24-WESTERN DAILY PRESS, FRIDAY,JULY 5,1996
In at the deep end...
It's wild, it's wet and the only game in which taking a dive is legal. Welcome 
to Octopush

The celebrations are over, the tropy safely in the cabinet and the UK's 
victorious Barbarians Octopush underwater hockey team have come up for air.
The Barbarians, an invitation side drawn from Octopush teams across the 
UK and including leading Bristol player Colin Waterhouse, finned their way to 
success in the recent Maastricht Invitation Tournament in Holland.
Dutchteams and those from France and Slovenia were left in Barbarians' 
wake and their sucess must reflect the increasing strength of British Octopush.
Colin Waterhouse says the sport is growing slowly in the South-west. 
"There is a new team in Weston-super-Mare, which has been going for about six 
months and a new one in Liskeard in Cornwall," he says. Another has started in 
swindon.
The British Octopush Association organises the leagues, both men and 
women play and there are youth and junior sides too. people from all walks fo 
life are involved and the only qualificaion is an ability to swim.
Players move very quickly through the water-under the water: checking, 
turning,rolling and spinning, sliding over and under one another then kicking 
for the surface to gulp some more air before diving back into the thck of 
things.
The secret of staying with the game is in the breathing says Colin, 
spokesman for the Bristol Octopush Club. "As soon as I stop moving I begin to 
breathe out," he says to combat the effect of the air in his lungs taking him 
to the surface. Another player Lawrence Van Raalte explains that if players 
breathe out gently while they are under the water the longer it is before they 
feel they have to take another breat and the longer they can stay down.
"It's a mental thing rather than a physical thing," he says.
It certainly was paying off for the players who swept through the water 
like seals, tackling, dribbling and passing the plastic coated puck-shaped lead 
`squid' from one to another on their way to the goals. Each payer wears a face 
mask, snorkel and flippers and carries a wooden stick shaped like a butcher's 
meat cleaver.
A team has six players in the water and can have up to four substitutes 
waiting by the poolside. The aim is to push or flick the `squid' into the goal 
more times than the opposition.
"If you like swimming and snorkelling it's a chance to play a team 
game," said Colin. "And its one of the few sports in which men and women can 
compete n equal terms. It's all about skill and team work rather than 
strength."
It is also one of the few sports that takes place in three dimensions. 
In Octopush, a tackel is as likely to come literally out of the blue from above 
as from the side, back or front-it certainly adds to the excitement. the game 
is a British invention dreamt up by a diver in Southsea in 1954 as a way of 
keeping himself and fellow divers fit during the winter.
It now ha a worldwide following with teams playing in Australia, 
Canada, the United States, New Zealand, South Africa and as well as the UK and 
continental Europe. There are three pools in Bristol where the city's club 
plays.
Lawrence Van Raalte says time was when Octopush was played with a 
simple lead puck. "Following concerns over possible damage to pool bottoms a 
plastic coating was introduced. Three pools in the city now let us in," he says 
happily.
But about the players? Each has a glove worn on the hand with which 
they hold their stick to prevent chaffing from the pool floor but there were 
some red shoulders at the end as well - all part of the game, came the 
explanation.
"I like swimming and I like the water and it's an interesting game 
which relies on a team effort," says Colin.
Passing is vital as even the greatest player has to surface for air 
while the heavy puck or `squid' stays firmly on the floor of the pool.
"It's a matter of pass the puck or pass out, really," says Colin.
There are clubs in Bristol and in Cheltenham and now in Swindon and 
Weston-super-Mare and anyone interested in playing Octopush can ring Colin on 
01454 412 487.

10 Things you didn't know about Octopush

1 The game was invented in 1954 by a British diver who was looking for a way to 
stay fit in winter
2 Teams ae made up of six players with up to four others as substitutes on the 
poolside.
3 Apart from in Britain and on the Continent, the game is also played in 
Australia, Canada, the United States, New Zealand and Sout Africa.
4 It's a game for both sexes at all levels. Men and women, boys and girls play 
under the rules laid down by the British Octopush Association.[CMAS actually!]
5 Anyone can play as long as they can swim. You need a mask, snorkel, flippers 
and a pusher for basic equipment.
6 Players play with pushers which they make themselves, usually out of wood.
7 The game is an underwater version of ice hockey. The object, simply, to push 
the lead puck or squid, into the opposition's net.
8 Clubs playing Octopush in the South-west are currently based in Bristol, 
Weston-super-Mare, Cheltenham and Swindon.
9 Breathing out helps players to stay beneath the surface longer
10 The goal, or gull, is a three meter aluminium gulley nestling in the angle 
of the wall and floor of the pool.

SQUIDS IN: Octopush players Colin Waterhouse, left, and Keith Waterhouse 
prepare for battle at Speedwell swimming pool, Bristol

DEEP TROUBLE: Charlotte Scott and Colin Waterhouse in an underwater battle for 
possession of the squid