Noodle Chair Paddle
Sitting in a noodle 'chair', swimmers use their hands to move themselves backwards – an early feel for sculling.
- Stages
- Stage 2
- Difficulty
- Beginner
- Skills
- Backward Travel, Buoyancy, Sculling
- Equipment
- Noodle
- Age
- 4–99 years
- Group size
- 1–10 swimmers
- Time
- About 4 minutes
- In a lesson
- Skill Development 1, Skill Development 2
- Shared by
- SwimShare Resource
Safety notes
- Check swimmers can recover to standing from the chair position.
What it develops
- Travel about 10 metres on the back
How to run it
- Place a noodle behind the swimmer's back and under both arms; they bend their knees and 'sit' in the water.
- Show small hand movements beside the hips: palms push the water towards the feet.
- Swimmers paddle themselves backwards to the wall.
- Try going forwards by pushing the water behind instead.
Teaching cues
- Hands by your hips.
- Push the water to your toes.
- Little quick hands.
Make it easier
- Walk backwards while practising the hand movement.
- Use two noodles for extra support.
Make it harder
- Lie flatter with legs out straight.
- Race to the wall using only hands.
Common faults
- Big slow arm swings that don't move the body.
- Hands out of the water.
Corrections
- 'Fast little hands, like drying them off.'
- Keep the hands just under the surface.
Assistant / L1 role
- Kneel or crouch in front of a swimmer and place your hands against theirs to guide the paddling movement for a few goes.