Sit on the Bottom
Swimmers breathe out steadily to sink and sit on the pool floor – a clear test of controlled exhalation and relaxed submersion.
- Stages
- Stage 2, Stage 3
- Difficulty
- Developing
- Skills
- Aquatic Breathing, Submersion, Buoyancy
- Equipment
- None
- Age
- 5–99 years
- Group size
- 1–8 swimmers
- Time
- About 3 minutes
- In a lesson
- Skill Development 1, Skill Development 2
- Shared by
- SwimShare Resource
Safety notes
- Water must be shallow enough to stand up immediately.
- Watch every swimmer surface; no breath-holding competitions.
What it develops
- Go fully under and pick up an object
- Blow bubbles with mouth and nose under
- Submerge confidently and retrieve objects
- Breathe out in a controlled way underwater
How to run it
- In shallow water, swimmers stand with a big breath in.
- They put their face in and breathe out slowly through the mouth and nose.
- As air comes out, they sink – aim to sit on the floor for a moment.
- Push off the floor to come up and breathe.
Teaching cues
- Big breath in.
- Blow out slowly to sink.
- Push up from the floor.
Make it easier
- Crouch until just the head goes under.
- Hold the teacher's hands while sinking.
Make it harder
- Sit cross-legged and wave before coming up.
- Sink in a pencil shape with arms above the head.
Common faults
- Holding the breath, so the swimmer floats up.
- Pulling themselves down with arms.
Corrections
- 'No air, no floaty!' – blow it all out.
- Show that bubbles are what make you sink.
Assistant / L1 role
- Go under with a swimmer and sit facing them, giving a thumbs up so they have someone to look at on the bottom.