Sports

GMU Takes Lesser-Known Sport to Nationals - And Wins

What is underwater hockey, you ask? The division-winning team from George Mason can tell you.

By Timothy Ryan

From the deck of the competition pool at the George Mason University Aquatic and Fitness Center, a practice of the university’s club underwater hockey team does not look like much.

It is a mess of whitewater, swim caps and snorkel tips. Dark shapes twist and turn below the surface, looking like “sharks feeding,” as club president and de-facto coach Dan Yocum likes to say.

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This might explain why most of the people gathered around the large video screen at the 2013 U.S. Underwater Hockey Nationals in Milwaukee watching games were either current or former players. It might not be much for spectators, but those under the water love the sport.

“Now I can’t imagine not doing it, I love the people,” Yocum said. “I mean, it is addicting, once you start it’s hard to stop.”

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George Mason’s club underwater hockey team is one of around 10 college squads in the country—and thanks to their first-place win in the “C” division at the recent national tournament, they are the fourth-ranked team in the U.S.

Although Yocum and the team had hoped to compete for the championship in the more competitive B division, the players have said were satisfied with the results of the three-day event.

The team has a modest budget, and many of its members had not even heard of the sport before joining the team.  Its leaders rely on the team’s unique nature and the mention the university gives the club at new student orientations to attract players.

But these obstacles have not stopped the club team from becoming one of the better college teams in the country—and, according to Yocum and other team members, the best could be yet to come.

What is underwater hockey?

The objective in underwater hockey is quite simple—players must push a weighted puck into a metal goal that has been placed on the bottom of a swimming pool.

There are no goalies like in ice hockey; just two empty goals situated roughly 60 feet apart under at least six feet of water. 

The six feet of water is what makes the sport challenging; typically, no player can stay under water long enough to advance the puck all the way to the goal, meaning teamwork is essential to success. 

Players must communicate to let their teammates know when they plan on surfacing, so another player can continue what the last puck-holder began. 

The team is split into two groups of three and players are designated either as “forwards” or “backs.”  Forwards advance the puck, while backs play defense and help forwards who need to come up for air by “leap-frogging” them in order to take the puck.

So while the game is played on the pool floor, at any given time there are several players from each team on the surface.  They peer into the water behind goggles and breathe through snorkels, following the play and waiting for a chance to dive into the action. 

“No one player can carry the team, because you can’t be down the whole time, because you need to breathe,” Yocum explained.

To help with this, Yocum has his team complete lengths of the pool underwater in practice, which he calls “unders.” Players will have to do the laps as quickly as possible, as slowly as possible, or must simply try to do as many laps as they can with a single breath. 

“You have to train your lungs, but you don’t have to be world-class athletes to do that,” Yocum said.

A background in swimming helps, but it is not required in order to be a successful player.  First-year player Andy Fortman learned this first-hand when he picked up the sport after transferring to George Mason University from Northern Virginia Community College.

Like most new players at George Mason, Fortman had never heard of the sport when he approached the club’s table at a welcome fair at the beginning of the semester. He was simply looking for a club to join, and after the first practice he attended, the computer engineering major said he was hooked. 

Roughly one year later, Fortman was holding an engraved underwater hockey stick, signifying his team’s first-place finish.

“Dan’s been really good,” Fortman said of the Yocum, the team president, who helped him learn how to stay underwater and how to breathe effectively.

Fortman and fellow rookie Cody Spraker both emphasized how friendly the team has been, and said this could possibly be because of the types of people the sport attracts.

“I think it’s the nature of the sport, at least what it’s taken on,” said Spraker. “People play the sport; it’s not so fitness- and competition-based, people do it because it’s interesting and fun to play.  I think that attracts a certain group of people that are really friendly and can have a great time and aren’t so competitive that it gets in the way of friendship. “

Spraker joined the team looking for a way to stay in shape while also having fun, and has found that underwater hockey provides a chance to accomplish both.

“You’re there to play the sport, you’re not there to win, necessarily,” said Spraker. “We do want to win—that is an important part of it, and what most people have in their mind, but there’s also a whole other side where people are there just to have fun and play the sport.”

The competition of the sport

Usually the George Mason University club underwater hockey team arrives at tournaments in a van after driving for hours on end from the Fairfax campus.  The university helps pay for the van, hotel and entry fees for most tournaments, leaving the players to pay for gas and food. 

This system allowed the team to travel to Toronto and Atlanta to compete in tournaments this season.  

The competition in Milwaukee was different—most players arrived by plane and had to fund the trip themselves.

At these events, the players meet other competitors from across the country and sometimes from across the world.  Because of the small nature of the sport, they will continue to see these same people as long as they continue going to tournaments, members of the team said.

“Even our greatest rivals are some of the closest friends we have there,” said Spraker.

The team had placed well in the two years prior to this year’s tournament, and had moved up into the top division after the second day of competition due to its record in those years.

This year the team was younger, with roughly half of the squad made up of players who had only been competing for a year.  This made the chances of duplicating the last year’s success somewhat unlikely, but not beyond reach.  

However, it became clear on the second day of the competition that the team was not going to be competitive in the “B” division, in which it had started the tournament. Yocum changed his expectations and knew the team could win the lower “C” division.

“I said that we are not getting any lower than this,” Yocum said of his mindset after his team dropped into the lowest division.

After a poor showing on day two of the tournament, George Mason turned it around on day three, advancing to the division championship against Michigan State University.

Michigan State was a familiar opponent for the Patriots, and the two teams had actually gotten to know one another fairly well over the course of various tournaments.

“We see them every tournament, and they’re really fun people,” said Spraker.

The game was close throughout, but George Mason was able to score just enough to hold off a late rally from the Spartans and win the “C” division.

“That was probably the best experience I’ve had in underwater hockey so far,” said Spraker of the victory.

While it was not the result Yocum and his squad had originally hoped for, the victory did place George Mason as the fourth best college team at the tournament.

Looking forward, the players are hoping the experience will help this year’s rookies develop so the team can be even more successful in years to come.

“Even though we can’t win this year or next year or even the year after that, maybe, just having that consistent base of players and bringing in new students who are going to be good down the road—that’s really where we’re looking. Three or four years down the road,” said Spraker, who will take over as the team’s vice president next season.

Are you familiar with underwater hockey? What do you think of the sport? Tell us in the comments.

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