Inventor Kevin Mosley discusses the origins of the swim fin device and its early uses in swimming lessons.

Introduction and Invention of the Swim Fin

The moment when the swim fin helped a young boy gain confidence and start swimming independently.

Realization of the Swim Fin's Effectiveness

The inventor's journey from initial concept to seeking patents and trademarks, as well as the challenges faced in launching the product.

Challenges and Progress in Bringing the Product to Market

The role of creative play and imaginative activities in making swimming lessons more enjoyable and effective for children.

Importance of Fun and Imagination in Swimming Lessons

Explanation of how the swim fin works and its application in teaching swimming, focusing on the body's movements in the water.

Biomechanics and Use of the Swim Fin

Discussion of the swim fin's adaptability for different age groups and its use as a teaching and buoyancy aid in various swimming activities.

Adjustability and Versatility of the Swim Fin

The swim fin's role in boosting stamina, aiding in life-saving classes, and providing a sense of security for adults learning to swim.

Enhancing Stamina and Safety with the Swim Fin

Utilizing the swim fin in water polo, life-saving classes, and lifeguard training to improve swimming techniques and safety skills.

Application of Swim Fin in Water Polo and Lifeguard Training

Marketing strategies, sales pipeline, and distribution channels for the swim fin, emphasizing its potential to save lives and reduce drowning incidents.

Commercialization and Distribution of the Swim Fin

Discussion of the swim fin's worldwide availability, customization options, and branding opportunities for businesses and swim schools.

Global Reach and Branding of the Swim Fin

Exploration of a professional development course aimed at providing in-depth knowledge of the swim fin's scientific and psychological aspects, and its diverse applications in swimming instruction.

Professional Development and In-Depth Understanding of the Swim Fin

Discussing ideas for teens, lesson programs, and school groups.

Ideas for Teens and Lesson Programs

Exploring case studies on disabilities and SwimFin's effectiveness.

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities

Delving into the science and psychology of teaching methods.

Understanding the Science and Psychology

Discussing the evolution of teaching methods and technology.

Advancements in Teaching Methods

Highlighting the potential impact of the SwimFin course on instructors.

Impact of SwimFin Course on Teaching

Exploring certification and changing perspectives in teaching methods.

Certification and Changing Perspectives

Emphasizing the awareness of alternatives and creativity in teaching.

Awareness of Alternatives and Creativity

Discussing the impact on children and the aquatic profession.

Saving Lives and Future Prospects

**Introducing Swim Fin - The Innovative Swim Aid**

*Helping Kids Learn to Swim Safely and Efficiently*

Hello, wherever you are in the world and whatever time of day it is. I'm Mark Ruttekus with the International Swim Coach Association, and I'm excited to have Kevin Mosley, the inventor of the innovative swim fin device, here with me today.

**The Invention of Swim Fin**

- The swim fin was first launched in 2008, but the concept dates back to the mid-80s when Kevin was teaching kids to swim.
- The idea for the swim fin came from Kevin's desire to create a fun and contrasting activity for kids at the end of their swimming lessons.
- The Eureka moment came when a four-year-old who couldn't swim was able to swim and chase others after using the swim fin.
- Despite the initial challenges of bringing the product to market, Kevin's persistence paid off, and the swim fin has since been helping millions of kids learn to swim in over 140 countries.

**The Benefits of Swim Fin**

- Swim fin offers an innovative and fun way for kids to learn to swim, utilizing psychological and scientific principles to make swimming lessons enjoyable and effective.
- The swim fin encourages imaginative play, bringing more structure to swimming lessons and making learning to swim more efficient and enjoyable for kids.

**Biomechanics and Functionality**

- Contrary to popular belief, the swim fin does not force the face into the water. It is designed to provide stability and support for swimmers, helping them improve their swimming techniques.
- The swim fin is a self-adjusting buoyancy aid, providing support for swimmers of all ages and skill levels, including adults and special needs individuals.

