Lift and Look
From treading, swimmers kick up high to look over the water and call what they see – training the eggbeater lift used to spot passes.
- Stages
- Water Polo – Stage 9, Water Polo – Stage 10
- Difficulty
- Developing
- Skills
- Treading Water, Eggbeater, Game Awareness
- Equipment
- Float
- Age
- 8–99 years
- Group size
- 2–14 swimmers
- Time
- About 4 minutes
- In a lesson
- Introduction / Warm-up, Skill Development 1, Skill Development 2
- Shared by
- SwimShare Resource
Safety notes
- Deep water only for confident swimmers; keep sets short with rests at the wall.
What it develops
- Eggbeater to stay high and stable
- Keep technique going in short games
How to run it
- Swimmers tread water in deep water facing the teacher.
- The teacher holds up a coloured float or card behind other swimmers.
- On 'lift', swimmers eggbeater hard to rise up, look and call the colour, then settle back to a relaxed tread.
- Repeat with the teacher moving to different places.
Teaching cues
- Kick down hard to rise up.
- Hands scull to help.
- Look, call, settle.
Make it easier
- Hold the wall with one hand while lifting.
Make it harder
- Lift with both hands out of the water.
- Lift and pass a ball to the teacher.
Common faults
- Leaning back instead of rising.
- Slow, frantic kicks.
Corrections
- 'Stay tall like you're standing.'
- 'Big, strong circles with your legs.'
Assistant / L1 role
- Hold up the colour cards from the opposite side of the pool when the teacher gives the signal.