Within the world of sports, there’s always a weird sport to discover, mostly sports that have been around for quite some time but are not known to the general public. In this article, the writer discovers weird sports; the spotlight sport is “Underwater Hockey.” Honestly, when I first heard of this sport, I giggled.
Underwater hockey, nicknamed octopush, was a sport created in the 1950s by the British Navy. It was an attempt to help their divers improve their underwater efficiency. The original idea wasn’t to create a sport at all, but what started as a military drill quietly evolved into a competitive sport, and it later became popular in Australia before spreading to the rest of the world. Discipline from both ice hockey and swimming are intertwined to create a competitive physical battle.
At the start of the play, the puck is placed in the middle of the pool, and players have to wait on the wall above the goal they are protecting. Two teams, up to ten players each, with six in the water at a time. No scuba gear, just a mask, snorkel, fins and a short handheld stick. The winner is determined by the team that scores the most goals in the allotted time, just like any other sport. Both teams are free to play. There’s a twist in the play, and that is in breathing because players have no breathing apparatus. Every moment you’re in play, you’re holding your breath. You dive, battle for the puck, surface for air, and immediately dive back in. Every decision happens in the span of a single breath. Strategy, teamwork and lung capacity all have to work together.
The underwater hockey community is quietly thriving, with clubs meeting weekly at local pools worldwide, and the sport has a reputation for being unusually welcoming. Because there’s no money or television deal in it, people play purely because they love it. I went in expecting a novelty. I found a sport with real depth, tactical, physical and genuinely demanding. It’s been hiding in plain sight for 70 years.
Today, underwater hockey is played in over 40 countries and has its own World Championships organized by CMAS, the international diving federation.
