As a mom of five young children, Emily Speer knows firsthand the importance of water safety. And she understands that a successful swim program teaches swim safety while also building a child’s confidence. “I learned with my own children that each one needed a different approach,” said Emily, the owner of Speer Swim School, LLC, “and that’s what we do for our clients.”
Since 2017, Speer Swim School, serving Delaware County and the Main Line, has offered personalized lessons in your own backyard pool. Emily has partnered with Splash Swim Club in Marple, to also give lessons there five days a week, even for non-members. Individual and small group lessons are available for beginner, novice, intermediate, and expert swimmers. Lessons start with safety swimming skills before moving to a learn-to-swim curriculum teaching proper technique. The curriculum is based on over 25 years of swim instruction experience, and all of their instructors are highly trained in this swim method. Emily likes to meet the child and their parents, to get to know them before starting lessons. “It’s so important that the student trusts the instructor to build confidence,” said Emily. “I want them to be successful, of course, but also to have fun!”
Emily has always loved working with children and being near the water. At age 13, she began teaching children how to swim. She grew up in the West Chester area and attended West Chester East High School. While she was in middle school, a family friend who went to the Olympic swimming trials encouraged her to teach swim lessons at Malvern Prep. She enjoyed it so much that she continued teaching lessons throughout high school and college. While pursuing her degree at Penn State University in Elementary Education, she taught swim lessons there, to children of faculty and staff, using her own curriculum.
After graduating from Penn State in 2004, Emily moved back to the area and became a math teacher at Paxon Hollow Middle School. She also earned a Master’s Degree in Instructional Technology at Arcadia University, and her doctorate in Educational Leadership. She was able to continue teaching swim lessons in the summer by offering to teach children in their backyard pools. It was through word of mouth and social media that Emily was able to grow her client base. Now, in its fifth year, Speer Swim School has 18 swim instructors, and last year taught over 7,000 lessons to 682 students. Last year, Emily’s two oldest children graduated from the program, and she’s now focused on getting our 3 and 5 year olds to swim. Next summer her youngest will be 2 and a half and ready to start the swim program.
After Emily’s second child was born, she decided to resign from her teaching position, to stay home with the children. It was after the birth of her third child in 2017 that she started Speer Swim School, which is fully licensed and insured. “After having my own kids, swim safety became a huge mission for me,” Emily said. “I’m even more passionate after having my kids in swim lessons and learning what is needed in the swim world.” She wants her children to learn how to be safe around water, which means her older children need to be independent so that she can focus on her younger ones.
To give back to the community, Emily has partnered with the Hope Floats Foundation, which offers free or low-cost swim lessons to members of our community who cannot afford the cost themselves. All donations received go toward scholarships. Drowning is the leading cause of accidental death in children 5 and under and Speer Swim School wants to do their part to educate families on keeping their kids safe. “Every child in our community needs to be safe around the water,” said Emily. “We can’t afford to lose a single child because they did
not know how to swim.”
Emily and her husband Ed live in Broomall with their children Beatrix (9), Eddie (7), Daphne (5), Richie (3) and Winnie (1), and two friendly cats. Emily enjoys being a dance mom for her daughter Beatrix, watching her children play sports and being a homeroom mom at St Anastasia’s, where her children attend. The Speer Family loves being outdoors, especially hiking, camping, or spending time at the beach or pool.
For Emily, the best part of her job is seeing students succeed. “I love getting texts from parents who say their child is swimming independently, passed their swim test, or made the swim team,” she said. And what makes Emily’s work day fun? “It’s always fun to be in the pool!” To learn more about Hope Floats Scholarships and Speer Swim School, visit www.SpeerSwimSchool.com.