Underwater hockey is growing one player at a time

GREEN BAY, Wis. (InvestigateTV) — Inside Green Bay’s Kroc Center, athletes from small towns around the region are joining together to play a sport you probably haven’t heard of: underwater hockey.

Peter Covach is president of the Green Bay Underwater Hockey Club.

“You’ve got a weighted puck, sits at the bottom of the pool, and it moves up and down the pool like soccer or hockey,” Covach said.

Molly Banks has been around the sport her entire life.

“My parents actually met playing the sport probably 30 years ago,” Banks said. “Our whole family’s just been kind of hockey nuts since then.”

The 24-year-old will represent the U.S. later this year in Turkey as a member of the elite U.S. women’s team and is trying to help grow the sport one player at a time.

“Every time it comes up it’s always kind of a lecture, like, ‘Oh yeah, people don’t know about it,’” Banks said. “Because it’s such a small sport, getting people into it young is really important to help the sport grow, so as much as we can get the youth interested, it’s awesome for the sport and it’s awesome for the kids.”

Adalind Meyer is an up-and-coming player with the Green Bay club.

“Underwater hockey’s pretty fun and also I get to go underwater and hold my breath for a long time,” Meyer said, explaining what she likes about the sport. “Being on a team, yeah and going underwater and flicking the puck very far.”

The group is hopeful others will join for some underwater excitement.

“Being able to keep an open mind with it, because once you break through and get comfortable, it really is so much fun,” Banks said.

Covach said team spirit is important in the sport.

“It’s probably the worst spectator sport in the world, you need to have goggles on, be in the water looking at the play as it’s happening,” Covach said. “All you need to do is have a swimsuit and be able to swim from back and forth from the end of the pool to the other side. We have the gear, we have the coaching — people can come into any practice, and we’ll show them the basics and hopefully they’ll continue to play with us.”

While the season typically runs during the winter months, Covach says people are always able to get more information by visiting the team’s Facebook page.