Dewsbury Underwater Hockey Club youngsters help North teams to achieve success

Players aged from seven to 18 took part in the competition and the North of England entered eight teams, facing opposition from the South West, South East and Wales.

They performed well despite it being the first tournament for many of the younger players.

At U10s level the North Stars finished first and the North Poles fourth. In the U12s the Northern Lights were third and another North team sixth.

The North Puddings won the U14s event with the Northern Hotpots fifth

The North team was second in the U16s competition and more success followed with first place for the North U19s.

Underwater Hockey is played wearing mask fins and snorkels and players hold their breath to push a puck into goals at either end of the pool.

Games at junior level are normally 10 minutes each way but for this tournament the games were between 5-10 minutes long. The pool is usually 2m deep for the older age groups and 1.5m for the U10s and U12s age groups.

For anyone interested in taking up the sport all U16s (Y11 and below) are welcome to sessions held at Dewsbury Sports Centre every Sunday from 4.30pm.

Only requirements are that you can swim five full lengths without stopping and can touch the bottom in the deep end comfortably. All equipment can be borrowed and sessions cost £5. To find out more visit https://www.gbuwh.co.uk/ or find the club on Facebook.