Swimming game for schools and groups

This is an idea from my school years, when we were tasked with developing ideas for sports games. The group I was in had the following idea I thought I might share:

 

In this sports game, players of two or more teams swim under foam mattresses or pool rafts to pick up as many items as possible.

 

Dozens of items that can be picked up, usually rings, are placed in a water pool. Then, the pool's water surface is covered with foam mattresses to create the impression of a submerged cave. Optionally, empty lightweight buckets can be placed on the foam mattresses to signify if a mattress was lifted by someone emerging.

 

There are at least two teams lined up, on the non-covered part of the pool or outside the pool if there is insufficient space. This game can only be played with teams because otherwise the earlier players would have an advantage, since there are more items to pick up in the beginning.

 

In each round, a specific numbers of players from each team, usually one or two, simultaneously swim under the foam mattresses to collect as many of the items as possible. Then the players need to swim back to the part not covered by the foam mattresses before they run out of air. If they emerge from the water on a part covered by the foam mattresses, their team loses, and if buckets were placed, a bucket falls. Therefore, the players are required to time swimming back in an appropriate moment.

 

Should the number of players be odd, one of the players from the team with fewer players gets a second turn.

 

After all players had their turn swimming under then foam mattresses, the collected items are counted, and the team with more items wins. If there are more than two teams, the scores are ranked.

 

 

The mattresses or rafts covering part of the water surface should be lightweight to prevent injury, but not flexible to exclude the possibility of entanglement. An alternative would be spanning a rope over the part of the pool where resurfacing would lead to a loss of the team in the game, to define a clear boundary. However, without mattresses and buckets, at least one referee needs to watch the players at all times, and the realistic impression of swimming into a cave would be missing.