I Tried Underwater Hockey
Because I don’t embarrass myself enough?
Not a member of Medium? Click here to access the full article.
I am not sure who first watched a hockey game and thought, You know what would make this more fun? Holding our breath!
I had never played hockey, underwater or otherwise, but I do tend to prefer the summer versions of winter sports. Water-skiing, wakeboarding, and inline skating are much more enjoyable to me than snow skiing, snowboarding, or ice skating. Maybe underwater hockey would be fun!
Underwater hockey is like regular hockey, I suppose, except the puck is super heavy so it stays on the bottom and does not fly up and smack you in the face. Also, there is a breathing strategy involved: Your team will want to stagger air breaks like fast food employees’ smoke breaks.
I am not good at team sports in general, but I am comfortable in the water and a decent swimmer. I spent much of my childhood in the pool, collecting pennies from the bottom of the pool in goggles. I figured I could not be that bad at hitting a puck down there.
What I did not anticipate is all the stuff that would be on my face! I do not like having a ton of gear on me. Running cross-country was my sport because of how little gear it required. Even wearing spikes and passing…
