With no way of verbally
communicating with your
teammates underwater, you
really have to keep a close
watch on them and decide
what is best for the team
02
01
“UNDERWATER” AND “HOCKEY” are not words
you would normally expect to find in the same
sentence. However, the exciting and demanding
sport of “octopush”, or underwater hockey, has
actually been around for more than 60 years.
Back in 1954, the leader of Southsea Sub-Aqua
Club in the UK wanted to make club nights more
interesting during winter. It was too cold for regular
diving in the chilly local waters, so he created a way
for divers to have fun and keep fit at the same time.
Thus, “octopush” was born.
Today, this intensely anaerobic sport is played
in more than 30 countries worldwide and is
particularly popular in the UK, Canada, Australia
and the Philippines. It is an exciting team game
played with sticks and a lead puck at the bottom of a
swimming pool.
Octopush is known as the supreme anaerobic
game due to the fact that players use snorkels to
breathe on the water’s surface, before diving to join
the action. The players alternate air breaks with team
mates so they are not all bobbing to the surface, and
abandoning the field of play, at the same time. This
really is the perfect game for team building. With no
way of verbally communicating with your teammates
underwater, you really have to keep a close watch on
them and decide what is best for the team.
This sport is not for the faint-hearted as it is fast
and furious, although it is open to – and played by