Underwater Hockey, an Ethnography on the Loons
Introduction
Hello, we are Sophia and Olivia! For our writing course through the University of Minnesota we were required to write an ethnography on a group within our community. We found an Underwater Hockey club, appropriately named The Loons on Meetup. Neither of us have any previous connection to underwater hockey but looked forward to learning more about how a typically terrestrial sport is played underwater. Our background in aquatic athletics are quite different, Sophia is a certified lifeguard and a 7 year swimmer while Olivia relies heavily on the doggy paddle. Going into our first practice, we had no idea what to expect. It was hard to have too many preconceived notions on a sport that we’d never experienced before but we were expecting to see mostly white people, namely men in their 20’s-30’s and figured if it was anything like hockey and water polo it would be pretty intense. What we were met with was nothing we could’ve possibly predicted.
History
Underwater Hockey or Octopus, as it was originally called by it’s creator Alan Blake in 1954. The game was developed as a way to keep scuba divers fit during the winter. The first competitions were held the following year. The sport spread rapidly to South Africa, Canada, France and Australia before expanding to the rest of the world. The first world Championship was hosted in Vancouver in 1980. There were only 5 elite mens teams in attendance, Canada, USA, the Netherlands, Australia and the United Kingdom. The world championships are now biennial, the latest one was held in 2016 in Stellenbosch, South Africa with 17 nations represented. Championships have expanded to include mens, womens, youth and friendly games.
The Game
Underwater hockey is a non contact sport played two to four meters underwater in a 25m x 15 m pool. The games have 15 minute halves with a 3 minute halftime. There are 10 players on each team, six who are actively playing and four who are on the side of the pool ready to sub at any time. “It’s a number’s game” Katie, a leader on the Loons tells us “It doesn’t matter how strong, tall, or athletic you are, everyone has to breath, so the team with the most people beneath the surface are the ones who will score.” It’s for this exact reason that there are always 4 subs ready and watching at the surface to be tagged in whenever other players have to breathe (hovering at the surface was our specialty). The object of the game is to get a 1.5 kg puck that glides along the bottom of the pool into one of the 3 meter long goals that sit along the side at the bottom of the pool. Underwater hockey isn’t necessarily the greatest spectator sport considering it strongly resembles a fish feeding frenzy and the puck is often indistinguishable among the tangled limbs and frantic sticks. However, it is a lot of fun to play, that is until you inhale a gallon of water through the snorkel.
Experience
We had not received replies to any of the inquiries we sent to club members but decided to show up to a scrimmage anyways. Fully clothed, looking confused we stood on the pool deck scanning for a friendly face to introduce ourselves to. Luckily, two members approached us and asked us if we were here to play. Hesitantly we responded yes, as we weren’t expecting to get into the water for our first observation. While changing in the locker room, many greetings and smiles were passed around. We felt very welcomed and that people were genuinely excited to share their beloved yet obscure sport with us.
Upon returning to the pool deck Katie, who was all shoulders and words of encouragement and Harrison whose blazing red hair appeared luminescent against the lights beneath the pools surface, handed us a pile of wet rubbery equipment and helped us gear up. Harrison shared with Sophia that Katie had been to several national level tournaments although she was too modest to ever share that hersel. They seemed passionate about both the sport itself and the social interaction that comes with it. We were very enthusiastically invited to get pizza with the team where they reminisced about drunken college stories and bad roommate experiences. Sophia sat next to Rachel, a sophomore at the U of M whose favorite word seems to be “random”, across from Andrea, a curly haired post grad who was preparing to move to Africa for medical work, and kiddie corner to Pedro, who was probably zero percent body fat and was also a U of M graduate. When sophia asked Rachel why she was drawn to the underwater hockey community she immediately responded saying that “It’s such a random group of people!! It’s a great network for making connections, I mean there are doctors and coders on this team, all very experienced and willing to help you get your foot in the door in their field.” Based on the amount of people who asked if we would be returning, we did get a sense that there was a strong sense of community and extroversion amongst this team. Although, Pedro did claim that “I (Pedro) am neither an extrovert or an introvert I get my energy from the sun.”
