Another game that works in a pool is Slot Water Polo. Remember those old table hockey games where you controlled your players via control sticks running under the surface, and the little players moved "up and down" the ice via a slot in the playing surface? You can do this with water polo in a swimming pool. Leave all the lane lines in for this game, and add a rope across the swimming pool, perpendicular to the lane lines, at half-way:
- Divide swimmers into two teams.
- Each team has a goal to defend and a goal to shoot at in order to score.
- The goals are one lane wide and located on the wall behind one of the central lanes of the pool.
- Each team gets an equal number of lanes on each half of the pool.
- They getonly every other lane in any half of the pool.
- If they are in lanes 1, 3, 5, 7 on one half of the pool, then they are in lanes 2, 4, 6, 8 on the other half.
- Swimmers may reach out of their lane, but may not leave their lane or touch a lane line.
- Locate the defenders in every other lane on the defensive half of the pool, to include their goal lane.
- Locate the scorers in the opposite lanes on that half of the pool.
- Do the same on the other half of the pool; when done, a lane that has defenders in it on one half of the pool would have defenders in it on the other half of the pool, too - but they are from opposite teams.
- Toss in a ball and watch what happens. Cooperation and passing mean more than swimming with this set-up.
- Rotate swimmers among lanes and from one end to the other from time to time to move the defense,offense, center, and wall lane players around.
Do you have a game that your swimmers like to play? Looking for games for fewer swimmers or just for kids to play? Check the links section or check the About Swimming Forum.
Swim On!