**Versatility and Applications**

- The swim fin is suitable for a wide range of activities, including water polo, treading water, and life-saving classes, making it a versatile tool for both swim schools and individuals.
- It can also be used for progressive practices for all four major strokes, as well as in aqua fit classes and for lifeguards in training.

**Marketing and Availability**

- Swim fin is available worldwide, with distributors in various countries, including the US, Europe, and Australia.
- The swim fin is available for purchase through authorized distributors and can be customized to match specific brand colors, making it a great marketing tool for swim schools and businesses.

**Continued Professional Development (CPD) Course**

- Swim fin offers a CPD course for swim instructors, coaches, and individuals who want to explore the science and psychology behind the swim fin and its applications in swimming lessons and training.
- The course covers in-depth topics such as biomechanics, progressive practices, and the psychological impact of the swim fin on swimmers of all ages.

**Enhancing Teaching Methods and Impact**

- The CPD course delves into practical applications of swim fin for teens, lesson programs, school groups, and individuals with special educational needs and disabilities.
- Case studies from autism, Down syndrome, paraplegia, and amputees showcase how SwimFin can be effective for individuals with different abilities.
- The course also emphasizes the importance of understanding the science and psychology behind swim fin, ultimately empowering teachers to enhance their teaching methods and have a lasting impact on their students.

**Get Your Swim Fin Today**

- To learn more about swim fin and to purchase this innovative swim aid, visit foamawesome.com or contact your local distributor for availability and customization options.

**Join the Swim Fin Revolution**

- Join us in revolutionizing the way kids and adults learn to swim and stay safe in the water with the innovative swim fin. Let's make swimming lessons more enjoyable, effective, and accessible for everyone.

Thank you for joining us in this exciting journey to transform the way we approach swimming education and safety. Together, we can make a positive impact and help more individuals become confident and skilled swimmers.

"Revolutionize Swim Education with Swim Fin - Join the Movement Today!"

When he had a little four-year-old who couldn't swim

To save the swim school from having to replace their own equipment

To provide a fun and creative activity for the kids

It provides a great marketing tool and exposure for the swim school

It allows the swim school to sell the equipment at a higher price

It reduces the cost of marketing for the swim school

It helps the swim school to expand its business globally

It provides a visual tool for coaching and teaching

It helps in developing core stability in swimmers

It is a marketing and PR tool for swim schools

- Kevin Mosley, inventor of a swim fin device, discusses the origin and development of his invention
- The swim fin is designed to make swimming lessons more fun and effective for kids
- It does not force the face into the water and is suitable for all ages and body types
- The device has been successful in helping millions of kids learn to swim in over 140 countries

- Swim fin is a self-adjusting buoyancy aid that helps swimmers maintain their position in the water without the need to inflate or deflate
- It can be used for water polo, swim play, and as a teaching aid for lifeguards and progressive swimming practices
- It is marketed as a tool to help reduce drowning rates and is available for purchase through distributors at foamawesome.com

- The speaker sells swim fins to swim schools in boxes of 30 units
- The swim fins can be branded with the swim school's logo and are indestructible
- The swim fins can be used for both kids and adults and come in various colors
- The speaker also offers a course on how to use the swim fins effectively for different swimming techniques, such as backstroke and breaststroke

- Discussion about a course on breaststroke and SwimFin
- Emphasis on teaching methods and technology advancement
- Course covers case studies on disabilities and elderly individuals using SwimFin
- Impact of the course on teachers and official certification from Swim England
- Focus on awareness, alternatives, and creativity in teaching
- Potential to save lives through improved teaching methods

Kevin Mosley, inventor of the swim fin device, discusses its origin and development. The swim fin is designed to make swimming lessons more fun and effective for kids, suitable for all ages and body types. It has been successful in helping millions of kids learn to swim in over 140 countries. The self-adjusting buoyancy aid is used for water polo, swim play, and as a teaching aid for lifeguards. It is marketed as a tool to help reduce drowning rates and is available for purchase through distributors. The speaker sells swim fins to swim schools in boxes of 30 units, which can be branded with the swim school's logo and are indestructible. The swim fins come in various colors and can be used for both kids and adults. The speaker also offers a course on how to use the swim fins effectively for different swimming techniques, with a focus on teaching methods and technology advancement. The course covers case studies on disabilities and elderly individuals using SwimFin, and the potential to save lives through improved teaching methods is emphasized.

