Obstacle Course
A course that links several skills in a row – enter, travel, go through a hoop, collect a sinker, float and exit.
- Stages
- Stage 2, Stage 3
- Difficulty
- Developing
- Skills
- Safe Entry, Safe Exit, Forward Travel, Submersion
- Equipment
- Noodle, Sinkers, Hoops
- Age
- 5–12 years
- Group size
- 2–10 swimmers
- Time
- About 8 minutes
- In a lesson
- Game / Consolidation
- Shared by
- SwimShare Resource
Safety notes
- Check every station is within a safe depth.
- The teacher must be able to see the whole course.
What it develops
- Enter the water safely without help
- Go fully under and pick up an object
- Exit the water safely without help
- Submerge confidently and retrieve objects
- Swim about 10 metres on the front
How to run it
- Set up: entry point, a floating hoop to travel through, a sinker to collect, a noodle to duck under, a 'rest island' to float at, and the exit.
- Swimmers complete the course one at a time.
- Teacher adjusts each station to the swimmer's stage.
- Finish with a safe exit and walk back to the start.
Teaching cues
- One skill at a time.
- Rest by floating if you need to.
- Safe exit at the end.
Make it easier
- Remove the sinker station.
- Allow a float for the travel sections.
Make it harder
- Jump entry (Stage 3) and a deeper sinker.
- Set a stroke for each travel section.
Common faults
- Skipping stations.
- Swimmers catching each other up.
Corrections
- Tick off stations on a card.
- Start the next swimmer only when the previous one reaches the hoop.
Assistant / L1 role
- Supervise the sinker and hoop stations in the water while the teacher starts swimmers and watches the whole course.