Visual Review: Torpedo League

For my last visual review, I wanted to write about the 60 Second Doc called Underwater Torpedo League for Marines. Compared to all the other 60 second documentaries, I thought this one stood out the most. When my brothers and I were little, we used to compete at who could get the pool torpedo’s the quickest. My brothers and I took this game pretty seriously, so I was immediately attracted to the 60 second doc on torpedo leagues. Prime Hall, a former U.S. Marine, is the founder of Underwater Torpedo League. The game had started off as a survival tool. It was meant for marines to learn how to be underwater for long periods of time. It’s now become an official sport attracting new team members all the time.

The point of the game is to put the torpedo into the net at the very bottom of the pool. It’s all CO2 tolerance and breath hold work. According to founder, Prime Hall, you’re shocking your body the whole time. When watching this documentary, you realize how aggressive this sport can get. The league is extremely competitive and is growing fast after only being open for seven months. Many of the guys have become close due to this sport. Their goal as a league is to build water confidence as a nation. I thought this was a very interesting 60 second doc. It was something I had never heard before which is why it immediately caught my attention. At first I was assuming it’s be something similar to what my brothers and I would do as kids, but then quickly realized how aggressive and challenging the sport really is.

I loved the way this mini documentary was filmed. Most of it was filmed underwater to show viewers what this sport looks like. Many of the team members were shown being aggressive. This sport looks highly competitive, while also serving a purpose. I’d understand as to why the Marines would use something like this for training, but I don’t think your average person could do something like this. It’s both intense and something only good swimmers should probably attempt to do. I didn’t think the Marines would use a “game” to train, but I understand as to why it’d work. Although this League is meant to be fun, it also helps Marines adapt to swimming conditions that they could potentially face.

This documentary was something I had never seen before which is why I found it to be so interesting. I also liked that the camera angles made the documentary feel a little more casual. It looked like it was professionally made, but gave you more of an insight of the sport by actually filming what a practice looks like.

If you'd like to watch the mini doc, click the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV9lluwnaWQ