dates and times that suit you, plus a few details about your swimmer. Instructors are paired with swimmers first come, first served, and once you are paired you work out the schedule with your instructor by email.

Filling in the form does not guarantee a lesson or a particular instructor, because the number of instructors and their weekly schedules change. If the June schedules fill, everyone not yet paired is emailed with whatever July and August openings exist. Questions go to Swim Lessons Director Tim Horan at wedgewoodswimlessons@gmail.com. The club does not publish lesson prices on this page.

The pool and surrounding grounds in morning light

Wedgewood Swim Club, 957 S. Matlack Street, West Chester. Lessons questions go to wedgewoodswimlessons@gmail.com; the club phone is answered in summer hours only.

Not a member yet

Lessons are for current members, and membership opens from a wait list in the order applications arrive. See how membership works, browse the rest of Pools & Programs, or read about the Wedgewood Whales swim team that runs the lessons.

Join the wait list