Wilson Aquatic Center

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of going swimming at the new pool next door to Wilson High School in DC. Let me tell you, this new facility is beautiful! (yes, even better than the Takoma Park pool.) It is huge and the locker rooms are very nice and clean.

The pool is located right next door to Wilson High School (it is not technically at the high school although everyone calls it the Wilson High School Pool) in Tenleytown right behind the Whole Foods on Wisconsin Avenue. It is walking distance to the Tenleytown metro stop on the red line.

There are actually three pools. One is a 50 meter lap pool that is used for competitions. It has diving boards and goes up to 12 feet deep (if I remember correctly). The second one is called the "Wellness and Leisure Pool". This is where the kids play. There is this tall "sprinkler" that shoots water out that the kids seem to love. There are also hoops for playing basketball. I believe that this pool only goes to 4 feet. This is also where the older people come to do their exercising and walking. The other pool is a large whirlpool which is nice to sit in after doing laps.

I was a little freaked out at first by the depth of the lap pool. I had never tried to swim in 12 feet of water before. So I warmed up by swimming in the "Leisure" pool. That actually ended up getting pretty crowded so I went over to the (cold) lap pool. (The kid pool is quite warm) I swam in the far left lane so that I would be close to the wall in case my breathing got weird and I freaked out. It wasn't so bad. I didn't go the whole way to 12 but next time I will.

If you are in the DC area you have to check it out. They have classes at the pool also.

Oh and the other thing that is good about this pool are the hours. Most DC pools have really weird and random hours. Wilson Aquatic Center actually has normal hours.