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Underwater- hockey |
UW-Hockey-manual (zipped rich text format)
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A brief help manual (about 5 pages) is available; it
includes instructions for getting additional, more detailed help pages.
This page is a sub-page of the Boblen UW-Rugby pages. The compilation below is the result of a cooperation beetween the users of the UW-hockey Mailing List and myself during winter 1994/95. At that time there were no (other) UWH-websites around. Thank you all for your help. I will not put on more info here, since there are many good UWH-sites up by now, but I hope you will keep me updated on the UWH-links in the future. Mail me at even@gfi.uib.no?subject=www.boblen:.
Last modified: Tue Mar 31 11:03:29 Vest-Europa, sommertid 1998by Stacy Kim in the US (slkim@mit.edu)
The official rules all sound rather mind boggling so I thought I'd write out a more simple explanation of the game.
Teams are 6 person each, but you can play with four to eight. The pool should be 25m x 15m and 2m deep all the way across, but anything will do, even slopes (just change ends at halftime). Lead weights and rope can be used as goals (3m long) until someone with the right connections to make aluminum goals starts playing. The puck can be a 3cm thick slice of 8cm diameter brass bar, or lead poured into a small tuna can, and sticks can be cut from scrap wood (about a foot long) and painted black or white (that's also how you identify the two teams). Gloves can be old dive gloves or even garden gloves, covered in duct tape, neoprene, hot glue or anything else to protect your hand from the bottom of the pool and the puck.
Start with the puck in the middle of the pool and the teams lined up at either end (play also starts this way after a goal is scored). "Teams ready, go" starts the designated players racing to get possession of the puck. We play zones, like basketball, with forward offensive players and back defensive players.
Rules are simple - no body contact unless your stick is on the puck (ie no forechecking or moving screens), no touching the puck with anything but your stick, and no detaining or obstructing another player (even if you do have the puck) by pulling off his mask or fins or holding on to him. One other important piece of equipment - besides mask, fins, snorkle and glove, it is a very good idea for everyone to wear some sort of ear protection, like water polo caps or wrestling headgear. Broken eardrums from another player running into you or kicking you are the most common injury (but it doesn't happen often if you're wearing headgear). So get your equipment together and get down there and score!
The official rules contain complete information on stick and goal dimensions. See Ordering UW-hockey Stuff.
Center: Tries to get initial possession of the puck. Is an offensive player and generally positioned directly on or in front of the play.
Wings (right and left): Score goals and steal the puck from the other team's defense. Both are offensive players that stay in front of the play for forward passes. When in trouble, pass backward to the halfbacks. Watch that the weak side wing (on the side the puck isn't) doesn't drift too far onto the strong side - your halfbacks will be trying to feed the puck up the weak side (where the other guy's defense isn't) and need someone to put it in the goal.
Halfbacks (right and left): Stop the other team and feed the wings. Strong side (the side the puck is on) follows behind the play closely, weak side is last man back, guarding the goal. Careful - strong and weak side can switch quickly so halfbacks have to do a lot of swimming up and down the pool to stay in position.
Swingback: Defensive player, second to last man back. Backs up the halfbacks especially when the play is moving from one side of the pool to the other. Plays the "pivot point" that the whole defense is based on.
The official rules contain complete information on stick and
goal dimensions. You can get the rulebook for $17.00 from:
Carol Rose, Underwater Society of America
PO Box 628
Daly City, CA 94017
(415) 583-8492
email croseusoa@aol.com
If you have funds, you can order pucks (plastic coated lead) for
$40.00 each, and individual sets of sticks (one black, one white,
specify right or left handed) for $20.00 from:
Kendall Banks
264 Pinecrest Beach Drive
East Falmouth, MA 02536
508-540-3205
email slkim@mit.edu
Gloves are easy to make with a garden glove and some hot glue. Sorry, but you're on your own for real goals, but rope and weights work just fine.
If you have any other questions, please feel free to give us a
call!
