Tewkesbury and Cheltenham Octopush Club

31/07/2026

More basics: puck skills

UNDERWATER BASICS - Part 4 - Puck Skills

1. Push-Pulls
This is the basic defensive move to lure and avoid the opposition. Works best if you swim at your opponent on an angle. As you get close to them, suddenly swap the stick over to the other side of puck. Pull it in to yourself a bit. Quickly swap the stick over again to push the puck and swim off at a 45o angle.

If done well this move should take them by surprise and put you out of their reach.

2. Curls
The secret to learning how to curl is to make sure you turn onto your side when curling. You can curl to your left or right, but either way you want your shoulder down on the pool floor. Hook the puck with the inside of your stick and curl around using fin kicks on your side. The kicks help you stay down.

Curl to protect the puck, especially against the wall. You can go 180o and pass to a team mate, go 360o to shake off an opponent and then continue on yourself. Or even more if you are still under pressure.

But watch out for back-tacklers! (See Part 3 for explanation of back-tackling).

Next UNDERWATER BASICS Part 5 - Body Position and Drills

19/07/2026

Learn about strategy and goal scoring

UNDERWATER HOCKEY BASICS - Part 3 - Strategy and Goal Scoring

Now, before you get too excited, we are not going to share our secret winning strategies 😜 In this theory session we will outline the basic plan when attacking and defending. It’s easily explained with the Diamond.

When you are in your Defending half of the court, the team works together to get the puck out to the edge of the court as much as possible. This might involve a furious swim directly for the corner if you manage to take possession close to your goal tray. It might be a pass to the player on your outside (rather than the middle), so if you lose possession it’s not an easy swim or shot for their team into the tray.

This is why so much play seems to happen along the wall. It’s called ‘swimming the channel’ and is effectively the safest spot when you are defending.

Naturally then, when you’re in the Attacking half of the court you want to work with your team to get the puck into the middle. There is a much larger area of goal tray to aim for when you are in front of the tray (rather than trying to flick the puck in from the side).

Switching from Attack to Defence - we all know this happens all the time and without any warning. ⚠️ This is where Back Tackling comes in. One moment you’re on the attack trying to swim up the middle for a goal - then the puck is stolen from you. Bingo, you say down, turn around and get ready to steal it right back off then when they curl etc.

So that’s basic game strategy! Part 4 of UNDERWATER BASICS will be all about Puck Skills.

12/07/2026

UNDERWATER HOCKEY BASICS - Team Positions

UNDERWATER HOCKEY BASICS - Part 2 - Team Positions

There are 6 active players per team - 3 x Forwards and 3 x Backs. All team members stay close to each other. Within passing distance, approximately 1m apart. In UWH you don’t have a ‘goalie’ or leave anyone at the back for defence. You move together as a group, quickly flipping from attack to defence as the puck changes possession.

See the image below for two different configurations for the team. One for when you are playing on the wall, the other when you are playing in the centre of the court.

The Forwards - Left Wing, Centre and Right Wing. The Centre is involved in every play and as we say ‘they don’t get to breathe’. The Wing closest to the wall is pushing up along the wall with the support of their Halfback. Forwards also have an important role in ‘back tackling’ which is coming up from behind when the opposition curls and sealing the puck.

The Backs - Left Halfback, Fullback and Right Halfback. When the team is attacking the Backs are rotating through to support the Forwards when they need to breathe. They are also the defence if the opposition get the puck and break away.

While there is no ‘off-side’ in UWH, a team plays much better if each player can stay in position, stay close and play their role. If you have further advice on the positions in a team, leave a comment below.

Next instalment of UWH BASICS - Part 3 - Game Strategy and Goal Scoring.

03/07/2026

What do you think?

27/06/2026

It’s all about the team work!

27/06/2026

Check out these great moves

27/06/2026

Need to cool down? Come join our FREE underwater hockey taster session on Monday 29th June from 7:30pm at Tewkesbury Leisure Centre.
Message for more details.

18/05/2026

Great intro video