Hello, wherever you are in the world and whatever time of day it is.

I'm Mark Ruttekus with the International Swim Coach Association, but Kevin Mosley is here, the inventor of a swim fin device.

We launched in 2008, but the idea, the concept dates well back into the mid 80s when I was a relatively young rookie teaching kids to swim.

I just needed something that I could play with the kids at the end of the lesson, a bit of a contrasting activity and this is Mark 1.

This is the very first version just to play with the kids.

I would put that on my back, disappear under the water and just bring the fin up, chase the kids.

They just couldn't wait to play at the end of the lesson, which was great.

But The Eureka moment came when I had a little four-year-old who couldn't swim.

It was a hop and a stroke, hop and a stroke.

He didn't quite have the confidence to take his feet off the floor, but he was desperate to be sharky and chase me, chase the kids.

So what we did, we put the fin on his back, he took his feet off the floor, he went under, and then he came up again and started to swim and chase everybody, and that was the game.

But what we realized, I looked at his father and his father looked at me, because this was this was the key moment.

We've got we've got the little boy swimming.

But what we realised is the fin was no longer in the water.

So it wasn't helping him as like armbands would do or a body vest.

He just needed that little bit of a nudge to get him swimming.

From there, I mean, we looked and he said to me, his father said to me, you need to get patents on this and get it trademarked and whatever and I looked at doing that in the 80s but I was a relatively young guy just setting up my first the first 1 schools.

I think certainly within the northwest if not the UK private industry, pension and mortgage and the rest of that.

So Sharky would go to into the attic, stay there, bring him out every now and again.

But in the US you have a program called the Shark Tank.

And I saw an application and this was in 2006.

Would I want to, you know, I applied for Dragons Den.

I had to put a plan together because they were filming in August of 2006.

And I knew, I don't know if you're aware, Mark Foster, he's a huge UK Olympic swimming champion, been to so many Olympic games.

He was endorsing what we call then swimfing at the time.

The Dragons wanted potentially it was a 50% deal.

As a swimming instructor, what do I know about business?

What do I know about logistics, manufacturing?

So I needed their expertise to help me bring this product to market.

I went away for a year and a half to do further research and development until we came up with this version.

And it hasn't changed at all since we launched in 2008.

We now export, we've lost count over well over 140 countries and we're helping tens and tens of millions of kids learn to swim.

And how they learn to swim is innovative because of the psychological, the scientific principles that sit within this design.

Let's talk about fun right on the forefront.

Okay, Basically, who doesn't want to be a shark or a fish or a whale or dolphin?

We even the dabs, we've all seen the dabs do this in the water pretending to be a shark.

Now we have this that will do it for them.

So it's opens up a whole new world of imagination, creative play, brings in more structure to a swimming lesson.

If we get the teachers to certain keywords, sharks, dolphins, fishes.

But primarily, all kids want to be, let's say a shark, and if we can say to the kids, all sharks blow bubbles.

And if you can put your faces in the water, and this is the magic, this is why we can get kids swimming so much more efficiently and effectively in a fraction of the time because of the fun element.

As soon as they put their face in the water, this is no longer working, but they're playing sharks, fishes, whales.

And We learn at an incredible rate if we certainly enjoy what we're doing.

The kids' swimming lessons now are just lots of fun.

Let's talk about the biomechanics or the motions in the water.

Okay, contrary to belief, because people, I hear this from worldwide teachers, we don't use buoyancy aids or any backpack, we'll tip the kids' faces forward.

1 or 2 little rules that we use is, first of all, don't use a swim fin on a child that has no upper body control, i.e.

18 months, 2 years old, they're fine because they're running up and down the stairs, they're running around the garden, they have core stability, which the fundamental movement skills are important for using swimfins.

So when teachers say to me, oh it forces the faces into the water.

