While athletes like Patty Mills and Lauren Reynolds prepare for the Paris Olympics, a group from Western Australia’s South West is gearing up for a different world competition.

Ten young sportspeople will head to Malaysia today after they were selected to represent Australia in underwater hockey.

Hosted in Kuala Lumpur, the sixth Underwater Hockey Age Group World Championships will begin this Saturday and finish on July 27.

The game is quite straightforward. Players score points by pushing the puck into the opponent’s goal.

The challenge is scoring before being tackled or running out of air.

Australia will face nine other countries, including France, Malaysia, South Africa, Türkiye, USA, and the current world champion New Zealand.

Of the 10 athletes from the South West, nine have been selected for the U19s national women’s and men’s teams.

The 10th athlete, Samantha Blackham from the Bunbury UWH Club, has been named the national U24s women’s team captain.

Something in the water

The South West has a history of producing strong competitors in the underwater sport and these ten athletes are continuing the tradition.

Four come from Bunbury, three from Collie and three from Margaret River.

Meg Barling, 17, started playing the sport in Margaret River when she was 13 but moved her training to Bunbury after her local pool closed.

She said many generations were involved in the sport, which might be one reason for the concentration of talent.

“A lot of the mums of girls in our clubs have also been to the world championships and played nationals,” she said.

“I think being so close, the word gets passed around, and everyone starts playing because of their friends too.”

Barling said after training in the world-class underwater hockey pool at the South West Sports Centre, it would be hard to play anywhere else.

The sport celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, while the Collie Underwater Hockey Club boasts the title of Australia’s oldest, with more than 50 years of history.

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Proud Collie club member Ty Sloan, 17, was one of the young men selected for the Australia under-19s team.

Sloan said each country had a unique strategy for team composition.

Australia favoured a 3-3 formation of three forwards and three backs.

Bunbury Underwater Hockey Club president Shane Blackham said the sport was featured in the 2019 South East Asia Games and hoped it would soon make its way to the Olympics.

He said the sport had previously struggled to gain traction in the mainstream.

“The thing that’s made it suffer is the spectator viewing side of things,” he said. 

“Streaming has become so much better, [so during] these worlds championships there’s cameras that run on tracks along the side of the pool and over the top of the goal trays.”