Looking for a great way to get in shape, share the camaraderie of a team, and even get some of those competitive juices flowing all with your snorkel mask and flippers in tow?  Well then you may just want to take to the pool and enjoy a rousing game of underwater hockey! Yes, you heard correctly, but if you are stuck doing a double take and wondering just what the low down is on this underwater hockey you need not wonder any longer. 

This highly aerobic endeavour down under the water will combine not only timing, breathing, endurance, and skill but most of all fun. The British Octopush Associate is encouraging swimmers of all ages to get their snorkel masks and get to playing; there are junior squads, women’s teams, and adult leagues broken up into proper age brackets. This is an excellent opportunity to get fit while having a blast at the same time no matter how young or old you are or your skill level. The biggest aspect is to just have fun and get into the game.

Underwater activities are perhaps some of the best ways to increase your aerobic fitness without ever risking an injury. This is due to the fact that there isn’t any gravity that will be taking a toll on your joints and muscles; meaning you won’t be feeling as tired and achy should you have been playing a few rounds of regular street or ice hockey; and hopefully you won’t be risking a lost front tooth either! The only requirements you need to get set to play is of course a swimming suite, a snorkelling mask, flippers, snorkel, and an excited spirit. 

While games and practices are open to everyone of every level, should you be bitten by the underwater hockey bug and want to kick it up a notch the British Octopush Association brings that chance to you with a series of tournaments, culminating in the BOA UK National Championships.  The series runs between April and June annually and is split up into quarter and semis before the actual finals for both ladies’ and open divisions. Should you and your team come out on top in the whole UK you can then test your goal scoring skills in the Home Internations that bring in players from not only England but Wales and Scotland too; you can represent your country in the open, women’s, elite, masters, or under 19 sections.

This burgeoning new sport is an excellent way to inspire youth to not only get fit and active, but to hook up with their peers and be a part of a team. Learning to work together and strive for a shared goal is an intrinsic aspect of team work that has been shown to set them up for success in virtually any field later in life. Should you be a parent and looking to start a team in your area or want to become a coach, the BOA further extends to you coaching certification classes. So don’t let the thrills of this underwater sport pass you up any longer, grab your snorkel mask, flippers, and a bit of competitive flair, and suit up for the pool!

If your holiday plans include taking off to a remote location to soak up some sun and snorkel in the great blue sea, you could be left grounded if you are booked with a British Airlines ticket. Certainly by now you have been informed of the impending crew strike that will effect a vast majority of British Airlines’ flights, and if you had been hoping to escape for a snorkelling holiday any time between 22nd December and 2nd January you may be left wondering just what to do. What’s worse is that there have been conflicting advice between sources, media outlets, and the airlines themselves.

The fact of the matter is that with so many of the crew on strike it is more likely than not that your flight is going to be either grounded or significantly delayed. In response to what ticket holders eager to jet set their way to the holiday of their dreams should do, British Airways asks you to bear with them as they try to stick to some semblance of a schedule.

The airlines hopes that not all of their flights will be cancelled, and if you’re booked for a shorter flight, the odds it may take off are better. However nothing is certain at this time, and if you are afraid to wait it out and hope you will be able to spend your holiday snorkelling you may be tempted to cancel your flight now and then look to find one on a competing airline while there is still room.

British Airlines has already promised ticket holders that should they choose to cancel their flights before, they will be entitled to rescheduling one at a later date any time within the next 12 months free of charge. This means you may be able to get a credit but not necessarily your money back.  Should you instead wait until the day of your flight, British Airlines promises to contact you via email or SMS text message should yours be grounded. You would then be offered a refund, a flight booked at a later date free of charge, or hopefully a flight on a competing airline.

British Airlines stated that they are hoping to work with their competitors to keep as many passengers on their itineraries as possible; however there are only so many seats to go around.

In regards to what you should do to ensure that your snorkelling holiday goes off without a hitch, it’s up to you, the kind of tickets you have already booked, and how comfortable you are with uncertainty. Cancelling now and finding another flight may leave you with a credit you wouldn’t want to use and you then wouldn’t necessarily be getting your money back. Further, unless you had a more flexible ticket in order to avoid added fees when you then adjust your flight dates in the future you would need to call British Airlines over the phone directly, not book on-line.

If you feel lucky you may want to go ahead as planned and hope your flight makes it off the ground or are able to be moved to another airline. At this time you will want to remain on top of the latest news regarding the situation and make sure that British Airlines has your correct email, phone number, and contact information.

The day may have belonged to gold medallist Natalia Molchanova, but for Sara Campbell of Britain silver felt quite sweet. “My strategy was to do something I can do on any day, and my training recently paid off in that 92m is a comfortable dive for me,” she stated after her second place finish.  Comfortably diving to the depths of 92m in the AIDA world championships that took place in the Bahamas she was narrowly bested by Molchanova’s 97m distance. This was for the constant weight event which divers are only allowed a single breath in their charge below the ocean’s surface.

Being edged by her Russian rival may feel a bit reminiscent to Campbell as just this past September she had her world record beaten by Molchanava. In reaching a depth of 101m Molchanava shattered the previous mark of 96m, and she still surpassed that distance to claim gold for the AIDA championships. In fact Campbell had expected the Russian to go further and had then tried to factor that into her strategy going in, “I was surprised Natalia didn’t try to go deeper – I was hoping she would over-stretch herself.”

Being that each freediver is held to the distance they report upon entering the competition, should they fail to reach at least that mark they are thereby out of contention. It seems that both women were playing it safe, choosing to go for the gold medal instead of a world record.

Still Campbell can’t feel too bad about her showing as the 92m she reached here is not far off of her personal best of 96m. With continued training she will no doubt keep working to narrow the gap between herself and her competitor.

Natalia’s tour for the championships wasn’t done yet, as she later went on to claim a second gold in the constant weight with no fins event. Her impressive 62m was yet another world record, beating the mark of 60m she had set herself. On the men’s side, it was Herbert Nitsch of Austria who won the title for the men’s constant weight event. However it seemed to be a day for records as New Zealand’s William Trubridge bested his previous world record to claim the gold medal in the men’s constant weight no fins division with his 90m depth.

With the close of the 2009 AIDA world championships both the winners and Sara Campbell will keep aiming to surpass these marks and further test the limits of their physical abilities.