And I'll ask them how in any of your own words or using 3 of the scientific laws for every action, there's an opposite and equal reaction.

Because it's a vertical swimming aid, because of the innovation and what makes this so different.

It's impossible to force a child's face in the water if they have that core stability.

And we're talking of 2 year olds, 3 year olds is not a problem because what happens and this is what makes it so unique because the kids want to blow bubbles and be the shark and fish, the whale, the dolphin.

As they lean forward, more of the fin comes out of the water.

So the science is there's less force doing anything and what it will actually do, it will find an equilibrium with each and every child who's totally different and you'll find you look on the social media sites there's hundreds of photographs kids just sitting there with their chin on the water not doing anything because it's placed above the center of gravity on the back, all it will do is suspend the child in the water or the adult in the water or special needs, whoever.

So it's impossible to force the phase down because something that's not in the water can't be working.

And that's what makes it so clever and so unique.

So it's a psychological as well as a scientific piece of tool.

And you talked about different populations.

Well, each, I mean, from the sales point of view, each swim fin comes in a packet with 2 standard size elasticated Velcro straps for the rest of the world, a slightly different strap for the Australian market.

But because the straps are elasticated, that they stretch and they fit snugly to the body.

There's plenty of movement on the Velcro so we can adjust it accordingly.

What we want, we need it to be fitted snugly to be part of the body.

It's just not going to do what it's supposed to do.

Scientific laws apply to everything, to everyone.

They don't change because you're slightly older or slightly bigger.

We do do larger straps for the bigger kids or the adults and we have a lot of teachers wearing the swim fin to be part of, you know, so they can they can be interactive.

But that's another part of the lesson why the teacher wears a swim fin.

So yes, different size strap, but 1 size works for all.

And remember, if it's not in the water, it's not working anyway.

So very, very useful for adults who they always think they're going to sink.

This is why they've never, they've never swam for 30, 40, 50, 60 years and they come for a swimming lesson because they're frightened of sinking.

Here we have a backup system that they're not going to sink so they're perhaps able to try more things that they never thought they could do.

And again once they've got their forward motion and their position this comes out the water so it's a self-adjusting buoyancy aid it saves us having to inflate deflate add or remove additional support this will work every single second, whatever you need according to them.

If you can control your upper body, so 2, 3 year olds, it's not an issue.

What we do for some of the kids, we introduce water polo.

Now what we generally find with the kids as a contrast in activity 678 years old, they struggle to tread water for 20 seconds a minute.

Here what they have to do, I mean, I'm sitting in a reclining chair, it's on their back, just sit back.

Rather than having to work and drink water and get tired or hang onto the side, miss the game, miss the action, you're right in the thick of it.

And because it's profile and streamline, unlike armbands that are going to make it difficult.

As soon as you start to swim forward, this comes out the water, it's streamlined, it's not going to give you it's going to give you very little resistance, just like so aerodynamic.

Yeah, we love the gameplay or the water polo or the the swim play.

You know, that's Just part of the game is an elite game, but that would really help boost the stamina, so kids could play longer.

we also use it in life saving classes, because when we're when we're teaching lifeguards to.

You've got the 2 kind of you've got the the whip kick and you've got the egg beater.

If you've got to do resuscitation to a casualty in the water, you have to get high enough to get over to inflate.

In the early days, This is an assistance.

It will help you develop a leg kick and more power until you take it off.

You don't have to use it all the time, but it's there as a teaching aid.

It's a teaching aid That then brings us into how we use it for progressive practices for all 4 major strokes as well as we've just mentioned water polo.

There's nothing to stop the ladies wearing this for aqua fit classes because they wear the belts.

We have a lot of those strong teenage boys that want to be lifeguards.

They've got to tread for a time with their hands out.

This would be just enough to give them a nudge so they could keep their head up, they could get their techniques done, they wouldn't be frailing as much.

They can do that for a few days and then maybe take it off and pass that treading test.

So tell us about how it's some marketed and delivered and, you know, go through the sales pipeline for this as far as the commercialization?