Kendall Banks, National Director for Underwater Hockey
264 Pinecrest Beach Drive
East Falmouth, MA 02536
(508) 540-3205
or email me at slkim@mit.edu
Hope to see you on the bottom sometime!
And here is some info recieved from David Andrews, West Palm Beach, Florida:
Underwater hockey is a real sport, with real regional, national, and international tournaments. In these tournaments there are real refs, timers, athletes and stuff, however, at most "friendly" games and practice sessions it is more like any other sport where people just get together and play without the formality and time structure of a tournament.
There are quite a few athletes playing underwater hockey. However, there are a lot more "wish I was an athlete" players. I am one of the latter. I am 56 years old and have a pacemaker and I play three times a week. The water is an equilizer so even a heart patient (me) and newer players and young men and women can play in the same game with the "jocks". Virtually all of the clubs/teams that I know of are co-ed. Underwater hockey is a great cardio-vascular workout and a lot of fun. Some clubs are more competition oriented and some are more 'recreation'oriented. Even in a competition oriented club a "non-athlete" can still have a good time and stay in tip top shape for diving.
Here is some general information for getting underwater hockey started in your area:
Equipment
Puck - Lead disk coated with plastic 30mm thick, 80mm diameter.
Sticks - Wood or plastic (they must float). See specs. Make at least
12 sticks, half painted white, half black.
Gloves - See specs. In a pinch any old glove covered with duct tape or
padded with wet suit material will do, but it is important that
new players have good hand protection or they will not return.
Goals - Official CMAS goals are 3 meters lang and expensive. Anything
as simple as weight belts or weighted PVC pipe will do for now.
Pool - An ideal pool for underwater hockey would have a flat smooth
(tile or fiberglass) 25 yard long playing area 7 to 9 feet deep.
There are not many pools like that around so use almost any
pool.
A low volume mask, a large barrel snorkel, and a strong pair of full foot pocket fins are probably best, but any will do for starters.
Basic Rules
Six players (more or less for informal recreational play) on each team. One team has black sticks, the other team has white. Teams line up at opposite ends of playing area with the puck centered between them on the pool bottom. At an agreed on signal "White-Black ready, Go!", team members race to the puck and try to control it with their sticks, passing to team members or taking it away from opponents. A score or goal is made when the puck passes completely through the designated goal area.
After a goal, teams line up and restart (within 30 sec. in tournaments). Nothing should contact the puck except the playing area of the stick. No body to body contact (unless your stick is on the puck). Only one hand is allowed on the stick (please use hand protection) and the free hand may only be used for swimming, to protect yourself from flying fins, or to push off the bottom. It is illegal to obstruct an opponent in any way while not in possession of the puck.
Strategy
The primary objective of underwater hockey is to push, pass, and shoot the puck into the opponents' goal as often as possible while preventing the other team from scoring in your goal. A good way to start is to have three players designated as 'forwards' and three as 'backs'. As in basketball, a goalkeeper is not necessary. The puck is pushed along the pool bottom with the side of the stick and a pass is accomplished by a combined motion of pushing, swinging the lower arm from the elbow, and flicking the stick with the wrist. A good pass for beginners is 4 to 6 feet. World class players shoot 10 to 15 feet. A successful offensive play is to dive down, receive a pass from a teammate and complete a pass to another teammate. Passing advances the puck faster than swimming or pushing it. A successful defensive play is to steal the puck from an opponent and complete a pass to a teammate. It is very important to remember that you may take the puck away from an opponent, but you may not take an opponent away from the puck.
