Swimming Game – Challenge: Noodle Scull

Name

One-Liner

Swimmers float on a noodle and move across the pool using only their hands—no kicking allowed.

Success Criteria

The swimmer successfully sculls from the wall to the instructor (or across a set distance) without stopping, sitting up, or kicking. Hands stay in the water the entire time.

Failure Criteria

The swimmer lifts their hands out of the water, kicks, sits up, or stops before reaching the target.

Core Skill

The core skill being developed in this challenge is sculling. Swimmers learn how to use their hands to push against the water to move. This helps them understand the feeling of water resistance and how their efforts translate into movement.

Who

This game is suitable for Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, Level 4, and developmental swimmers who are comfortable floating on a noodle under their armpits and laying on their back without support.

What

Participants will need at least one foam noodle each, or one noodle to be reused among participants, letting others wait their turn. This challenge is based on the Swim England “Sculling Train” game, but adapted to be more individual-focused and less group-based.

How

1. Swimmers place the noodle under their armpits so that they are laying on it.
2. Swimmers lean backward, putting their weight on the noodle, with their head and ears in the water.
3. Without kicking, swimmers use only their hands to move across a series of benches, toward a certain object, or from the wall to the instructor and back without stopping or sitting up.
4. Hands must remain in the water; if hands lift out of the water or if the swimmer kicks, they fail the challenge.

The goal is to teach the sensation and mechanics of sculling, emphasizing how the hands push against the water to generate movement.

BONUS

To increase difficulty:

1. Increase the distance the swimmer must scull.
2. Add obstacles, such as people to swim around.
3. Ask swimmers to close their eyes.

SUPER BONUS

For an extra challenge, have swimmers go feet-first while doing quick outward circles with their hands (right hand moves clockwise, left hand counter-clockwise).

Feet first scull video:

Difficulties Instructors Might Face

This game is not just fun but also a fantastic way for swimmers to build a fundamental skill in a focused yet playful manner. 🏊‍♂️

Swim England’s “Sculling Train” game that this challenge is based on.