Well selling this, our main, our main, hit on this is because of the psychological and the scientific differences, We are getting kids swimming safer in a fraction of the time.

I'm personally not there to teach Olympics.

I can do, I have done, but primarily, we've got to do something to bring what is an international pandemic down.

The figures are crawling higher and higher.

Australia, they've just had their figures come through.

What have we got to do to bring these figures down?

The way I look at this, drowning statistics is a child or somebody who's faithfully had an accident.

If we can get kids primarily if they fall into the water, in my opinion, if they fall into the water we have to get them back to the side as soon as possible.

And because of the way swim fin works, if they fall in the water, a teacher say to me, we don't use buoyancy aids because if a child falls in the water, they won't have a swim fin in their pocket.

I'm of the impression, well, this, the swim fin will teach them to swim sooner rather than wait for that risk of them to fall in the water.

Let's get them swimming before that happens.

And if it's just a matter of getting them 2 or 3 meters from the side back to the edge of the pool or whatever situation there is, Does it matter how we teach them kids to do that?

And 1 of the big things now is rather than worry about doing a one-to-one, we can now take 10, 15 kids in a class, let them all play, we don't really have to teach them anything verbally, you know, do this guys do that, because they all want to play, swim away, playing sharks.

As soon as this is, their faces are down, this is out of the water.

And we've proved we can do this in minutes.

In minutes, we can get the kids just enough to swim back to the side.

Now we did, I went to the United States Swim School Association conference last October.

I'm there with our distributors and some teachers came up to me and said you know and I'm giving them this this talk and they said can I prove it?

I said absolutely I'll meet you on the poolside So we arranged for their teachers to go poolside.

And I put swim fins on the teachers and I gave them some difficult things to do.

And they thought, oh my God, I realized what mistakes, they realized what mistakes they were making because Swimfin was having to correct them.

And this is scientific in the way it works.

But what we did is somebody managed to find a four-year-old volunteer, a Mexican guy, little boy, couldn't speak English.

He's just been fostered within the last month.

So he was a bit shy of adults and he was wearing a swim vest.

What we did is we took the swim vest off him, replaced it with a swim fin.

Within 6 minutes, Mark, 6 minutes, we took the fin off him and this kid was swimming.

Now you could see his body language, his reactions, the smiles.

We educated this child to what is possible as well as the teachers that this is achievable.

So if we can have, you know, 10, 15 kids, let's say comfortably 10 kids in a class all playing, all of a similar ability, 1 instruction will carry the whole group perfectly safe in the deep water.

So we can maximize the whole of the pool.

How frustrating is it for a lot of people when you see 1 teacher with 1 pupil holding on to the the noodle or the woggle when there's a whole pool being wasted.

Now if we could get more teachers taking 10 kids, how would that affect the drowning prevention?

Because we're giving these kids more skills to prevent themselves from drowning and to me that to me is so important rather than doing, and again, I don't wanna, but what they say, we're saving lives 1 swimmer at a time.

Drowning will never stop if that's the attitude.

Whereas we think about the education system.

If each child has to learn to read and write and do maths and whatever on a one-to-one basis, we're gonna have a whole country of uneducated kids.

And I see that the same as with swimming.

And this is why there's more kids losing the chance because the teachers are doing more of a one-to-one basis.

Whereas now this gives us the opportunity in a fun and creative way to take 10 kids at a time.

So we're going to reduce the drowning rate by at least 50% by opening this opportunity up.

Yeah, so the volume, there's definitely strengthened numbers and yeah, it's a universal approach.

State side, we have distributors at foamawesome.com.

We're hoping to supply even more of the swim schools.

Because as a swim school, and it's a teaching aid, we supply them at crazy trade prices which then gives the swim schools an opportunity to sell on to the parents because We know what happens is little Timmy's gonna use this and he's gonna do so well in his lesson.

Mom's gonna say, can we borrow the swim fin?

We wanna take him to the pool at the weekend.

And teachers are, well, no, it belongs to the school.

You know, so you can go onto the internet or if you've got them in your office, what color do you want?

So that way, there's a lot of advantages for doing this.

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