STICKS:
A typical underwater hockey stick is approximately 12 inches long,
made out of 3/4 inch thick wood and painted either black or white for
team identification. All underwater hockey sticks must adhere to a basic
set of dimensions. Their size and shape may vary over a wide range
within those dimensions to fit personal tastes and needs. The primary
aim is to have a stick that provides the best puck control and the
longest shot. Players make their own sticks or a team makes a set of
them.
front or passing side of stick
___________________________________
/ / \__________________
| playing area (black or white) / / handle \
| _________________________/_/_______________________/
| /
\__/ back or hooking side
Max. distance between any two
points on the playing area ................. 220 mm
Max. recess on any part of the playing area
as measured perpendicular to a straight line
touching any two parts of the playing area ... 15 mm
Playing area thickness ....................... 15 to 20 mm
Handle thickness ........................... 10 to 40 mm
Handle width ............................. 15 to 50 mm
All corners rounded to ....................... 10 mm radius or more
Edge radius of intersecting surfaces .......... 2 mm minimum
The stick shall not be capable of surrounding, encapsulating
or locking the puck to the playing area by the incorporation
of holes, cavities and/or deep recesses.
GLOVE:
An underwater hockey glove should protect the stick hand from scraping on
the pool bottom and protect from blows from opposing player's sticks and
hard contact with the puck. An inexpensive cotton garden-type glove may
be used if covered with hot-melt glue from a glue gun or Shoe Goo or
Aquaseal or automotive Goop. Apply the protective material to cover the
backs and tips of the fingers, the tip and side of the thumb, the back of
the knuckles, and a little spot at the heel of your hand that somehow
seems to always get scraped on the pool bottom. Players design their own
gloves by adding neoprene inserts and shaping the glove to conform to a
hand holding a stick.
David Andrews. West Palm Beach, Florida.
ps. I am not on the underwater hockey net so if you want me to know anything, you should send it to me at the S.ANDREWS6@GENIE.GEIS.COM e-mail address. I have a set of the Underwater Rugby rules here but have not tried it yet.
Posted by Carol Rose March 8th 1995:
Club Puck is the longest standing underwater hockey team in the Cen Cal Council of Diving Clubs based in northern and central California. The team plays twice weekly at Ohlone College in Fremont, California, and has been national champions many times over. The team originally played at the Treasure Island pool at the Naval Base in San Francisco Bay. The pool was destroyed in the 1989 earthquake.
Players from this club provide the main pool of players for the biennial world championship teams. The USOA Mens world team placed third in the World Championships in 1994 in Rouen, France. The second longest standing team, Team Santa Cruz, also provides players at the world level and one player, Brigit Grimm, was on the Club Puck team wining in Chicago.
Underwater hockey play is usually divided between men and women, but until lately, there have been inadequate numbers of women to provide world level team play, and world level women usually play on mens teams. Brigit plays on the Team Santa Cruz Mens team (she has been captain) and has been on the USOA Women's world teams for the past five tournaments. She will head up the 1996 team going to South Africa in April 1996. Her husband, Mike Grimm, will head up the Mens world team. Both have been USOA Athletes of the Year to the USOC.
Also on the Club Puck team is another USOA Athlete of the Year to USOC: Mark Voelker. Other Club Puck world team members from 1994 and previous years are Rich Gray, Doug Tipton and John Fischer. Puck members from the 1994 Mens Masters World Team are Dan Mc Kinley, Roger Fuller (Level 3/World Referee) and Greg Mau.
The 1995 Pacific Coast Championships were played in San Diego at the Plunge over the weekend of November 4-6. The classic three divisions were assembled: Open, Women and Coed (2 women players in water at all times). Cen Cal teams are *. Canadians teams participated in all divisions and Canadian women played on the composite women's teams. General play was under the supervision of National Director, Kendall Banks and Chief Referee, Woody Lee.
There were 6 teams in the Open Division: Vancouver Squids, Seattle Sea Hammers, Santa Rosa Sharks*, Club Puck Donuts*, Cape Cod Screaming Wheelies & Club Puck @#$%.
There were 3 teams in the Women's Division: SD/Chicago, Skates and Northwest.
And 7 teams in the Coed Division: SD Plungers, BC Ducks, Chicago Freds, Seattle, Saskatoon Seals, Club Puck*, and Calgary Scum Suckers. The weekend began with a Level 1 Referee course where 6 persons qualified. Play began with the Captains and referee meets just prior to play. Team names were invented - some not fit to print, but as some councils and clubs split teams, more names were needed to tell the teams apart.
