The following was received by Margaret Lange a year 7/8 teacher from Opua School regarding one her students called Max. The story is in her words.

“Max has little faith in his ability to do anything and he struggles with his school work. Recently he had swimming lessons with Myra Larcombe (Top Energy WaterSafe Instructor) and his confidence in his swimming ability increased dramatically in a short time.

At the last lesson Myra took with my class she revised sculling and reinforced the correct technique.  Max listened intently and then practised for a very short time before he got an excellent vortex.  This wasn’t just a one-off.  He continued to do it successfully for 15 minutes or so and was immensely proud of his achievement.

I was so please because this was one of the few activities that I have seen Max do successfully so quickly and I was able to praise him fulsomely with justification”.

Louise Collings, Swim For Life Team Leader says “sculling is said to be the seventh stroke in swimming and one of the most important to master for water safety and stroke development.  When performed correctly, a vortex can be created such as seen demonstrated by Max in the picture.  Max has gone one step further by controlling the ping pong ball in the vortex he has created - excellent skills Max!”

In basic sculling, you move your hands, palms down, in a circular or figure-eight motion, on or just under the surface of the water, exerting pressure downward. You keep your arms in front of you with your elbows bent and position your hands slightly wider than your shoulders. The motion keeps you afloat when your body is in a vertical position in the water, and used in conjunction with an egg beater kick it’s great for treading water.  Sculling is also used to provide children with a good feel for the water and will also improve their initial catch of the water in all four strokes as part of their stroke development going forward.