Background
In 2018, the Pittsburgh Pirates of major league baseball’s National League, had an 11-game winning streak that stretched between the traditional mid-summer classic, the All Star Game. Baseball was hot in the city. Plus, there was a reminder of a great baseball play from a hero, Roberto Clemente. See the article, https://lithub.com/the-greatest-forgotten-home-run-of-all-time/
Camp insights
The prior day, our camper kids had more “free time” than preferred and the swim session turned into a good-old wrestling fest. The break was fun. But, sorta hard to watch as a swim coach. So, something different was needed.
Rules and objective of the game
Two teams. One team is at bat and runs the bases. The other team is the fielding team and tries to tag out the base runners.
Objective: The team at bat, on offense, attempts to score as many runs as possible with inside-the-pool home runs. There is no home run wall for batters to clear, giving an automatic 4-base home run. Rather, if a disk is tossed (batted by the batter) out of the pool, that is an automatic out and the runner can not advance. The batter’s toss of the disk must land within the swim pool. Home runs are then of the inside the park nature, or with runners advancing from first, to second, to third bases and then to home plate on their own pace, holding the base to remain safe, and perhaps to get some breaths of air too. The batters turn into base runners and they aim to avoid getting tagged out along the base paths.
Meanwhile, objective of the defensive team in the field is to tag the base-runners OUT before the runner travels around all the bases.
Innings: The length of the inning was set so that nine members of the batting team at bat by delivering the disk into the field and proceed to attempt to travel around all the bases, until being called OUT. After all nine players who are at bat are either back home with an inside the park home run or else called OUT somewhere else along the base path, then that half of the inning ends. At the end of the half-inning, both teams switch roles so that the fielding team comes in to bat and the team that was just on the base paths gets to go out into pool and play the field.
Fielders: Can not sink the disk. A disk that gets sunk is then dead and taken out of the pool.
Fielders: Can not hold the disk longer than 3-seconds. A disk that is held 4 seconds or more is deemed dead and taken out of the pool.
Nine batters, each with a numbered headband, #1 to #9, and their own SKWIM disk, get to bat in an inning. They toss the disk to any place they wish in the pool to make a “hit.” If the disk goes out of the pool, automatic OUT for the batter.
Batters can advance around the bases and not be tagged out by the players in the fielding team if they stay under the water. It is illegal to sink the disk. Swim underwater and stay safe.