As the very deep end was filled with water walkers (a new exercise), the referee's table and command post was on a scaffolding out in the water on the shallower side. The table was under the charge of US Chief Referee, Woody Lee, with Carol Rose as chief time/score keeper. Many thanks to Margaret Francis, Canadian Chief Referee for her extensive and able assistance, and to the many others who helped out as needed. Now that games timed/scored count toward the Certification Levels, the table is much more popular place. There were only two mishaps: some stitches in a forehead and some teeth lost. As a result of an increase in lost teeth, high lighted by the tournament, the rules now require a mouth guard of some kind for USOA sanctioned play: nationals, Chicago and PCCs tournaments.
There were 37 women present at the tournament; ;three more and a fourth team could have played! This is a great advance for women's play in general, and the rules for 1995 will probably require 3 women in the water at all times for PCC Coed division.
Play in the Open Division was very good and close. Cen Cal teams invented a new way delaying tactic, but it was finally foiled with Cen Cal placing 3rd. Second by nose and 2 pucks was the composite team, Screaming Cheeta Wheelies (see what I mean about the names) led by Kendall Banks. Champions were the Seattle Sea Hammers.
In the Coed Division, Chicago hung in for their second win of the year having won the B Division at Nationals. Second was San Diego. The Tournament was excellently run even if the barriers did have an inclination to float now and then. The final dinner and trip on the Bahia Bell paddle wheeler with awards, band, dancing and general good times was a more than fitting finale to a wonderful weekend.
San Diego U/W Hockey would like to thank the following:
Sports Chalet Dive Store
Pure Rush Shirt Printing
Watersports Publishing
Divers Best
Stephen Birch Aquarium
Slice & Ice Pizza
Coaster's Saloon
CEN CAL WINS!
The Annual First U/W Hockey Tournament of the Year was played in Chicago over the weekend of January 20-22 at Midwestern University. Some ten teams from all over the US and Canada participated. The weekend started with a Level 1 Referee Course which saw several more Level 1 Refs certified. After the round robin, the B Division finals saw Minnesota take First Place followed by Chicago. The A Division seeding for Finals was Montreal, Cape Cod, Club Puck and St. Louis. The standard elimination followed with #1 playing #4, #2 playing #3. It appears the past World Champions from Montreal were a little too confident, and they fell to the #4 St. Louis team while the crowd chanted USA, USA!
Club Puck then beat Cape Cod. And in the finals, Cape Cod beat Montreal to take 3rd! (more chanting) while Club Puck and St. Louis played to a one to one tie; it was still tied two to two after the over time, and so Sudden Death set in. Club Puck scored and won the tournament.
The Palm Beach U/W Hockey, Inc. announces the 4 on 4 Championships to be held at Gaines Park pool, West Palm Beach, Fl, march 17-19, 1995. Warm up starts Friday, March 17 with play on Saturday and Sunday from 8:30 am to 6 PM. Teams are limited to 4 players in the water with 2 subs on deck. The pool is 3.5 to 5.5' deep but very fast with a fiberglass bottom. Cost is $60 per team. Contact Pat Partington, 407 687 6069 work; 407 684 3494 home; or email pat.partington@sfwmd.gov for information and details. Deadline for entry is February 17th. Camp-o-rama to follow!
The Calgary U/W Hockey Club announces its Easter Tournament to take place at Lindsay Park Sports Center in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dates are April 14-16 with a March 7 entry deadline. Basic fees are $60/player with special packages available. A Banff ski trip is also planned. The tournament will begin with a skills clinic on April 14 at 6 PM. Play begins on the 15th at 10 am. The playing surface is large glazed tiles in an area of 21 by 12 m; the pool is a uniform 2.4 m deep. This is an 'Open' tournament. Accommodations are available at the Stampeder Inn where the ending social will be held. Commemorative t shirts, boxer shorts, caps and towels are planned.
