Underwater hockey asks for a small set of water skills that most new players have never practiced on purpose. You can be a competent swimmer and still struggle to get down, stay flat, turn, and surface with a clear snorkel. Teach and practice these before you worry about formations.
Borrowed gear will pinch, leak, and feel awkward. Fix the fit first so the player can think about the skill. Spit in a new mask, rub, and rinse so it does not fog. Keep hair out of the seal. Attach the snorkel to the mask strap with a keeper rather than sliding it under the strap, which often makes one side leak.
Breathing through the snorkel
Keep the mask and snorkel in place for a few widths. Hands stay forward. Kick from the hips and ankles with the knees quiet. Scissor kick is the right kick to learn first.
Clearing is a short, sharp spit, then an immediate inhale, then a brief hold. Many beginners lift their head, pull the snorkel out, and park the mask on their forehead. Leave the gear on.
Clearing the snorkel
You cannot breathe through a snorkel while you are under it. Sink once, let it fill, surface, and blast it clear. Then do the real version: start blowing on the way up so the tube is empty when your face breaks the surface. That is the normal way to come up.
Learn the difference between a snorkel open to the air and one still full of water. A cautious sip tells you which one you have before you commit to a full breath.
Duck dive
Use a duck dive when you want to get to the bottom quickly, head first.
- Lie long on the surface, arms forward, fins dipped.
- Pull the arms down sharply so the head and shoulders rise.
- Drive the head and shoulders in, and kick by pointing the feet.
- Lift the legs. Their weight pushes you down.
- Start kicking only after the fins are back in the water.
Kicking while the fins are still in the air pulls you up. Start clearing the snorkel on the way to the surface so the first breath is immediate.
Consolidate with BOGDATs (breathe once, go down, and touch): duck-dive to touch a line, surface, breathe, and do it again across the pool. BOGDATs practice the dive, the clear, one-breath hockey, and how long it actually takes to reach the bottom. The same set is in Fitness.
Kelp dive
A kelp dive, also called a fins-first dive, sinks feet first. It is the better dive when you want to arrive stationary and flat, and you can watch the play on the way down.
Hang vertical, looking ahead, arms on the surface. Pull the arms down and give a small kick so you rise to about mid-chest. Stay stiff, toes pointed, fins angled slightly back. You should arc down and a little backward. If the fall slows, paddle with the free hand, then the stick hand, until the rib cage and knees touch.
The usual failure is a soft body and unpointed toes. Feel the tension in the ankles and the arch of the back.
Staying flat
Almost everyone floats. Swimming forward keeps you down, but you also need a way to sit still on the bottom.
Hold a stiff hand like a paddle and sweep it in an arc at arm’s length. Find the angle that pushes you down, then twist the hand at the end of each sweep so every arc still presses down. Drop with a kelp dive, then use that paddle hand to stay there. Bend the knees and point the toes toward the surface. An occasional kick helps.
This is the skydiver position: knees bent, arms out, head up. Beginners often believe they are flat while their fins are near the surface. Check two things: knees touching the bottom, and eyes looking forward. Looking down drops the head and lets the legs rise. Head up also keeps your eyes on the play and your head farther from sticks.
The free arm does this work. Emptying the lungs to sink makes the next snorkel clear harder.
Turning on the bottom
A turn that comes from arching the back wastes the dive. Try this instead:
- Duck-dive and swim along a line.
- Roll onto the side opposite the way you want to turn.
- Bend at the waist and stab the bottom hand at your fins. That starts the turn.
- Bring the knees to the chest and the heels toward the seat.
- Let the legs coast around, then kick out as you extend.
- Roll back onto your front and take at least two kicks before you surface.
Practice both directions as figure-eights inside a lane. Then do butterfly turns in pairs: shoulder to shoulder, turn opposite ways at the same time, at least two turns before you come up. Add a pass across just before the turn once the movement is reliable.
After a few months
Speed the same skills up with BOGDAT relays, and start treating each drop as one breath. Lengths as three-person plaits (the outside player rises, crosses over the middle, and drops back in) teach you to move over someone into a better passing lane. Details live in Practice Drills.
Pass only to a place you can see. Wild under-body flicks while you are already on the way up give the puck away. Save under-body passes for a shot or a pass you have actually looked at.
Further reading
Safety for ears, breath holds, and head knocks.
What is Underwater Hockey? for a first session.
Water-skill progressions here are adapted from the WUHA Schools Coaching Manual (Wellington Underwater Hockey Association, rev. 1999; editor Steve Stoke), section 6.