Old City Swim School — Adult Swimming
Adult Swim
Lessons In DC.Done The Right Way.
Private 1-on-1 lessons for adults — beginners through triathletes. Real lap pool. Method taken from elite swim programs and slowed down for adults.
Find your starting point ↓Two Paths In
Where Are You
In The Water?
Adults come to us from two very different places. Pick the one that sounds like you — the path you'll follow looks different from there.
Learn-to-Swim
Total Beginner.
This program is for you if you're afraid of the water, can't float, can do doggy-paddle, or if you don't venture out past where you can stand.
If you can't yet swim one length of relaxed, side-breathing freestyle — this is your starting point.
Our Balance First Method builds your stroke one skill at a time: breathing → floating on your stomach and back → learning to kick → balancing on your left and right sides, in that order.
You finish able to swim a length of efficient freestyle and tread the deep end for 5 minutes. Most adults get there in 3–6 months. $1,800, paid once — guaranteed.
Swimming Proficiency
I want to be more efficient.
You can already swim a length breathing to both sides and tread for 5 minutes. Now you want efficiency and distance — for fitness, triathlon, or open-water confidence in a lake or ocean.
We work with you to learn your goals and lay out a training plan to help you get there.
Swimming improvement takes months of consistent work. Depending on your goals, we work with you across 3, 6, or 12 months and help you become proficient at the skills you'd like to achieve.
Still Deciding?
Somewhere in between — or just not sure? Schedule a call and a coach will help you find the right starting point.
Program 01 — Learn-to-Swim
Learn To Swim.
No Matter Your Starting Point.
A clear, ordered progression that takes you from afraid-of-the-water to swimming a real length of freestyle. We build it in four stages — in this exact order.
Breathing
Exhale through your nose underwater, rotate to inhale.
Floating
Front and back, lungs full, hips on the surface.
Kick
Efficient, steady kick once you’re horizontal.
Side Balance Position
Side floats and the switch — freestyle and backstroke.
You’re done when you can swim one length (25m) of efficient, side-breathing freestyle and tread the deep end for 5 minutes. Most adults: 3–6 months. $1,800, paid once — guaranteed.
Program 02 — Swimming Proficiency
Get Efficient.
Go The Distance.
For swimmers who can already do a length and tread 5 minutes. We pick up at the side balance position and build the efficiency, stroke, and endurance to swim real distance — for fitness, triathlon, and open water.
Your goals set the finish line. Meet with a coach, and we’ll build a customized plan of unlimited 1:1 lessons and practice sessions. 3-, 6-, and 12-month programs from $895.
Our Methodology
The Balance
First Method.™
Most adult swim lessons start with the arms. We don't. We start with the thing under everything else: balance.
Your lungs float, your hips sink. Physics doesn't care that you're trying. If your hips are dragging at a downward angle, your arms can't fix it — they're compensating for a leak somewhere else.
We fix the leak first. Float, balance, then — and only then — stroke.
Same drills the D1 college teams use. Same progression you'd get at an elite swim club. Adjusted for adults, taught one-on-one.
Meet Earl
Earl is a human floating in air. His lungs (green) pull him up; his head, hips, and legs (gray) pull him down. In water, those forces fight each other — and the hips lose.
Teaching your body to keep its hips on the surface is the foundation of every swim stroke that exists. It's the first thing we install.
Free Guide
Get The Whole
Method. Free.
Coach Sean’s 24-page guide walks you through the full Balance First Method — every floating and balance drill, the gear that helps (and the gear that doesn’t), and exactly how to practice on your own. We’ll email it straight to you.
Where You'll Train
A Real Lap Pool.
Not A Rec Center.
The Gallaudet University pool is a 25-yard, six-lane competition pool. Marked lanes. Proper depth. The same facility serious swimmers train in. Inside DC — no drive to Maryland, no trek to Virginia.
Who's Teaching
Coach Sean Emery
High school All-American. Four years of Division I swimming at the Naval Academy. Eight years in the Navy as a submariner. Now: coaching adults to swim, from total beginners to triathletes, in the city he lives in.
The method on this site isn't theoretical. It's how Sean was taught to swim at the elite level — the same drills practiced every day at Alamo Area Aquatics, the program that produced national-level and Olympic swimmers — adapted for adults, taught one-on-one.
Best events: 200 IM, 200 Fly.
Pricing
Two Programs.
Clear Pricing.
Both are unlimited 1:1 lessons and practice lane access at the Gallaudet University 25-yard pool. Learn-to-Swim is a one-time $1,800 — guaranteed, we don't stop until you can swim. Swimming Proficiency is a customized plan with 3-, 6-, and 12-month programs from $895.
Learn-to-Swim
Can't yet swim a length
- —Unlimited 1:1 lessons + practice lanes
- —Breathing → floating → kick → side balance position
- —Finish: swim 25m freestyle + tread 5 min
- —Guaranteed: we don’t stop until you can swim
Swimming Proficiency
Already swim a length + tread 5 min
- —Unlimited 1:1 lessons + practice lanes
- —Side balance position, stroke shape, breaststroke, endurance
- —A customized plan built around your goals
- —For fitness, triathlon, and open-water confidence
Not sure which program fits? Book a call — we'll figure it out together.
The Pool Is Open.
Pick Your Program.
Learn-to-Swim is $1,800, paid once — guaranteed to the goal. Swimming Proficiency is a customized plan from $895. Enroll directly, or book a call if you'd like to talk it through with a coach first.
All programs at the Gallaudet University pool, Washington, DC. Pricing does not include applicable taxes.