Greetings from Hungary

[UWRPlayer]

Hi,

as a kid I used to love the joy of water. Floating around in pools with no specific goal. Later I started swimming as a winter workout. I've been swimming for 10 years now, I first heard about underwater hockey 5-6 years ago. I got interested, and half a year later I was on Erasmus in Austria when I first saw underwater rugby. Little by little I got addicted to this great game and now I'm working on spreading the word about it and building a community. I've played it in pools mostly but I'm collecting locations from around the world (Florida, Greece, Turkey, Croatia, Japan, Australia) where it is possible to play it in the sea which I aim to try this year.

Here you may find an example of what I mean.

I know this sport is pushing the limits of freediving in a whole different way, but I would recommend trying it to everyone! I find it a revolutionary concept and love it more than any sport I ever tried.

 

[John B Griffith Jr]

OK...so, knowing nothing about underwater Rugby...how many on a team, how similar is it to Water Polo, is this a big sport In Europe? Lots of clubs and organization?

 

[UWRPlayer]

Hi! I was kind of expecting that question I think, but I got used to being around people doing this sport so much that it makes me forget the rest of the world doesn't really have any idea of it's existence So to sum it up, it is governed by CMAS along with underwater hockey, which doesn't really care about it as for some reason they only focus on finswimming and dont aid UW games much. Yet they keep expanding. UWH started in the UK and became popular in the US, Australia, New Zealand, etc. UWR started in Germany, then the Czech Republic, Skandinavian countries, Russia and Colombia got involved "deeply" . Some countries like New Zealand, US, Turkey play both. So each sport is present in at least 25-27 countries. There are clubs, in some countries, many, in some, only a few. Lot depends on the local enviroment, first of all, if there are any pools deep and large enough. Also what sports are common and traditional? In Hungary, water polo is pretty much the most successful sport, but it's not ran too professionally. Maybe this is why I see water polo players acting they are too classy to try UWR but it's also because they got used to the fame and hype coming along with polo which UWR might threaten being faster, tougher and more complex. And most of all, 3 dimensional. Some other places where water polo is not known much as people would imagine horses in pools, polo players practice uwr and vica versa. Or swimmers, finswimmers and traditional freedivers use it as an alternative training. Our team has all possible origins of the players, and some who are newcomers to water sports. But the problem is, it is impossible to bring it close to spectators without expensive technique. Since the sport gets no funding at all, the enthusiastic players started working on their own ways of broadcasting. There is constant improvement, so most of them believe this can be a next generation international sport. It's great fun most of all!

So yeah, I'm biased, I love this game
And I do look up to skilled polo players, I just prefer to take the game down as it is a whole different level in gameplay too. It's mostly like IRL quidditch but there is no need for broomsticks between legs, you "just" have to swim well underwater!

 

[BatRay]

Sounds like some sort of underwater GoPro setup with a live link could permit people to watch the gameplay. It sounds like a lot of fun.

 

[UWRPlayer]

There are attempts. This weekend I've been to Austria to their nationals and they made a great system with gopros, external batteries, UW housing and 30m long HDMI cables. But on the long run, sponsors are neccessary for sure.

This is how it looks in action :

 

[John B Griffith Jr]

Sounds like a blast..I would like to try it once. Thanks for the update and info...I'll see what they have in the local area!

 

[Roman Castro]

Great info UWRPlayer. Thanks for explaining and sharing the video. Welcome.

 

[UWRPlayer]

A post about the new world record in finswimming in Baku, and how it shows the issues related to governing underwater sports on an international level.
http://underwaterrugby.kinja.com/new-world-record-in-baku-and-its-relevance-1715609336

 

[UWRPlayer]

 

[BatRay]

Cool video. Looks like a lot of fun.

 

[UWRPlayer]

Two underwater videos of us playing :

 

[UWRPlayer]

Final Fantasy - UWR mashup for those who like to let their imagination be free :

 

[Mr. X]

Interesting. Welcome

 

[Stephan Whelan]

Hi @UWRPlayer - awesome videos. Would you be interested in writing a feature article about UWR for DeeperBlue.com? A sort of "Dummies Guide to UWR"? I'm sure it would be of interest...

 

[UWRPlayer]

I would love to! We are working on a tutorial video for UWR, it would go great together.

 

[Stephan Whelan]

Great - you can ping me on stephan.whelan@deeperblue.com when ready. Also take a look at this page for more info on our submissions process: https://www.deeperblue.com/writing-for-deeperblue/

 

[UWRPlayer]

Hi!
Please enjoy our seasonal greetings

and some pure UWR

 

[UWRPlayer]

We were testing new points of view for the video while doing penalty training.

 

[BatRay]

Looks like a great time!

 

[UWRPlayer]

Hi everyone, a little update from Hungary:
we won the rights to organize a CMAS UWR EC for 2017 in Budapest and wanted to use the amazing opportunity provided by the FINA Aquatics WC event but eventually gave up on the plan. Took it as a personal failure of mine and went licking my wounds for 2 years. Thing is, UWR is still a great game, even if we, who play it, are just people, with all that comes with it. If I gave up un Underwater Rugby, it would be my loss. Instead, I wanted to set out and show my vision of UWR. Maybe you'd like it, maybe you wouldn't, I appreciate all civilized feedback This is UWR.ZONE, home of The Current UWR, Budapest.