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A niche sport in France, underwater hockey is trying to find its place in the pools.
In Pessac (Gironde), one of the biggest clubs in France, initiations are offered throughout the year.
A much more physical practice than you might think.
We explain the characteristics and difficulties that accompany this atypical sport.
Have you ever seen a school of piranhas pounce on prey at the bottom of the water?
Well, underwater hockey is the same!
Except that the catch is a puck.
A puck of 1.3 kg, much heavier than the one that fuses on the ice of the skating rinks.
Indeed, as the name of this sport indicates, we are here under water, about 2 m or 2.50 m deep.
Inevitably, it advances much more slowly but it is not for all that less physical than on the skates.
For those who doubt it, the club of Pessac, near Bordeaux, regularly offers initiations and even lends all the equipment of a good underwater hockey player (mask, snorkel, mouth guard, helmet, glove, stick and palm) .
“It's a sport that was born in the south of England in the 1950s, explains Lionel Dumeaux, the manager of the French teams.
The divers got bored in the winter and that's how they started playing in the pools.
For the record, they played with the oxygen bottle on their backs and wooden sticks.
In France, this sport arrived fifteen years later and the first French championship dates back to 1982. Today, underwater hockey has around a hundred clubs in France for 1,500 practitioners, of which 25 to 30% are young people under the age of 18.
Solène Burel, player and president of the Pessac club:
People who get into it often come from diving, synchronized swimming, water polo, spearfishing... Children can try this activity from the age of 8 in the small pool. .
»
A very special swimming pool and no caretaker
“My family has been playing it for several generations,” smiles Ludivine beside her.
This Thursday, the licensees of the Girondin club will meet at the Pessac nautical stadium for training.
The competitions take place two or three times a year over a weekend.
Solène and Ludivine are thus expected in Puy-en-Velay (Haute-Loire) on March 12 and 13 for the second round of the women's elite championship, which brings together the ten best French teams.
This is one of the difficulties of underwater hockey: you don't play when you want, where you want.
You already need a precise infrastructure, that is to say a fairly large swimming pool (the land is 12 meters by 15) and especially in tiling or stainless steel.
The second difficulty, the most important, "is to find slots to play", recalls Solène Burel.
In Pessac, everyone sets up the pitch in a few minutes.
Some set up the weighted lines on the bottom of the pool while others lower the metal goals.
Goals three meters wide, very special, since if we play 6 against 6 as on the ice, there is no goalkeeper in underwater hockey.
You have to shoot towards this goal on the ground hard enough so that it hits the bottom of the cage or falls into the small gutter of the latter (there are on average four goals per game).
Another big difference, there is no physical contact.
The goal is to sneak between the opponents with his stick of about twenty centimeters, trying to keep the puck at the bottom of the pool.
Explode your cardio
So what are the qualities of a good player?
The word to François: “Of course, you have to know how to swim.
But everything else can be learned.
What I like is the mix between the fairly physical dimension and the fun that we find in this sport.
You also have to find means of communication because obviously you can't talk to each other underwater.
Solène Burel continues:
Above all, you have to be tough enough because it's cardio.
The goal is not to stay underwater as long as possible but to multiply apneas.
Go down, go up, get back on your feet, go down… That's why we also do a lot of classic swimming and snorkeling.
In fact, it's a pretty complete sport.
»
To breathe, each team can count on four substitutes.
And frankly, it doesn't look too much from poolside.
It must be said that each time the referees stop playing (two in the water, one outside), you have to start again at the level of your goal before sprinting at the whistle towards the center of the pool and diving to recover the puck.
This exercise must be repeated several times during the two 12-minute periods, with the bonus of penalties ranging from one to five minutes which can fall at any time, often to sanction a dangerous gesture.
So, can it be violent underwater?
“No, no, reassures François.
It depends on the teams but the higher the level, the fewer shots there are.
“A bit like in all sports so…
The status of high-level athlete accessible since January 1
If France is now one of the best nations in the world with New Zealand, England, South Africa or Turkey, underwater hockey remains a niche sport for us.
“I repeat, it is not necessarily a financial problem but an infrastructure problem, insists Lionel Dumeaux, also a member of the commission for this practice at the French Federation for Underwater Studies & Sports (FFESSM).
Overall, there is a real shortage of swimming pools in France and in addition, above all, we build play areas.
This is not a criticism but it does not help us", Despite everything, there is progress since certain players have the possibility, since January 1, of obtaining the status of high level sportsman, even if the practice today remains 100% amateur.
Our off-road file
The clubs are also trying to get more visibility.
For some time now, they have been able to rely on the More Sport platform, a young start-up which seeks to highlight little-known sports.
It sponsors the French teams and covers the biggest events.
"It's always better than nothing", concludes Solène, before disappearing again under water.
We will have to perform a few thousand more apneas to attract sponsors and media coverage to the bottom of the pool...
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Aquitaine
Bordeaux
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Pessac
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