Calling all swimmers: Underwater Hockey at St. Andrews Family Fitness is recruiting

CHARLESTON - Humans are nothing if not inventive.

Form the pointed stick of prehistory to the inter-continental ballistic missile of today, humankind just can't refrain from tinkering with its creation. Take for instance underwater hockey.

"For most people the hardest part is using a snorkel," Britta Waldbauer said.

Waldbauer, who is stationed at the Naval Weapons Station, found the sport a year and a half ago at St. Andrews Family Fitness Plus.

"I used to be a swimmer in high school and college, and when I got to Charleston I was looking for an indoor pool," she said. "I came here and they had underwater hockey going on, and it looked like a lot of fun."

"Swimming is kind of boring anyway."

Michael Roberts started playing six months ago.

"I was trying to go into the Coast Guard as a rescue swimmer and thought this would be good conditioning for it," Roberts said. "It's a real good work out."

He swims 1-2 miles every day and has played all kinds of sports from football to cage fighting over the years.

"I was in here one day when they were playing it and I thought 'I want to try that,'" he said. "Basically it's a great way to stay in shape."

The sport is played by two teams of six. Each player is equipped with a snorkel, mask, flippers, a glove and a short stick about 8 inches long. One team uses white sticks and the other has black ones so the players can tell who their teammates are underwater. Like in ice hockey, they use the sticks to move and pass the puck along the floor.

Long troughs are laid along either end of the pool to serve as goals, and puck must go all the way into the trough to count as a goal. Players can fill one of two roles, forward or defender, but there are no goalies.

"Cause one person couldn't sit on the bottom and hold their breath the whole time," Waldbauer said.

At the beginning of a match or period, or after a goal, the puck is placed in the middle of the floor. Each team starts at the side of the pool it is defending and race toward the puck to begin play.

"The most challenging thing is holding your breath and not freaking out," Roberts said. "Trying not to panic when you're fighting for the puck, you get caught up in it and forget to breathe, then right when you see that you have a good shot at the goal you have to pop up because you haven't taken a breath in a while."

Unlike ice hockey, or "hard water hockey" as Waldbauer calls it, underwater hockey is non-contact, and the teams include both genders and a wide range of sizes and ages.

St. Andrews has been offering underwater hockey to members since 1993. It is played in more than 50 cities and close to 30 countries. There are local, national and even world-wide tournaments held every year. In fact St. Andrews Family Fitness Plus will be hosting a tournament in November.

The fitness center is recruiting new players now, with practices held every Tuesday and Friday evening at 7 and 7:30 p.m. respectively.

"At first it really struck me how silent it is under there," Waldbauer said. "In other sports you can yell and scream to communicate with your teammates, here there is no sound, and your field of vision is limited because of the masks."

"Definitely cardio is the hardest part," Roberts said.