This game and me !!

I discovered underwater hockey 3 years ago. This sport is also known as Octopush in Britain.

I like a lot this sport because you play in a swimming pool, and you move in the 3 dimensions ^^

Moreover it’s a team game, and usually the competition are very familiar, because not a lot of people practice it, so there isn’t a real opponent spirit !!

I hope this blog, will make you discover this sport, and perharps you will try it, and play…. why not with me !!

See you soon…. in water ^^

PH

One outline for you :

Bibliography

In this list of website, you could learn more about underwater hockey :

British Underwater Association : http://www.gbuwh.co.uk/

French Underwater Association : http://hockeysub.ffessm.fr/

My club : http://hockeysub33.net1.fr/

Wikipedia page about this sport : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underwater_hockey

Have fun !!

Goallllllllll!!!!!!!!!!!

With your stick, you have to push the puck in the opponent goal. The goal, is a kind of gutter. With some puck effect you can make the puck float a little. Moreover there is no goal keeper, but only two defender.

Here you can see a goal :

Teams

There are two teams of 10 players, with 6 players of each team in water, whereas the others wait outside the swimming pool.

There is 30 minutes of game time, with a break of 3 minutes after 15 minutes of play.

Moreover a 3 referee keep an eye on the game : 2 are under water, and one is outside.

How do you play this game ?

Do you know hockey ?

It’s quite similar, but different !!

We play in a swimming pool, with equipment like a mask, snorkel, fins…) in apnea.

The goal of the game is to push the puck in the goal thanks to your stick.

Gloves and Puck

In water, sometimes an opponent could hurt with his stick, so you have to wear gloves, to protect yourself.

Usually it’s simply an old garden glove, in which we add some plastic protection.

In this game you will have to move a puck which is around 1.3 kg, thanks to your stick.

This is the kind of puck we use :

Bathing Cap and Stick

When you play, you need to recognize your teammates. The solution is a the color of your bathing suit and cap, and the color of your stick. Usually the cap is a water polo cap and there are only two colors : Black and white and

Moreover the stick is different from one of ice hockey, it’s a little stick as you can see on the picture :

Mask and snorkel

You have to wear a mask to see underwater, and a snorkel to breath quickly and to always have your eyes on the game. You are only allowed to wear a mask with two glasses (there is a separation between each eye), because it’s stronger. Moreover on your snorkel you can put a teeth protection.

Here you can see a mask with two glasses and a snorkel with a protection :

Fins

To practice this sport you will need fins. But there are a lot of different kinds of fins.

Moreover, the fins you need, will also depend on you !! For instance if you want to swim fast , you’ll need rigid ones but you will be exhausted. On the contrary, if your choice, is to take flexible fins, it will be easier to swim and turn up and down, but you will lose some quickness.

Here you can see a rigide one :

Schematic of the game 2

In this second video, you will see one of the basic tactic to transfer the puck from the left to the right, and how to protect and sand the puck. Like the first video, it’s not very fast, so you can easily understand.

Enjoy it !!