((PKG)) UNDERWATER HOCKEY
((Banner: Under the Water))
((VOA Russian))
((Reporter: Maxim Moskalkov))
((Camera: Sergii Dogotar))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: Oakton, Virginia))
((Banner: Underwater Hockey is a limited-contact sport in which two teams compete to move a puck across the bottom of a swimming pool))
((NATS))
((Andrew Creedon, Underwater Hockey Player))
“Ah, underwater what?” and then you have to be like, “Underwater hockey” and they’re like, “Do you mean water polo?” and you’re like, “Nope, underwater hockey.” And then you generally go into a 10-minute conversation of what it is, and then you give up explaining it and you show a YouTube clip and say, “This is what it is. The stick is only this big.”
((NATS))
((Jen Whitman, Competitions Director, USA Underwater Hockey))
It’s a three-pound (1.4 kg) puck. It’s got a led core coated in a plastic so that it slides along the bottom of the pool, and then it moves pretty quickly. So, you can swim with it from one side of the pool to the other, you know, in 10 or 15 seconds, depending on how fast you are.
((NATS))
((Andrew Creedon, Underwater Hockey Player))
I'm on the US men's elite team, so we travel around the world competing at the world-level competition. And as I get ready for World's, I'll spend anywhere from 10 to 20 hours a week training for about a year.
((NATS))
((Alex Dean, Underwater Hockey Player))
My favorite thing about this sport is the people. You know, I feel like every place I go, you know, I have a little bit of family because we have teams all over the United States.
((NATS))
((Jen Whitman, Competitions Director, USA Underwater Hockey))
There is a 3D aspect to it that you don't get in the other court sports, because in basketball and soccer you can only run on the court. In hockey, you can be on the bottom of the pool, but you can also be on the surface. And so, there's that added dimension to where you need to position yourself in the play.
((NATS))
((Andrew Creedon, Underwater Hockey Player))
It's a non-contact sport in the sense that basketball is non-contact. So, you can't grab somebody, but you can still, if your stick is on the puck, create body contact to create space.
((NATS))
((Richard Catherina, Underwater Hockey Player))
The most challenging part would probably be getting used to not breathing in while you’re exercising, because that’s a little bit different, with moving around while not breathing, but, eventually you get used to it.
((NATS))
((Richard Catherina, Underwater Hockey Player))
It is truly a team sport because it doesn't matter how good one player is. He is eventually going to have to come up for air. So, there has to be teamwork. There has to be passing. You can't just have one guy doing everything.
((NATS))