The skills clinic runs from 6 PM to 10 PM on the 14th. A Level 1 referees clinic will also be held if there is interest. The course is a dry one and requires 3-4 hours for certification. Those interested in the Level 1 Course should contact Margaret Frances at 403 243-5467 (home) or email 74451.2016@compuserve.com
A British team of u/w hockey players have tentatively arranged to come to the West Coast of the US in the last week of July and first week of August. Their only wish besides lots of u/w hockey play is to visit Disneyland, hence the Mouse Tournament. A loose arrangement may be made for a weekend of play, inviting the defending National and PCC Championship teams from Bellingham and Seattle with the Brits then traveling south for theme parks and u/w hockey in San Diego. More details as they develop!
PCC Underwater Hockey 1995 will be hosted by the University of British Columbia u/w hockey club in Vancouver over the weekend of October 13-15. This is a USOA sanctioned tournament, and all USA players must be USOA members - no pay, no play. .
There may be a Referee Course taught on Thursday with PCCs starting on Friday morning. The Captain's meeting followed by a referee meeting has yet to be scheduled. Play begins Friday and continues Saturday and Sunday. Dinner and awards will follow. The pool is 50 m, so 2 games may be played at the same time allowing for all the play wanted. Divisions for the Tournament are Men, Women and Mixed - mixed teams must have three women players in the water at all times. For more information, contact Roger Kemp via email at kemp@physics.ubc.ca.
It is only 14 months to Worlds!! The 1996 World Champion ships will held in Durban, South Africa in April 1996. Plans are under way for team selection, logo clothing and general mayhem. Terry Leitheuser of Houston, Texas, is organizing the Masters Team which may be mixed gender in 1996. Rumor has it, Mike and Brigit Grimm are organizing the Mens and Women's teams respectively.
SANTA CRUZ, UC SANTA CRUZ
in school year Mondays 8 PM - 10 PM
East Field House Pool Cost $5
call 408 338 6834
SANTA ROSA SWIM CENTER
Tuesdays & Thursdays year 'round
Mendocino & Ridgeway Sts Cost $2
play 7:30 PM to 9:30 PM
OHLONE COLLEGE FREMONT
Tuesdays & Thursdays year 'round
8:30 PM to 9:30 PM Cost $2
Some Sundays in July - call info
Hwy. 880 to Auto Pkwy exit; east to Mission
(Pkwy becomes Durham) left on Mission
College on east side call 510 522 7717 info
LLNL POOL LIVERMORE
open Summer to Fall
Mondays 6-8 PM
Call Doug info 510 422-7257
East Ave, south entrance to Lab
left at guard house
Carol Rose
Here's some info posted by Ellen Lutz, Michigan, February 25th '95:
Well, speaking of rules... As a newbie to this uwhockey listserver and as a relative newcomer to underwater hockey (started last Sept. with the dive club here at Tech...MTU Aquanauts), I'm curious how people at other locations play the game and the rules they use.
Here at Michigan Technological University in da UP of Michigan's beautiful Keweenaw Peninsula we play (almost) no-rules uwhockey with goggles/mask and fins (some people use a snorkel, too), a brass puck, and paddles that look something like this:
* * *
* *
* *
* *
****************************** *
* *
* *
****************************** *
* *
* *
* *
* * *
We play in the swimming pool, which is 4' deep in most places and drops
down to 8' deep in the middle across the width of the pool. At the
beginning of the game, the puck is placed in the deep section, and the
teams start at opposite ends of the pool in the shallow section. The
object of the game (obviously) is to push the puck to the opposition's
wall...doesn't matter where on the wall, the puck just has to touch it.
The only rules we've allowed are:Anyway, how's this compare to the way people at other places play? What are your rules? Do some clubs use full SCUBA gear? Is there a set of official rules that would allow us to try to qualify for tournaments like the one I've seen discussed? Please respond via email to the listserver UNDERWATER-HOCKEY@THECITY.SFSU.EDU or to me directly (evlutz@mtu.edu).
Ellen Lutz.
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Last modified: Tue May 20 10:01:54 MDT 2003