fitness

Underwater Hockey – Kind of Like Ultimate Frisbee but …. Goofier?

Diane Harper

This Fall my friend Aimee decided to give underwater hockey a try so I decided to go watch a game. I watched the game, I looked up the rules, and I’m still not sure what the heck was going on!

It is similar to ultimate frisbee in that it’s a mixed gender game, with a minimum of two women per team. There wasn’t an obvious coach or referee. You try to move a round object so it goes through a goal marked by a couple of bricks or similar objects on the ground (or bottom of the pool). There is no goalie. You can have extra players who sub in. People of all ages and shapes seem to play. It’s officially a no -contact sport.

There is minimal protective equipment: goggles with ear protectors like water polo players use, a gardening or similar glove to protect the “stick” hand is optional, and some players appear to have a mouth protector thingy on their snorkels.

Aimee is in the water at the side of the pool. She is wearing her black cap, goggles and blue glove. There are three little “hockey sticks” on the deck along with her red water bottle and a construction cone I cannot explain.

I looked up the rules and that’s where things got wild. Some rules say 6 players per side with two spares per team. Others say four spares. There can be two 10 minute halves with a 5 minute break. Or two 15 minute halves with a 3 minute break.

The puck weighs about 1.5 kg apparently, but I never actually saw it in the water. Instead, what I saw was something that looked a bit like a fish feeding frenzy moving around the pool. Does the puck get passed? I have no idea! Who won? Also no idea, and judging by how the players came out of the water, winning was the least important part of the sport.

A group of swimmers in a swimming pool. Some are floating, others are diving with their flippers in the air, and at least one is completely under water.

Update: cleanup afterwards involved a bunch of poles that maybe marked boundaries and to keep the puck from sliding out of bounds? The pool was shared with a fitness class on one side and a swim class on the other. The metal things in the picture below are used for the goals, and the red discos with handles are the pucks. Why did they have so many? I haven’t a clue.

It looks like fun though. I’m always up for a bit of goofiness in the water. It looks like I can sign up for three trial sessions before making a commitment, so I might just do that in the Fall.

Published by Diane Harper

Diane Harper is a public servant who lives and swims (and bikes) in Ottawa. In her hobby life, she is Siglinde Harfnerstochter, a 6th C Merovingian housewife from the city of Metz. Her primary interests are cooking, textile arts and bonecarving. Siglinde lives in the canton of Caldrithig, Barony of Skraeling Althing, Kingdom of Ealdormere.

One thought on “Underwater Hockey – Kind of Like Ultimate Frisbee but …. Goofier?”

  1. It can be a great deal of fun with the right people. Just remember- Breathing is optional!

    Reply

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