Don’t scratch your head in bewilderment the next time you
visit Redmond Pool and see a large group of swimmers tossing bright
foam disks around a pool.
They’re just enjoying the sport of SKWIM, invented by
Kevin McCarthy, creator of the Redmond-based SKWIM International.
The game’s concept grew out of a need for a water sport
that people of all ages and skill levels could play and enjoy
together.
“In the water we have the equivalent of basically track
and field, which is competitive swimming, and water polo, which is
like football,ý said SKWIM marketing director DJ Weidner.
“There’s a lot in between that.ý
SKWIM is played in two 20-minute halves with two teams in a pool
called a “lagoon,ý marked off by boundaries in three
sections — two red sections called offensive and defensive
“baysý as well as a middle section called a mid-bay.
The object is to get the disk, designed to skim across the water,
into your opponent’s circular goal trap by strategically
passing it between teammates. One point is earned for a goal scored
from a team’s own offensive bay, two points from the mid-bay
and SKWIMmers that are skilled, or lucky, enough to score from
across the pool will earn three points for their team.
“At first when people hear about it, they go ‘what
is this game?’ but the minute we get people in the water and
playing, they’re like, ‘this makes sense, this is
fun,’ Weidner said. “Their initial reaction is one of
curiosity, but after that it’s one of excitement.ý
The organization also offers SKWIM lessons for kids, taking all
the ordinary techniques taught in regular lessons and teaching them
in a game-oriented platform, which makes coming to the pool more
fun and appealing for youngsters.
“We teach them the crawlstrokes, breaststrokes,
backstrokes, but we do it in the context of the game,ý
Weidner said. “Our hope is that we can do SKWIM lessons
here... and that by fall we can start actually transitioning from a
lesson platform to a “teamý platform, where we will
actually have SKWIM teams and youth development programs.ý
Although the sport has only been in existence for a little more
than a year, Weidner said he believes that the community reception
the organization has received has been very positive, and Weidner
hopes that the sport will continue to spread locally and
nationally.
“Over the last year we’ve been working with
community pools, lifeguards, swim instructors, we have talked to
the YMCA nationally, we’ve talked to the American Swim
Coaches Association,ý Weidner recalled. “We’ve
basically been getting the word out that we have this cool sport.
Through those partnerships and through that conversation, we
started to design the programming and the game in a way
that’s really inclusive.ý
More than anything, Weidner hopes that SKWIM will help those
that aren’t as comfortable in the water become competent
swimmers in the pool.
“One of the missions of the organization is to promote
water safety and water confidence through the game of
SKWIM,ý Weidner said.
He also stressed that safety is a top priority in the program,
noting that it is a requirement for each SKWIM contest’s
three referees to be lifeguard-certified, and that he enforces that
all traditional water safety rules apply whenever his guests are in
the water.
From a marketing standpoint, however, Weidner has lofty goals
for where the sport of SKWIM will be in the next decade or so.
“We can dream big. Our hope is that, especially with the
Olympics coming up, is that we can get into conversation with the
U.S. Olympic Committee, within the next five, 10, 15 years, and
hopefully it will become accepted as a great way for people to have
fun, work out, stay physically fit, become water-safe and water
competent,ý Weidner said. “We want to spread this
throughout the United States in the next five years, and in the
next 10, get a significant saturation internationally.
Weidner was happy to announce that he just had a school in Hong
Kong contact SKWIM, and that he will likely be working with them in
the fall to develop a SKWIM program for high school students in
Hong Kong.
“(SKWIM) has caught on and it’s growing,ý he
said.
SKWIM MASTERMIND
Just about everything involved with SKWIM has been through the
hands of Kevin McCarthy, a Sammamish resident who grew up in
southern California near the water. As a product developer for
big-name sporting goods manufacturers like Nike and Speedo for the
past 30 years and former competitive swimmer, he says coming up
with the idea has been a lifelong endeavor for him ever since he
fell in love with surfing, and wearing a certain accessory that is
a large part of SKWIM.
“I liked how wearing fins made you fast and efficient in
the water,ý McCarthy said. “I thought there should be
a water sport that encompassed the use of swim fins not only to get
around fast but to help those who weren’t strong swimmers
feel more confident in the water.ý
He has a company in Los Angeles making the official SKWIM fins
for the game, but what about the colorful foam
“skip-disks?ý
“The disk design is about 10 years old,ý said
McCarthy, father of five. “It took a while to get the design
right, but it slides on the water pretty efficiently. The whole
goal is to have an implement other than a big ball, something that
little kids, people with special needs ... or senior citizens can
play with, something that’s fast and exciting on the water
like a frisbee.ý
McCarthy, who was the co-designer of the “Crocý
line of beach sandals, reiterated the fact that SKWIM’s
ultimate goal is to help build confident swimmers by bringing
people to the water more regularly so that both children and adults
are less likely to panic when faced with a dangerous situation in
the water.
He also brought up a frightening statistic: every day an average
of nine people in America drown, and another 30-40 require
hospitalization for a water-related incident.
“That means that 40-50 people every day have a traumatic
encounter with the water, and many of those people are rarely in
the water,ý McCarthy said. “If we can have a sport
that is open to more people than say, competitive swimming or water
polo, it is our hope that it serves the community.ý
For more information on SKWIM, visit www.skwiminternational.org
or call (425) 869-6505. To find out when SKWIM is offered at the
Redmond Pool, contact manager Melissa Stepp at mstepp@nwcenter.org
Tim Watanabe can be reached at twatanabe@reporternewspapers.com
or by calling (425) 867-0353 ext. 5054.
Redmond Reporter Sports Reporter Tim Watanabe can be
reached at twatanabe@reporternewspapers.com or
(425) 867-0353, ext. 5054.
