The Eastern Cape fielded more teams than ever at the South African Senior Inter-Provincial Underwater Hockey Championships at the DSG pool on 20 and 21 March. Two men’s and one women’s team from the Eastern Cape went head to head with the top teams from Gauteng and the Western Cape in the tournament.
The Eastern Cape fielded more teams than ever at the South African Senior Inter-Provincial Underwater Hockey Championships at the DSG pool on 20 and 21 March. Two men’s and one women’s team from the Eastern Cape went head to head with the top teams from Gauteng and the Western Cape in the tournament.
The men’s A team came sixth, the men’s B came fourth and the women's A team came fifth.
Development Underwater Hockey is not featured at the Olympics because there are not enough countries that play the sport.
However, Johan Coetzer, veteran referee and coach, said that the game has been growing since 2008 due to parents' involvement at the development level.
“The standard was declining a few years ago, people were not happy with the management.
But the standard has lifted if you look at the junior sides,” Coetzer said.
The EC men’s A team captain Stefan Keys commended Craig Step, the development coach, for the effort he put into growing the teams and the sport.
“It doesn’t show in the scores, but we’re giving the guys a run for their money,” Keys said.
“We’re a lot better than we were before.” “It’s a Cinderella sport,” Step said.
Only 16 nations were represented at the world underwater hockey championship tournament in 2013.
The sport is currently affiliated to the Confédération Mondiale des Activités Subaquatiques (the World Confederation of Subaquatic Activities, CMAS) – and this is hampering its growth.
According the Step, the sport needs to fall under the Fédération Internationale de Natation (the International Federation of Swimming, FINA) to be included in the Olympics which will happen “hopefully by 2026”.
The Team Each team consists of 10 players – six in the water and four substitutes.
Grahamstown was represented in the tournament by half the Men’s A team; the team boasts four Rhodes University students and Jonathan Bellingan, sub-warden of the Calata men’s residence.
The Men’s B side boasts two Rhodes students.
Five of the 10 members of the Women’s team are Grahamstown-based, the rest of the team are made up of players from the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) and East London or Port Elizabeth.
“The ladies’ team put their all into the games,” said Jessica Joyner, the Secretary of the South African Underwater Hockey Federation and the Tournament Director.
The teams struggle with synthesising their game because the Eastern Cape players live in different cities and because half of the team are students who come and go with their studies.
“Due to the high turnover rate of ladies in and out of the sport, we have not played together as a team as much as we would have liked to. But even then we clicked really well,” Joyner said.
The teams practice for about two hours twice a week and a game lasts half an hour, fifteen minutes a side.
The tournaments are a good opportunity for the teams to improve their game by learning from one another.
“Our more experience players, Gillian McGregor and Christine Coppinger, gave loads of helpful advice and we all learnt a lot from the tournament,” said Joyner.
Underwater hockey is a non-contact sport but accidents do occur.
“It can get a bit rough under the water,” laughed Gareth Snyman, a Men’s A team forward.
The puck is heavy as it is made of lead and must be flicked into the goals at the base of the swimming pool wall, so accidents are not uncommon.
“You can’t play the player,” said Keys smiling, “but there is some pushing and shoulder blocking in the pool.”
Wouter van der Walt, another forward on the Men’s A team, played his final match of the tournament with scrapes on his forehead and his right hand bound in bandages.
“It’s just how it is.
You have to,” he said, slipping his fins on moments before the gong rang for the final match.
