Objectives

These challenges 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 this. Make sure participants don't get injured from hard parts of the equipment. They should be fully clothed to minimise this risk. It also adds interest and improves muscle training.

Raft Building Challenge

Get your team and equipment across the water, without getting wet. This is a dry game, at least in theory. Make sure you're all fully clothed so you can check easily if anyone got wet somewhere.

Required Equipment

1. Anything big that floats like wood, cans, etc.
2. Poles to attach the floats.
3. Ropes.

Construction

On land or the poolside construct a raft big enough to get the whole team and their gear across. Keep the raft balanced or it tips over and you all end up in the water. If your team is bigger you'll have to make several trips, or divide into competing teams.

Variation

Throw all the components of the raft into the water and get the team to build a raft in the water. Beginners can start in shallow water, more advanced teams do it in deeper water.

Underwater Tent

Required Equipment

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

Setup

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 pan? Or should it designate a team member to swim ahead and be in position to catch and dunk fruit tossed and retrieved by teammates?