Hooked Swim was founded by Ryan Steenkamp, a national swimmer and coach, passionate about sharing his love for swimming. Ryan believes that swimming is an essential life skill that provides an excellent platform for developing character, resilience, self-motivation and long-lasting friendships.

On retirement from competitive swimming, Ryan realised there were not a lot of options for swimmers who did not want to pursue the typical swimming club performance pathway. The swimming club mentality has primarily centred around achieving target times, attending a minimum number of sessions, and discouraging participation in other sports. For that reason, Hooked Swim has decided to offer swimmers something different, the chance to develop at their own pace and build a passion for the sport to help encourage them to make swimming a part of their lives.