BUSINESS EDU
The Global Sport of “Octopush” Can Help You Add More Customers by Gil Zeimer , ScubaStoryteller.com and Zeimer.com, San Rafael, CA
H AVE YOU EVER HEARD OF underwater hockey? It’s not a bunch of brawny, gap-toothed athletes skating on slushy ice. It’s two teams of six swimmers pushing a three-pound, plastic-coated puck with 11-inch- long sticks across a 6-to-12-foot-deep, 25-by-15-yard pool into a goal at either end, overseen by three swimming refs and another one on the deck. Because it’s so exhausting, substitutions are frequent, but a player leaving the pool must clear the water before being re- placed. The game has two 15-minute halves with a three-minute
one of 15 dive councils operating under the wing of the Un- derwater Society of America (USOA). Carol said, “I married a diver, got NAUI certified in 1973, but had to give it up in 2005. Along the way, I was an under- water hockey referee for about 20 years and got to travel the world multiple times. It’s a fascinating sport: the only one that requires you to hold your breath the entire time you’re in the underwater field of play, and it’s the only three-dimensional sport, as you play above, below, or beside other swimmers. It may also be the world’s worst spectator sport, but it’s been growing in popularity for 70 years.”
halftime; each team is allowed one 60-second timeout per half. The clock is temporarily halted for goals, rule violations, or injuries. The strat- egy is similar to basketball, with position players covering zones around the puck, and scoring de- pending entirely on teamwork. The positions are forwards, strikes, wings, backs, halfbacks, and fullbacks. After the British Navy invented this sport in the 1950s to keep their divers fit and improve their underwater efficiency, it has evolved into a fast, dynamic sport now played in more than 50 countries worldwide. In the San Francisco Bay Area, it started in 1976; that team became Treasure Island Divers. The first World Championships
But she’s being modest. Carol evolved into a world-class under- water hockey referee who was on the deck for thousands of games, including local, regional, national, and global. She was even the Chief Ref for eight international tournaments and eight world championships, served as Secretary for the World Underwater Commission for 17 years, was on the Underwater Hock- ey Commission, and was President of the USOA. Because of all this, Carol earned a Lifetime Achieve- ment Award from the World Un- derwater Federation in 2016 and was inducted into, and was founder of, the Women Divers Hall of Fame
were in 1980 in Vancouver, BC, but only men played; almost immediately, Worlds included women’s teams, and until very recently, were scheduled every two years. Meet a World Expert Referee: I first heard of this sport when I joined the Sierra Club in San Francisco in 1986 and was surprised to hear that they had a team. While I never played because I cherish my teeth, I called Carol Rose in Sonoma, California, who’s been the President and Secretary of the Central California Council of Diving Clubs, Inc. for 30 years. This recreational diver membership organization is
in 2000. “I was reliable and a pretty decent ref,” she added. “But it’s mentally exhausting to follow 12 players and three refs in the water at all times. I would do two games in a row, then rest by taking two off, so I could do so many games in those tour- naments.” In her limited spare time, Carol wrote a few books that are no longer in print: How to Form a Dive Club and How to Start UW Hockey . A Retired Female Hockey Player: I also spoke with Jennifer
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