Team Work Challenges

The challenges on this page train team work, leadership, ingenuity, skills and coordination. Working together in a group to solve problems is a useful skill everyone should learn.

Have a qualified lifeguard supervise these activities. Make sure participants don't get injured from hard parts of the equipment. They should be fully clothed to minimise injury risk. It also adds interest and improves muscle training.

Underwater Tent

Required Equipment

• Tent fly sheet
• Ridge pole
• Two floats to support each end of the ridge pole.
• Four weights, one for each tent corner.
• Bits of string to attach the weights to the fly sheet corners.

Set up

This game requires skill and coordination. Get a lifeguard into the water to monitor this. Throw all the equipment into the water. Depth should be 1/3 of the length of the flysheet, shallow enough for everyone to stand up.

Construction

Support the tent ridge with the two floats. Put the fly sheet across the ridge and attach the weights to each corner.

Finally each team member swims through the tent lengthwise and surfaces on the other end, not inside the tent.

If your group is large enough you can have two or more teams compete against the clock.

Fruit Baskets or Laundry Run

Players: 4 to 8 - divide larger groups

Required: Provide clothes in team colours, so they know who is in which team.

Preparations

Put two plastic baskets or buckets at the shallow end corners. In the middle of the pool, distribute two of every fruit from the produce department: bananas, apples, oranges, grapefruit, pears, mangoes, and cantaloupes, whatever. Alternatively you can use small balls or floating toys.

For the Laundry Run variation you use clothes instead of fruits. The complication here is that the clothes may sink to the bottom, making it somewhat more challenging.

Let the mayhem begin

The two teams spread out along the deep end. At the whistle, both teams collect one of each fruit and deposit it in their basket. The first team to collect a complete fruit sampler wins; the other team has to prepare fruit salad for lunch.

Strategy

While it may seem a simple game, it presents an intriguing strategic choice: should a team assign each player a specific fruit to collect and carry to the fruit basket? Or should it designate a team member to swim ahead and be in position to catch and dunk fruit tossed and retrieved by teammates?

Splash Dance

Time for your swimmers to get creative! Have swimmers split into teams and choreograph their own water ballet to their favorite songs. Props welcome! Best outfits or costumes will be awarded with a treat.