Equipment
Players wear snorkels and goggles to make breathing easier and allow them to continue viewing and participating in the game on the sidelines. Water polo caps are also worn because ears are required to be covered during tournaments. This is a safety precaution because a hit to the ear could potentially burst the eardrum. Flippers are another element of the uniform as they allow the player to remain submerged and move swifter on the pool floor. A team’s ability to move well together is what wins such a fast paced game. A silicone glove is also worn in the dominant hand, which yields the sick to protect it from being struck full force by the other team’s stick, the puck, and rough pool floor as it glides along pushing the puck. Due to the sports obscure nature, these gloves are often homemade to fit specific to the player’s hand, we actually went to the team’s glove making party! The stick is shaped like a giant butter knife, about 12 inches long with a slight bend for easily manipulating the path of the puck. The stick is generally made out of either plastic or wood, and are colored to indicate the team of the player.
Rachel, who also stumbled upon The Loons through meet up, eagerly friended us on facebook and warned us that “It may feel like the men here are creepy but I promise you they really aren’t! It just feels that way because they are wearing speedos.” Sophia and Olivia did get to experience some of this male friendliness firsthand when they received the following email.
As observed in the above email, the Loons are a fun group of people that enjoy each other’s company outside of the pool despite the diversity within the group. We were unfortunately unable to attend the great beaver cut tree bonfire in Dundas but Olivia did go to g”love” making.
I was greeted by three smiling and waving Loons when I arrived to the warehouse where the glove making was taking place. Their friendliness and waves curbed my anxieties surrounding the unfamiliar situation I was walking into alone. They each had a neon glove on their right hand gripping a 2x1 wood piece to mold their drying gloves in place. I was ushered into the warehouse to begin my own glove and was met by surprise and pleasure by the other team members that I had shown up. A tall, peppered hair man told me, “I’m glad we didn’t scare you off at the first scrimmage. You must be dedicated if you are making a glove after your first practice. I have been playing since November and I am finally getting around to making my first glove.” I decided to make a pink team glove for communal use as I wasn’t sure whether I would continue and become a star underwater hockey player following this ethnography.
To make the gloves you begin by putting on a layer of vaseline and a latex glove on to ensure easy removal when completed. Another thick gardening glove is put over, which will be the base of the finished glove. A thin layer of silicon is smeared on the garden glove to make it waterproof. After this layer has dried more silicon is mixed with acrylic paint to add color to the glove. The next layer is much thicker especially along the tops of the fingers, knuckles and the palm of the hand under the thumb. Eventually, after a few applications this layer should be built up to be about half an inch thick. The thick silicon provides protection from the puck, other hockey sticks and the pressure that can come from dragging your palm along the bottom of the pool. The process takes about two hours to complete. I learned that gloves are often homemade because then they are custom fit to your hands. In addition, manufactured gloves cost between $60–90 compared to the ones we made which was $15.
I am unsure whether the playful nature of the team during glove making was typical or induced by a silicon high. After two hours you really started to feel lightheaded by the distinct and piercing scent of the silicon. Munching on pizza and sipping beers, club members were deducing the most efficient way to attend both the MN United game and the bonfire that night. Despite being “ a hodge podge of people that I would have never met” according to Ann, one of the older women on the team, they seem to hang out often outside of practice.
Conclusion
There’s a certain sense of equality that comes with playing an underwater sport. The parameters that are set by gravity, typically hindering the success of those who are older, shorter, or female when playing against testosterone driven men go out the window when sports are submerged. “Water is a good equalizer, women are just as strong as men” says Ann. This is why we see such a, as Rachel puts it, “random mix of people” that play. Some guys had been playing since the 80’s while Rachel was going to school at the U of M. Even though there were more women than we were expecting, most of the players were men. However, rather than being in their 20’s like we predicted, they were mostly middle aged, the younger one’s being in their 30’s. We suspect this is because as people age, contact sports like hockey, and land sports in general become especially hard on the joints, so a good way to continue to play a “masculine”, fast paced sport is by taking it underwater, because that the lack of gravity prevents damage to the body. Overall it seemed that the main underlying draw to underwater hockey was the welcoming family like atmosphere. People come because of the unique, intriguing sport, and stay for the sense of comfort and security provided by the warmth of the team.
