Pool Play

A pool, a puck, sticks, masks and snorkels. Octopush is the ultimate anaerobic sport, and great fun too.

- Gill McDonald

“UNDERWATER” AND “HOCKEY” are not words you would normally expect to find in the same sentence. However, the exciting and demanding sport of “octopush”, or underwater hockey, has actually been around for more than 60 years.

Back in 1954, the leader of South sea Sub-Aqua Club in the UK wanted to make club nights more interesting during winter. It was too cold for regular diving in the chilly local waters, so he created a way for divers to have fun and keep fit at the same time. Thus, “octopush” was born.

Today, this intensely anaerobic sport is played in more than 30 countries worldwide and is particularly popular in the UK, Canada, Australia and the Philippines. It is an exciting team game played with sticks and a lead puck at the bottom of a swimming pool.