Wisconsin Life

>> It's rare that people have heard of it. >> My husband made me start. I've been hooked ever since. >> I didn't know what it was. I didn't know until I got in the pool and people started showing me. >> Let's go! >> We're at the Door County Y. We're getting ready to play underwater hockey. >> Underwater hockey. We are all underwater hockey players. >> Ready, set, go!

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>> It's a game we play on the bottom of the swimming pool. We all wear mask, fins and snorkel. We push a lead puck around the bottom of the pool with a wooden stick. It's about a foot long that you hold in one hand. There's six people on a team. The goals are on the bottom of the pool. We flick it or swim it into the goal. >> The hardest part at first is to get used to the snorkel and the breathing. For me it was like a good probably month, before I really got the hang of the breath control and knowing how to use the snorkel. >> You gotta come up and get a breath, go back down, and hold your breath while you're actually playing. >> Great shot! >> There's techniques. Different moves. >> There's three backs and three forwards. You do a rotation, depending on which side of the puck is. If the puck goes on the left side, the left back can go up. The center back up behind him, and the other one comes behind them. If it's vice versa, if it goes to the right side, you do the opposite. >> No auditory communication at all. Looks, gestures, anticipation. I mean, we have to play together, and as we play, we really instinctually feed upon each other. It's almost like basketball in positioning, but no communication.

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Our group here has got several families that play. >> Kendall and I both are underwater hockey players, and so we met playing underwater hockey. And since we continued to play after we had kids, our kids were sort of dragged in the pool with us every weekend as we played. >> Peace and quiet. >> It's lovely underneath the water. It's very quiet. It's a great break from real life. >> It's a good date night. >> Yeah. >> And that's how it started, actually. I hired a babysitter, and said "Honey, you're coming with me. It's date night." >> So, underwater hockey is our Friday night date night. >> Every time that I come to the pool, I'm still just as excited to get in the water and play. I think a lot of that has to do with the community and the family that we end up playing with. >> I've met a lot of interesting people through it, so you know, it's getting to be probably as much about the people as the game anymore. It's a fun game, too.