Underwater Torpedo League: Origin, Game Format, Rules, tactics & more to know.

Two teams of five are hidden inside the pool at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa, California this Sunday morning. There’s no submarine in the water, just a mini battle for a pool torpedo.

The athletes are stationed 13-feet underwater, practically best friends with the bottom of the pool. There’s a tiny goal on each end and an object, for which players wrestle and grab each other’s legs – all with the intention of securing a torpedo and scoring a goal.

The Underwater Torpedo League is one of the hottest sports on social media, garnering millions of views on Instagram, and has evolved from an underground military game to one with Olympic potential.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Underwater Torpedo League, from the rules to the origin story.

What is the Underwater Torpedo League?

The Underwater Torpedo League is a sport founded in 2017 by Prime Hall and Don Tran, whom served in the military together and were former pool instructors at Camp Pendleton.

Players on two teams fight over a torpedo with the objective being to move the 11-ounce rubber pool toy underwater and put it in the opposing team’s goal. Through hydrodynamics, torpedoes can glide through the water and travel up to 25 feet.

There are two tournaments each year: one in spring and the other being the Aqua Bowl, the biggest of the year. The reigning champions are Belden's Guppies.

What is the format for Torpedo League tournaments and games?

Each tournament includes three to four games to determine seeding for the knockout stage, which is win or go home.

Teams have as many as 12 people on their roster, but only five people from each team can play at a time. It’s a best-of-three format with the target score being five goals and games are played 12-to-15 feet deep.

What are the rules of games?

The rules are simple, with two referees acting as in-water safety and enforcer.

Players can only move the torpedo underwater – whether it’s passing to a teammate or handing it off. Players must stay underwater when holding the torpedo and can only come up for air once the torpedo is released.
If you reach the surface of the water and are holding the torpedo, it is a penalty or turnover to the other team.
There are safety rules in each game, including the lockout rule and tapping rule.
The lockout rule means no more than two players from each team can get into a scrap, which is the grappling matches underwater.
This prevents the person from being pinned down. The tapping rule means you need to let go of someone when they tap.

What are the origins of the Underwater Torpedo League?

Tran explained that Underwater Torpedo was always an underground game that the military played together.

The Marine Raiders even challenged the SEAL Team to a game when deployed in Guam. While Tran and Hall were instructors at Camp Pendleton, they put their own twist to the game.

There were two sessions in the beginning, one in San Clemente, California and the other in Oceanside, north and south of Camp Pendleton.

There are now 17 different locations, but not all of them play Underwater Torpedo.

Is Underwater Torpedo League an Olympic sport?

No, but that’s not stopping Tran, especially with the 2028 Olympic Games set to be held in Los Angeles. It’s his goal to have the Underwater Torpedo League debut then. He’s already talked to the Olympic committee about that possibility.

According to Tran they need three continents to be playing Underwater Torpedo. North America is down, and the next target is Australia.

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