There are a few chess hybrid-sports. Everyone knows chess-boxing, but not everyone knows chess-sprinting (where there's a 10-metre gap between the board and the clock, and 10 mins each on the clock). Chess-diving is a new one to me though!
There's also another alternative to the chess clock. Use a buzzer which sounds every 5 seconds, 10 seconds, whatever, and move on the buzzer. An idea I had with this to make it more interesting would be that the buzzer doesn't go off at set intervals, but at random. Say, anything between 5 seconds and 20 seconds.
http://andrewgelman.com/2012/12/diving-chess/
"Instead of using chess clocks, each player must submerge themselves underwater during their turn, only to resurface when they are ready to make a move. Players must make a move within 5 seconds of resurfacing"
Certainly would improve your skills at getting a good visual impression of the board.